If any branding in the technology industry is renowned for not pulling punches, the Republic of Gamers would be of the first that springs to mind and the ROG Phoebus is no exception.
Product on Review: ASUS Republic of Gamers Xonar Phoebus
Manufacturer and Sponsor: ASUS
Street Price: £150 (At time of Review)
ASUS and the Xonar team have very much solidified their position as serious players in the audio industry. It wasn’t a surprise when it was announced that the ROG branding would be used to deliver a hard hitting, top spec sound card specifically aimed at gamers. Enter the ASUS ROG Xonar Phoebus, named after the God of Music. Though this card does not serve as a successor or replacement to the audiophile favourite, Xonar Essence STX, the ROG branding may give the layperson peace of mind knowing that what lies under the hood is sure to deliver a crisp audio storm fit for any occasion with specific considerations to the gamer. Let’s not linger on the alliterate citation and commence the testing that is set forth!
Overview by ASUS
The Republic of Gamers is committed to helping you win more through superior audio power, precise positioning, and lifelike immersion; the perfect aids for those critical online shooter moments. Opposing snipers hide in the dark, taking advantage of cover to keep you suppressed? It’s time to get your team on the offensive with powerful and precise battleground audio intelligence – thanks to advanced Xonar sound hardware. No more confusion or uncertainty. Clear audio turns you into a virtual online gaming general, and paves the way to victory.
Superior audio detection and positioning make gamers equipped with ROG audio gear true champions. Developed using real life insight from full-time players and refined by the expertise of the Xonar team, the ultimate goal here is to help you win! Built for the most dedicated gamers, ROG audio products are committed to win-boosting features, from clear communications to precision detection that amplifies every footstep taken by opponents. No more sneaking around or getting stealth-flanked!
Superior audio detection and positioning make gamers equipped with ROG audio gear true champions. Developed using real life insight from full-time players and refined by the expertise of the Xonar team, the ultimate goal here is to help you win! Built for the most dedicated gamers, ROG audio products are committed to win-boosting features, from clear communications to precision detection that amplifies every footstep taken by opponents. No more sneaking around or getting stealth-flanked!
Features & Specifications
Specifications
Audio Performance
Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Front-out): 118 dB
Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Headphone-out): 110 dB
Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 118 dB
Output THD+N at 1kHz (Front-out): 0.00039 %(-108 dB)
Output THD+N at 1kHz (Headphone-out): 0.001 %(300 dB)
Input THD+N at 1kHz: 0.0003 %(-110 dB)
Frequency Response (-3dB, 24bit/96KHz input): 10 Hz to 48 KHz
Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage:
Unbalanced Output: 2.2 Vrms (3 Vp-p)
Headphone: 7 Vrms (9.9 Vp-p)
Bus Compatibility
PCI Express
Chipset
Audio Processor: C-Media CMI8888 DHT High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 192kHz/24bit)
Sample Rate and Resolution
Analog Playback Sample Rate and Resolution:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
Analog Recording Sample Rate and Resolution:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
S/PDIF Digital Output:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
S/PDIF Digital Input:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
ASIO 2.2 Driver Support:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit with very low latency
I/O Ports
Analog Output Jack:
5 x 3.5mm RCA jack
Analog Input Jack:
2 x 3.5mm RCA jack
1 x Digital S/PDIF Output: 1 x Toslink
1 x Box link
Other line-level analog input (for CD-IN/TV Tuner): 4-pin header on the card
Special Features
Dolby® Technologies: Dolby® Home Theater v4
Smart Volume Normalizer™
Xear Surround™
Magic Voice™
FlexBass™
GX 3.0 Game Audio Engine
Accessories
Control box x 1
Driver CD x 1
Quick Start Guide x 1
S/PDIF adaptor x 1
ATX 4P-to-6P power cable x 1
Note
*Dolby Home Theater v4 supports Windows® 7 only.
