 If you take audio seriously then the onboard processing on many motherboards simply wont deliver an immersive enough experience. Today we look at the mid range solution in the new range from ASUS – dubbed the Strix RAID Pro. This card has full support for 7.1 surround sound. Asus have adopted an ‘audiophile grade DAC' and a 600 ohm headphone amplifier to enhance audio reproduction through your favourite cans. Initially I thought the word ‘RAID' in the product name may have had something to do with storage or installing the sound cards in multiple configurations – but we can put that theory to bed now. It appears to have more of an association with gamers, who like to ‘RAID' – that being a number of people attempting to defeat a boss monster or consecutive series of bosses. Silly names aside, the technical aspects of the hardware are certainly not lacking, especially when factoring in the modest £99.95 asking price. Our focus today on the ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 will be the first of three reviews we will be publishing over the coming weeks – this particular sound card slots in between the Strix SOAR entry level model and the Strix Raid DLX flagship sound card. ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 PCI-E Specifications:-
Why ‘Strix'? In the words of ASUS “Taken from the ancient Roman and Greek word for owl, Strix means the keenest hearing and sharpest eyesight. Strix means feeling your environment so that you detect and react to the slightest movement. Strix means survival on the very edge of instinct. Strix is in your blood, as it is in ours.” Very dramatic. While many people may argue the need for a volume control like this at all, there are times when gaming that you might want a little volume change either way, without needing to Alt Tab back into the Windows operating system to make that adjustment. The RAID MODE button is actually used to store and access one of four options:
The primary Box link connector is easier to spot, as ASUS have cleverly coloured this connector black. This is the main connector which interacts with the volume control box detailed earlier on the page. You are also able to easily apply equaliser settings along with bass boost, voice clarity and compressor sliders. Virtual surround options are offered in the lower section of the panel along with reverb and advanced plug ins. Game and Movie TestingI tested the ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 and Razer Tiamat Elite 7.1 headset with a wide cross section of games, including (but not limited to) Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain, Grand Theft Auto 5 And the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. As a general rule I have to admit to not being completely sold on 7.1 surround sound within the confines of a headphone. There are physical limitations, especially in regards to creating a realistic, wide sound stage and subsequent related imaging depth. That said, I was impressed with the positioning and scale of the sound stage in Grand Theft Auto 5. The Razer Tiamat is a great headset and it pairs up well with the ASUS Strix Raid Pro 7.1. Some games obviously don't have integrated support for full 7.1 surround but in this case there are settings you can tweak within the ASUS software to create a virtual surround wall. In reality you are likely to get mixed results using this method, although some people will enjoy playing with the wealth of options within the software itself. There is no doubt that if you have limited space and enjoy movies, then the ASUS Strix Raid Pro 7.1 is a great investment. The Razer Tiamat Elite 7.1 proved a solid partner when viewing Terminator Genisys at 1080p. The soundstage is still very restricted when compared against a proper 7.1 speaker setup but for the total asking price of £260 you are unlikely to get a better experience. Explosions, dialogue and ambient noises are distinctly positioned and never flatly placed between the left and right ear. I did find that adjusting the voice clarity slider helped enhance the center channel vocal a little, but it was heavily dependent on the way the movie was recorded. MP3 and FLAC 24 bit 192khz Audio TestingLast time I reviewed a sound card I used a Sennheiser HD800 £1,000 headphone and I received complaints from readers saying they could never buy new phones at this price – so I have aimed for something more attainable this time. The Bowers and Wilkins P7 headphones are available for £329.95 from Amazon (HERE) and are what I would consider a solid first step headphone into the ‘high end'. I do find them a little exaggerated in regards to bass response, but their colourful nature is actually what makes them exciting and most importantly enjoyable headphones to wear when listening to pop, rock and dance music. The P7 ear cups are a little small for me, but I do rate them highly. Other excellent headphones in a similar price bracket which deserve consideration are the Grado SR325e (£269 HERE) and AKG K712 Pro (£262 HERE). I listened to a wide array of music files, from poorly recorded 128 bit MP3's to Studio Master 24 bit 192kHz FLAC files purchased from various sites such as HDTracks and Linn Records in the United Kingdom. The TI TPA6120A2 headphone amplifier chip worked very well with the P7 headphones, creating an exciting synergy with a variety of music files. I analysed audio reproduction from the ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 and compared it against the onboard audio on a handful of motherboards from various manufacturers. In every instance it was clear that the ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 was the superior solution both in terms of dynamics, clarity and straightforward support for high resolution audio files. Amplification capabilitiesAsus have placed a lot of focus on the up to 600 ohm amplification capabilities of the TI TPA6120A2 headphone amplifier chip but the only way to truly test this was to try a wide variety of headphones in the real world. The best pairings were with Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser headphones such as the T1 and HD800 respectively – all rated as having a 300 ohm and 600 ohm impedance. The AKG K712 Pro also paired extremely well, with a 62 Ohm impedance. The very high 105dB sensitivity certainly helped produce high volume levels. There was no problem using the Audeze LCD although more demanding headphones such as the HiFi HE600 and Abyss 1266 proved too much for the onboard amplifier. While both produced some volume, the micro dynamics and soundstaging collapsed on both. To be fair these are both very demanding headphones that need a lot of power to truly sing, so it seems unfair to fault an inexpensive sound card. We can't imagine too many people will be buying a £99.95 ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 to partner up with a £4,000 pair of Abyss 1266 headphones. At the end of our testing we came to the conclusion that the ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 will handle almost every headphone on the market from budget gaming headphones to modestly priced audiophile grade models. High end specialist headphones will still need dedicated, and very expensive amplification to truly shine. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the Canon 1DX camera and Canon F2.8 24-70mm lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later. The headphone amplifier aspect of the ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 PCI-E deserves special mention. We analysed audio quality and impedance drive capabilities with a variety of headphones from companies such as Grado, Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, AKG and Bowers and Wilkins. The amplifier section is capable of powering all, but it will struggle with the most demanding headphones such as the HiFi Man HE600 or Abyss 1266. These are known as particularly difficult headphones to drive properly however and it seems a rather unlikely situation to be pairing up a £100 sound card with a £4,000 headphone. While I am not the kind of person to extoll the virtues of a surround sound configuration there is no doubt that when partnered up with a quality pair of Razer 7.1 gaming headphones, the overall experience was highly entertaining. These headphones do tend to stray into the bass heavy category at times, but with proper amplification they are also extremely punchy and focused. The headphones did not spring to life in quite the same way when powered by the onboard audio chip on the motherboards we sampled from our labs. If the ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 PCI-E cost £250 then I would look at the investment factor a little more closely. When you find out that it is for sale at £99.95 from Overclockers UK then it seems like a complete no brainer to me. If you already listen to well recorded music or want to watch a movie collection and play games then you simply do need to consider one of these as your next hardware treat. Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE. Pros:
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Kitguru says: The ASUS Strix RAID Pro 7.1 PCI-E is really a must have product if you value audio reproduction at all. The headphone amplifier deserves special mention – it is a huge upgrade from the onboard amplification of a motherboard. |
