ASUS revealed new details of the upcoming Xonar D2-series at Computex 2007. The ASUS Xonar D2-series will spawn PCI and PCIe variants - the D2 and D2X. A custom sound processor dubbed the ASUS AV200 powers the Xonar D2-series. ASUS requested a sound processor that met certain specifications and C-Media engineered and manufactured it, states ASUS multimedia product project manager Sean Lai. The sound processor remains exclusive to ASUS.
The ASUS AV200 is a PCI-based sound processor. ASUS equips the Xonar D2X with a
Pericom P17C9X110 PCI-to-PCIe bridge. Due to the additional PCI-to-PCIe bridge,
the Xonar D2X requires external power from a four-pin power connector.
Performance of the Xonar D2X and D2 are identical. Internal ASUS testing has not
revealed any performance shortcomings of using a PCI-to-PCIe bridge chip, Lai
said.
The ASUS Xonar D2-series features full-duplex 24-bit/192 KHz audio processing on
all inputs and outputs. ASUS claims the Xonar D2-series can reach
signal-to-noise ratio levels up to 118dB. The new sound cards also support Dolby
Digital Live and DTS:Connect technologies for single-cable multi-channel audio
enjoyment. Additional Dolby and DTS technologies such as Dolby Headphone, Dolby
Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Virtual Speaker, DTS Interactive and DTS NeoC. The ASUS
Xonar D2-series also supports ASIO 2.0 for low latency audio tasks.
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