Audio Performance
Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Front-out): 118 dB
Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Headphone-out): 110 dB
Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 118 dB
Output THD+N at 1kHz (Front-out): 0.00039 %(-108 dB)
Output THD+N at 1kHz (Headphone-out): 0.001 %(300 dB)
Input THD+N at 1kHz: 0.0003 %(-110 dB)
Frequency Response (-3dB, 24bit/96KHz input): 10 Hz to 48 KHz
Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage:
Unbalanced Output: 2.2 Vrms (3 Vp-p)
Headphone: 7 Vrms (9.9 Vp-p)
Bus Compatibility
PCI Express
Chipset
Audio Processor: C-Media CMI8888 DHT High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 192kHz/24bit)
Sample Rate and Resolution
Analog Playback Sample Rate and Resolution:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
Analog Recording Sample Rate and Resolution:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
S/PDIF Digital Output:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
S/PDIF Digital Input:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit
ASIO 2.2 Driver Support:
44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit with very low latency
I/O Ports
Analog Output Jack:
5 x 3.5mm RCA jack
Analog Input Jack:
2 x 3.5mm RCA jack
1 x Digital S/PDIF Output: 1 x Toslink
1 x Box link
Other line-level analog input (for CD-IN/TV Tuner): 4-pin header on the card
Special Features
Dolby® Technologies: Dolby® Home Theater v4
Smart Volume Normalizer™
Xear Surround™
Magic Voice™
FlexBass™
GX 3.0 Game Audio Engine
Accessories
Control box x 1
Driver CD x 1
Quick Start Guide x 1
S/PDIF adaptor x 1
ATX 4P-to-6P power cable x 1
Note
*Dolby Home Theater v4 supports Windows® 7 only.
Precise positioning and lifelike immersion
Get the drop on opponents with improved audio positioning and bask in game music with crystal-clear 118dB SNR sound. All done by the creators of Xonar Xense (2011 CES Innovations Award winner) and Xonar Essence One (2012 CES Innovations Award winner). The commitment of the Xonar team delivers leading-performance gaming products, merged with the excitement of a unique, stylish and gamer-focused design. ROG Xonar Phoebus, named after the Greek god of the sun and music, comes with exclusive ROG Command technology, Hyper Grounding technology, EMI-shielding and top notch components, combined with the latest Dolby® surround enhancement to ensure you hear exactly what game designers want you to hear.
ROG Command Technology Boosts In-game Voice
Environmental noise cancelation
Beyond excellent sound quality, ROG Xonar Phoebus gives you clean and seamless communications for a totally immersive experience. World-exclusive ROG Command technology was specifically developed by the Xonar team to bring effective noise cancelation to a gaming soundcard set. Intelligent sound detection algorithms and array microphones (two on the dedicated control box) enable up to 50% ambient noise reduction, effectively turning loud locations such as LAN parties into something as quiet as a library.
Excellent sound quality
With external microphone
A smart algorithm analyzes sound detected by both the external microphone and one of the micro-mics on the control box to cancel out environmental noise.
Without external microphone
Array microphones on the control box form a virtual 30ﾟcone of precise voice capture.
Embrace Exceptional Sound Quality for the Win
-118dB Clarity SNR
-Up to 4X audio clarity compared with the SNR ratios of competing gaming audio cards.
-Hyper Grounding technology
-Noise-blocking multi-layer PCB designed with decades of ASUS professional layout experience.
Digital to Analog Converter (DAC)
The PCM1796 digital-to-analog converter on ROG Xonar Phoebus delivers clear and crisp 118dB SNR high fidelity audio. The new soundcard therefore outperforms competing gaming audio products by a factor of four, and onboard audio by an impressive 32 times. It also excels in total harmonic distortion (THD) performance, with a miniscule 0.00039% of sound output experiencing distortion.
EMI Shielding
Stylish and efficient EMI shield blocks electromagnetic interference to help provide cleaner audio
Headphone Amplifier
Since many gamers choose to refrain from disturbing others while insisting on the best sound quality, ROG and Xonar teams integrated the top-flight TPA6120A2 headphone amplifier on ROG Xonar Phoebus, driving up to 600 ohm impedance for genuinely impactful headphone output.
3 Headphone Gain Settings
Three different gain settings cater to various headphone impedance levels, with aesthetic lighting that changes accordingly: blue for ‹64 ohms and red for the two settings over 64 ohms.
Hassle-Free Headset Connections
Clad in the trademark ROG red and black color scheme, the ROG Xonar Phoebus control box offers gamers improved response and convenience. Connected to the card via the back I/O, the control box can be placed on the desk so it remains within easy reach. The control box further offers microphone and headphone connectors, making it possible to use even short-wired headsets with ease, as it brings the connectors closer to gamers.
