Sound Card Xonar U5

I had a problem where all the cheap 5.1 and 7.1 USB sound cards (which probably used the same chip internally) would occasionally switch channels, so the wrong channel was coming out of the wrong speaker. I went through 3 different cheap USB sound cards that all had this problem. During the pandemic, this suddenly became a problem if, during a zoom call, the zoom audio started coming out of the subwoofer! Finally, I gave up and bought this more expensive sound card. The sound doesn't seem appreciably better (though to my ears DACs matter a lot less than speakers and headphones). But it's rock-solid under linux and has been completely reliable. Also, the cheap DACs sometimes send a pop through my powered monitors when I reboot my machine, and this one doesn't have that problem.

Can't be sure if this is my ASUS Computer, Windows 10 Driver, or the sound card, but sometimes the sound goes out for a split second, or sometimes its as if I can't get it loud enough. Usually, it works great. Gave 4 stars as i am unsure which device is actually at fault.

My old sound card (2007) didn't work with my new laptop. Part of the pain of W11. I've heard about a 30% increase in the quality of the sound. The bass has a little more punch and crisp sound to it. The mid-range frequencies got a little boost and over all the presence has improved. It included a program, Sonic Studio, that allows personnel adjustment to the sound envelope. I listen to music all day and now I'll enjoy it a little more.

I bought this in February 2016 and it died completely in October. Supposedly this is warranted for 3 years but ASUS's customer support is so dreadful that it's impossible to even figure out how to initiate the return process. When it worked it was fine. Then it just stopped working quite suddenly (taking the entire USB bus of my Windows 7 PC down with it for company, requiring an expensive service call to repair). As another posted mentioned here, I'm also using this for amateur radio purposes. Find something different, from a different manufacturer, because as good as this is supposed to be, when it fails you're up the creek without a paddle or a warranty. BEWARE!

It's nice on paper, but in practice, this thing just doesn't seem to cut it. The headphone outoput at it's highest impedence setting on my 80ohm DT770s does not allow the headphones to get loud at all, and I'm really not the type of person to listen to anything "really" loud, so just imagine moderate volume, and there's your max. There's no way to set different equalizer settings for your headphones and your speakers, so if you want to use the equalizer that comes with the soundstudio software, you're going to have to settle for having the same setting for both your headphones and your speakers. Volume in general is very low on my speakers (JBL LSR305), which is another annoyance. Honestly, volume is low all around on this device--why? My onboard sound is much louder, but with the LSR305s turned all the way up on the speakers, I often have to raise my volume in windows and volume in whatever I might be using (foobar, media player classic, netflix, any game..) to 90%+ on every slider. What's going on with this thing? My onboard is quite literally twice as loud, so this is very disappointing. The microphone input does seem noise free, which is a plus. The volume nob and headphone/speaker input switching both work great, and the device takes up very little desk space. Overall, I can't recommend this if you're looking for a catch-all audio solution that plays good at moderate to high volumes. I don't know where ASUS went wrong with this device, but man is it quiet. I even tried using my own equalizer (peace + equalizer apo), but it just makes my headphones clip with the volume all the way up. That's another thing--with the soundstudio equalizer adjusting a few levels to around +5/+6db and others -1/-2db (think a moderate V), my headphones clip at moderate volumes. I can plug my headphones into my onboard audio and get literally twice the volume with NO CLIPPING! ASUS, what did you do to this thing? Unless you want the convenience of instant input switching and a volume nob, just avoid this thing.

I had this a while ago, but I've since had to replace it because it stopped working completely just after the warranty expired. Go figure. Up until that point, it worked great. I especially liked the quick push-button feature to switch between speakers and headphones. After this died I went with a Sound Blaster Z sound card instead.

So far this sound card is really great! Sound quality is greatly improved without any setup beyond plugging it in. I down loaded the latest driver form the company website and the software side of this car is fantastic. You can use any of the dozens of preset values or create and save your own personalized settings and then quickly change from one to another. I am able to use my normal PC speakers and, my home stereo speakers simultaneously which is really great for full range sound sitting at the desk. I have the optical SPDIF output running to my home theater amp which provides an amazingly clean signal from the computer for watching movies etc. in 5.1 (The 50' fiber optic cable was like $9 separately) and the sound card auto detects when I switch my amplifier to the surround mode and switches from the normal speaker outputs to the SPDIF. This is really a great sound card and well worth the money for the results and versatility.

I purchased it to improve the sound quality, as the onboard sound card picked up interference from other motherboard components. It has decent software too. I have not used it for gaming, so I can't rate how it works for that application.

