ASUS Xonar Xense Audio Card & Headphones Review - PAGE 6

The Xonar Xense sound card and headset are an amazing pair. Their sound quality is definitely their biggest advantage. On no occasion did they sound as if they were pushed too far; all sounds at all frequencies were crystal clear and the distortion was kept very low. The onboard amplifier does an impeccable work and that is mainly why this bundle sounds so great. It's important to mention that the sound card can not only handle the PC350, though. Its amplification modes go up to +18dB, which corresponds to a 6300% gain! According to the Audio Center, it's recommended for up to 600Ω headsets.

In gaming, even the most subtile sounds were audible; never again will footsteps be unheard. That definitely gives an advantage to the player. There is one area where the Xonar Xense does not perform all that well, though: surround sound. No stereo headset has been able to impress me when it comes to differentiating front and back noise sources. For this purpose, true surround sound configurations are clearly better.

Furthermore, the recording quality of the PC350 was great. The voices are captured crystal clear, so that's another advantage for gamers who communicate online.

There is one thing that could be improved, though, but it's not a hardware issue. In Neoseeker's test bench case, running the integrated Realtek audio card together with one Xonar wasn't a problem, but things weren't so simple with two Xonars together. There is only going to be one audio center starting up, and one soundcard will simply not work. Since the Xonar Xense actually lacks some features, namely the Karaoke, Accoustics Echo Cancellation and the VocalFX modes, it did make sense to keep the previously tested Xonar DG in the same computer.

Overall, the Xonar Xense is an incredible package, be it for listening to music, gaming or watching movies. At $280, it's definitely not the most affordable solution, but finding a separate soundcard and headset that sound as good as this bundle in the same price range would be a tough mission, if not impossible. As it stands, ASUS and Sennheiser really did a great job with this product.