Instant Volume Tuning
Gamers can easily adjust volume and one-click mute quickly without bringing up game or operating system menus, or having to hunt around for display remote controls.
Illuminated Gold-Plated Jacks
Gold-plated jacks ensure greater durability. To help with gaming in the dark, the control box headphone-out lights up green, while the microphone-in glows red!
New Xonar Audio Center
The latest Xonar audio center brings great sound combined with the spirit of ROG to provide gamers impactful and precise audio control delivered in style. It is designed with a range of effortless adjustment features: with one-click ease, gamers can access features such as I/O settings, volume, game effects, and digital siginal processor (DSP) mode selection. The spacious and intuitive interface further delivers a completely user friendly experience, and gamers can also enable Dolby® Home Theater V4 with a click.
Realistic Surround and Enhanced Sound
New Dolby® Home Theater V4 enhances surround sound with improved processing and playback.
Realistic surround
Surround decoder; converts 2-channel audio sources to multi-channel. Experience immersive audio through multi-channel playback
Surround virtualizer ― delivers stunning virtual surround playback for standard stereo headphones or speakers
Sound enhancement
Intelligent equalizer ― allows users to adjust tone dynamically with easy visual controls
Dialogue enhancer ― improves premium clarity for in-game communications
Volume leveler ― helps maintain chosen volume consistently across audio sources
GX 3.0 Game Audio Engine
The GX 3.0 game audio engine boosts your performance with better legacy EAX® compatibility and immersive surround sound enhancement
Packaging & Accessories
The packaging pretends to be none other than a true Republic of Gamers product, with styling not amiss from the motherboard series complete with an opening to see the product inside. Along the bottom we see an uncluttered row of supported features.
The rear of the box reveals information and detailed specifications as well as information about the included control box.
Inside the box was a black plastic blister holding the sound card and control box. Underneath was black foam padding and the sleek black packet which contained the multilingual quickstart guide and driver disc. Other accessories included was a molex to 6pin PCIe adaptor and a S/PDIF adaptor.
The control box is for use with the dedicated headphone amp and mic and allows for easy access to primary windows volume control, quick mute, as well as featuring an integrated noise cancelling microphone.
Closer Look
The aluminium EMI shield is reminiscent of the ROG Matrix graphics cards, stlyish and functional.
Here we find a 6pin PCIe power connector, S/PDIF output and a 4pin aux input. There is no front panel audio header on this card which may be a loss to some.
Left to right we have mic in, headphone out, box link, line in, front out, centre/sub out, rear out and finally a combo side/SPDIF out.
Removing the EMI shield we can see some elaborate electronic wizardry with gold capacitors everywhere and an additional copper EMI shield to isolate the headphone amp circuitry.
On the left we can see a trio of 5532 opamps, not the highest end component but they offer excellent quality sound. Just to the right of the 5532s we can see the 2114 opamp that is used for the front speaker channel which is more of a generic opamp and was seen on the front channel on the Creative Sound Blaster Z too.
In the bottom right there is the audio processing unit which is the C-Media 8888HT which has a native PCIe controller and on the far left we can find the CS4362 Digital-to-Analogue converter which is for the rear/side/centre/sub channels. Hiding behind the two gold capacitors is the PCM1796 DAC for the front channel.
Just to the right of the solid capacitor is the CS5381 Analogue to Digital convertor which is popular for its high quality conversion and noise filtering.
The dedicated headphone circuitry uses another PCM 1796 DAC, 2114 opamps and at the top nearest the edge is the TA6120A2. This setup is similar to ASUS’ other dedicated headphone amp designs.
Software
The ASUS Phoebus software is stylish and easy to use, focusing more on the setup and control of your input/output, while the Dolby Home Theatre application gives you a competent equaliser. As to why ASUS chose to spread functionality over two individual applications seems slightly confusing but it isn’t a big issue.
Testing: RMAA, Games, Music & Movies
RMAA suite is designed for testing quality of analog and digital paths of any audio devices, be it a sound card, an MP3 player, a consumer CD/DVD player or an acoustic set. The results are obtained by playing and recording test signals passed through the tested audio path by means of frequency analysis algorithms. A more common mark is also provided for those unfamiliar with measured technical parameters.
