News

Asus Announced Xonar U3 External DAC

Shortly before Christmas, Asus announced the Xonar U3 external DAC. The U3 is the new little brother to the bigger U5 and the gaming-oriented U7 DACs and is desgned as a portable and compact solution.

The compact design brings some limitations along, most likely due to the limited amount of power that can a single USB port can deliver. The frequency response ranges from 20Hz to 20KHz at a sample rate of 48KHz and 16bit, a somewhat low setup for those who prefer high-quality uncompressed music. Looking from the other side, a portable solution like this will be a huge upgrade to almost any laptop or other portable computers.

The headphone amplifier has adjustable gain levels that can drive up to 150ohm headphones and headsets, which indeed is nice. The included DJ Mix tool and five pre-set audio modes all point towards the use of this DAC that must be creating podcasts while on the go.

While the specification might not impress everyone, the price of just £19.99 via Amazon might change those opinions. It’s a cheap and portable soundcard for people on the go that aren’t satisfied with their built-in solution.

Specifications

  • Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR): 100dB
  • Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise : 0.005% (-110dB)
  • Frequency response: 20Hz to 20kHz
  • Headphone impedance: Optimized for 32~150Ω
  • Interface: USB 1.1 or above bus compatible
  • Sample Rate and Resolution: Up to 48KHz @ 16bit
  • Connectivity: 1 x 3.5 mm jack analog out; 1 x 3.5 mm jack (Line-In/Mic-In combo); 1 x S/PDIF out (combo with analog out)
  • Operation system: Windows 10, 8, 7, XP (32/64bit)
  • Karaoke functions: Music pitch-shifting, vocal cancellation, and microphone echo effects with stereo mix recording (Wave and Mic-in) for online Karaoke or online DJ applications

Thanks to ROG for providing us with this information

Images courtesy of ROG

Bohs Hansen

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

Electronic Arts Titles Played for Over 11 Billion Hours in 2024

Electronic Arts (EA) announced today that its games were played for over 11 billion hours…

2 days ago

Just 15% of Steam Gaming Time in 2024 Was Spent on New Releases

Steam's annual end-of-year recap, Steam Replay, provides fascinating insights into gamer habits by comparing individual…

2 days ago

STALKER 2 Gets Massive 110GB Patch With 1800+ Fixes

GSC GameWorld released a major title update for STALKER 2 this seeking, bringing the game…

2 days ago

Intel Unveils Core 200H Processors Based on the Previous Raptor Lake Refresh

Without any formal announcement, Intel appears to have revealed its new Core 200H series processors…

3 days ago

Ubisoft Reportedly Developing a New Quadruple A Game

Ubisoft is not having the best of times, but despite recent flops, the company still…

3 days ago

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Update 1.1 Fixes 1,800 Issues and Revamps A-Life 2.0

If you haven’t started playing STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl yet, now might be the…

3 days ago