ASUS Reveal ROG Xonar Phoebus Solo “Gaming” Sound Card

ASUS have just announce the latest and greatest addition to their Xonar series of sound cards. The Xonar Phoebus Solo is a specifically gamer orientated sound card, shown by the fact it uses the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) branding.

The Xonar Phoebus Solo uses a PCI Express interface for maximum bandwidth allowing for the transfer of high quality audio through the 8 channels it supports. 8 channels of course means 7.1 audio is supported so this sound card is aimed specifically at gamers with 7.1 audio speaker systems or 7.1 audio headsets.

In terms of some of the hardware specifics that audiophiles will want to know about, the ASUS Xonar Phoebus Solo has the following:

• 118dB signal to noise ratio
• 600 ohm headphone amplifier
• PCM1796 digital-to-analog converter
• EMI Shield
• ASUS Hyper Grounding technology (reduces impacts of electromagnetic interference [EMI] inside PCs)

In addition to the hardware ASUS have also bundled with it some software enhancements such as Dolby Home Theater V4 Audio and DTS UltraPC II surround sound. These packagaes allow the gamer to choose between genre-optimised audio profiles from four different presets. FPS, RTS, RPG and Racing presets are available. Existing ROG Xonar Phoebus users can also get these gaming audio presets (at no extra cost) via the Phoebus driver updates.

The ASUS ROG Xonar Phoebus Solo is available from early May across Europe. Pricing is unknown as of yet but the existing ROG Xonar Phoebus costs £149.99 so expect this to be slightly more, £179.99 seems likely, since it is an improved version.

What are your thoughts on this new sound card from ASUS ROG?

Source: Press Release