16 bit 44kHz
24 bit 96kHz
Games, Music and Movies
Battlefield 3 was initially a sore spot for the Phoebus as there were driver issues relating to punkbuster that caused CTDs and the like, though using the latest driver (still a beta mind…) I never encountered any issues nor drop outs and simply enjoyed crystal clear, immersive audio. Sounds such as reloading your rifle gave acute detail and explosions were impressive enough to startle. Deus Ex: Human Revolution caused cutis anserina with detailed delicate sounds that were vivid and enthralling. Gunfights were more interesting and NPC responses in the background were clearly heard.
Listening to music proved excellent as low mid and high ranged tones were reproduced, likely, to the limitation of my speaker setup. Listening to Tom McRae’s Walking to Hawaii is pretty special, while I could describe the clarity of the acoustic guitar, bass and voice, each sounding great, the crazy strings were simply spellbinding and had a dimension that is only comparable to the live performance. Flesh Field’s Uprising gave edgy electric guitars over a thumping electronic kick. No distortion or anomalies present.
Watching movies using the Phoebus really gave a new lease of life when compared to onboard solutions. Having jacks for a 7.1 surround out as well as S/PDIF gives great flexibility to how this sound card could be used. Giving noticeable direction to each sound source across all channels made watching movies an enjoyable experience. While some audiophiles may stick their thumbs down at no native 6.3mm jack, the versatile array offered does give a lot of options. For those looking to upgrade their sound, it is nigh on impossible to justify the cost of something like the Phoebus if you already own a recent mid-high end card as more often than not, an upgrade in speakers will likely net better audio quality. However, owners of older mid range sound cards with plenty of spare cash may well seriously consider the Phoebus being their next big buy. Needless to say, the Phoebus made watching movies such as Avatar and Megamind enjoyable and did give a recognisable improvement over my aging Creative X-FI Extream Music.
Conclusion
ASUS are well known for their relentless innovation and the ROG brand often represents the pinnacle of their exploits. Strangely the Phoebus seems to be a bit of a missed opportunity in the sense that it is not a successor nor replacement for the Xonar Essence STX and in some aspects is slightly inferior. While it could be considered that ‘Gamers’ demands may be less than that of the ‘Audiophile’, it seems strange that they have not gone all out to deliver an ultra top end, versatile sound card that would be appreciated by gamers, audiophiles and HT enthusiasts alike. After all, many people may fall into all three categories and restricting the choice between ‘one or the other’ only leads to market confusion. Having a clear ‘this is our top end product’ would result in something that people would desire and pay the asking price for.
In consideration to the actual target audience, without a doubt, this is the best sound card a gamer can buy and it could cost a substantial amount more to buy the speakers or headset to really take advantage of its performance. It offers amazing audio quality with versatility and control over virtually every audial aspect. The software is stylish and easy to use, though seems a little annoying to have to use two separate applications. The Xonar Phoebus supports a full 7.1 surround sound setup which can be left untouched should you want to plug in headphones. The dedicated headphone circuitry is impressive, though the card does not feature an internal front panel audio header, the control box breakout semi-makes up for it and will appeal to many people who use headphones or a headset. Those looking to upgrade their audio, the integrated mic on the control box may allow you to focus on buying a top notch pair of headphones rather than a headset, which is a nice touch.
Audio quality aside, the stylish design and finishing touches, such as the lit up ‘Xonar Phoebus’ on the side that changes colour with increased headphone impedance and the lit up green and red jacks for the headphone/microphone, really make this product stand out, not to mention the triple bang branding that is a bit of a mouthful to say (A little like my long sentences). For those reasons the ‘ASUS Republic of Gamers Xonar Phoebus’ deserves none other than the Vortez Gold award.
Pros.
+ High quality components and design
+ Excellent audio performance
+ Top end 600ohm TPA6120A2 headphone amplifier
+ Included headphone control box with integrated mic
Cons.
– ‘Gamer’ concessions were made
+ High quality components and design
+ Excellent audio performance
+ Top end 600ohm TPA6120A2 headphone amplifier
+ Included headphone control box with integrated mic
Cons.
– ‘Gamer’ concessions were made
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to ASUS for providing today’s review sample.
