ASUS Xonar AE Sound Board

So I was pretty excited to try out this card, as I had read fairly good reviews about it, and hadn’t actually experimented with anything other than on-board audio before.

First, if you have a dual or triple fan GPU installed in the upper-most PCI-E slot (what most motherboards use as the X-16 slot a GPU is most often installed in) in a standard ATX case, you’re not going to be able to utilize the X-1 slot for this card, as it almost completely blocks cooling fan flow from the GPU. A minor issue, but still kind of annoying.

After using a lower X-16 slot in my motherboard for this card, and installing the proper drivers and Asus software, when using the headphone out, which has a built in Amp and can supposedly drive headphones up to 150 ohms impedance, I heard a faint crackling at lower volume from any bass driven note. As I continued to use the card, I realized this faint crackling can be heard using any of the outputs on the card. Not much in the way of troubleshooting online for this either. After removing the card and reverting to on-board audio, voila. No more crackling.

When I tried to use both the front and rear outputs on the card, the card would only output to the front. No audio would be output through the “center” output either.

And finally, at random times, a complete breakdown of the audio would occur, with whatever was being input by the computer, resulting in audio which sounded like a crashing noise, extremely low bitrate, and a slowing of whatever speech or music was being played, requiring a system reboot.

The software wasn’t too great either, with the equalizer, bass boost, and compressor settings providing no noticeable change in audio quality. If you wish to leave headphones plugged into the back of the card on windows 10, you’ll need to utilize the program from Asus, as the source is not selectable in the windows task bar.

Unbelievable.

I’ve never had much luck with Asus products before (big problems with high end Asus laptops), but this one might be the nail in the coffin for me and Asus.

I have a Phantom Gaming 4 motherboard with onboard ALC 1200 soundcard which in paper, is supposed to be better than even Xonar AE. But the reality is quite different. The Xonar AE is far better than the ALC 1200, better balance across the spectrum. I don’t regret it.

This product was used because I did not want to downgrade my sound system when getting a new motherboard. Installation was the hardest part. It took many hours to get any sound and more time to get the card to not make a clipping noise. After that the sound was great.

I needed to upgrade from motherboard audio for music listening. The Xonar AE answers well for the money. Sound is virtually identical to the output from my Sonos Port to the Yamaha receiver. Install is easy. Download new drivers from the ASUS site. Works well with Windows 11 and 12th gen Intel processor and Asus MB. Recommended.

Asus Xonar AE

Lets get to the point. Running Windows 10, latest available drivers and the Xonar AE delivers on Music, Movies and most importantly to me, Gaming. Provides the best Gaming Quality Sound compared to Onboard Audio.

I just built the current Gaming PC that im on right now and the only component I didnt buy at the time due to limited budget was a Sound Card. Im ‘okay’ with onboard Audio, its decent, but it doesnt deliver the levels and ranges you need for certain applications like Gaming. RealTek Audio Chipsets have taken over as the default onboard MoBo Audio and they do indeed get better, but they also fall short in the process. You truly dont know what you are missing in Gaming Audio until you use an actual Sound Card.

Sound Cards were big in the late 90’s to end of 2000’s. Then they just kinda faded into the shadows with some brands popping up with some variation of a Sound Controller Device. Gaming developers used to give great focus on Audio Quality as much as the Graphics Quality, but not much if at all anymore. SoundBlaster Audio was the champ of 2.1 Stereo Sound. Now we have the ASUS Xonar Series which are the PC Champs of 5.1 & 7.1 Surround Audio. I have never been disappointed with the quality of the Xonar Series of cards, much like other ASUS Products like Monitors, they have lasted the longest and continue to outlast other products. This is my 3rd ASUS Xonar Sound Card, each has been in a different Gaming PC. First was the Xonar DG, then the next was D2, now the AE. All still work, just different PCI Connections so I couldnt use either old version on my new PC. (PCI 1x, PCI, PCIe 4x).

Highly Recommended Audio Card Series to invest in for Gaming.