Très bon son, micro impeccable, device reconnu sous Linux Ubuntu 22.04 sans (bidouillages) 'cest ce que je rechercher. Je travail en télétravail donc beaucoup de Teams mais aussi du Discord car je joue sous swtor. Tout est ok Je recommande ce produit pour les utilisateur de Linux ^^

I use this product with my iMac and this sound card gives the audio a much improved sound over the onboard iMac sound. I also use this with parallels running Windows 7 on the same iMac and the sound is great there too. It's nice the sound card works on iMac without the need to add drivers.

PC/Macでサラウンド音源を再生出来る環境を作りたいと思い購入しました。 価格からしてあまり期待せずに聴きましたが思った以上にちゃんとした音で驚きました。 5.1ch以外にも4.0ch、Stereoでの再生にも対応しているのでとても使い勝手が良いです。

Marche nickel, installation rapide. Juste un petit bémol, en raccord optique, il y a une petite latence entre, par exemple, le lancement d'une vidéo et le son qui démarre. Mais pas de panique, le son reste parfaitement synchrone avec la vidéo.

Presentazione e Hardware: La Asus Xonar U5 si presenta molto bene, rivestita esternamente da una plastica solida e tasti sulla scocca con un ottimo feedback e buona accessibilità che offrono features interessanti come quella di regolare il volume di registrazione del microfono, il volume di riproduzione audio e switchare direttamente tra cuffie ed altoparlanti direttamente con la pressione di un pulsante. SUl retro troviamo le uscite per impianti audio surround fino a 5.1 e l'ingresso per l microfono, inoltre la scheda è dotata di uscita digitale e cavo usb che consente il collegamento con il PC. Come componentistica la scheda presenta un processore audio Cmedia CM6631A capace di riprodurre un audio surround fino a 5.1 192kHz/24-bit ed un SNR di 104db. La scheda offre una preamplificazione di ottima fattura per gli headset con possibilità di settare tramite software l'impostazione adeguata a seconda dell'utilizzo di cuffie ad Alta-Media-Bassa Impedenza. Il volume e la qualità di registrazione del microfono sono di altissima qualità, con un buon headset si riesce a riprodurre una voce cristallina e totalmente priva di disturbi, senza alterazioni nella riproduzione vocale che risulta fedele e non distorta. Software: Tutto questo è agevolato da un ottimo software proprietario, il Sonic Studio che offre la possibilità di personalizzazione dell'audio tramite Equalizzatore, Bass Boost, Voice Clarity e Compressor, con possibilità di abilitare un Virtual surround per altoparlanti ed headset stereo oppure di attivare e regolare il Riverbero a seconda dei gusti personali. Le impostazioni software per il microfono invece riguardano la regolazione di Noise Gate e Perfect Voice che consentono rispettivamente di eliminare via software i disturbi di sottofondo (come i click meccanici di una tastiera) e di rendere la voce chiara e cristallina. Queste features la rendono una scheda audio perfetta durante le sessioni gaming e anche di streaming con una riproduzione fedele dell'audio spaziale, netta distinzione tra audio di gioco e voicechat oltre che una ottima qualità del microfono con un'ottima potenza e fedeltà di riproduzione. Il software, come i driver di installazione sono compatibili con tutte le versioni di Windows, la scheda è stata testata su windows 10 dove non è sorto alcun problema di compatibilità driver/software, bisogna tuttavia ricordarsi di disinstallare i driver della shceda audio integrata e se possibile disabilitare la stessa da BIOS, procedure facoltative ma che garantiscono un corretto funzionamento lato software di qualunque dispositivo di input/output audio. Conclusioni: La qualità audio quindi è buona e sopra la media di schede integrate nelle motherboard e il prezzo relativamente contenuto (50-60€) la rendono un'ottima scelta specialmente per videogiocatori o per chi ama ascoltare la musica con una qualità degna di un buon impianto stereo o 5.1, ho testato diverse tracce a differenti livelli di volume con un impianto Edifier S330 e la scheda riesce a soddisfare le richieste di un audiofilo senza troppe pretese. E' una scheda che tuttavia sconsiglio a chi intende registrare con strumenti musicali dove si richiedono schede di altra fascia di prezzo e con diverse caratteristiche, è una scheda che ti da un boost qualitativo rispetto alle schede integrate e che ti permette di avere una lavorazione audio lontana dal case e da tutte le interferenze elettromagnetiche interno ad esso, l'estetica minimale e i pulsanti di facile accessibilità, uniti all'ottima fattura della plastica di rivestimento, rendono questa scheda audio una gradevole presenza sulla scrivania, inoltre la sua portatilità rende la stessa un'ottima alternativa per sostituire l'audio integrato nei notebook che spesso pecca di molto in fatto di qualità riproduttiva e di registrazione.