• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

ASUS Intros the Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition

Joined
Dec 6, 2011
Messages
4,784 (1.06/day)
Location
Still on the East Side
The ASUS Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition USB digital-to-analog converter and headphone amplifier carries on the award-winning tradition established by previous Xonar Essence products. It includes acclaimed MUSES 01 Op-Amps from New Japan Radio Co. Ltd., generating bigger, bolder, and livelier sound to meet the highest audiophile standards. The product maintains a swappable Op-Amp approach, and includes highlights such as WIMA capacitors, linear power delivery, XLR connectors, symmetrical 8X upsampling, a dedicated 600ohm headphone amplifier, and 120dB SNR. Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition proves ASUS Xonar products continue to lead the way in marrying audiophile-grade hardware with PC-based multimedia.

Follow up to winner of CES Innovations Awards
The latest Xonar offering improves on Xonar Essence One, winner of a 2012 CES Innovations Award in the audio component category. Xonar engineers and product managers continuously aim to improve sound quality, resulting in Xonar Essence One Plus Edition launching in June 2012 with an Op-Amp DIY kit, which allows customers to easily tune sound to their preference. The third Xonar Essence One offering, Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition maintains this pursuit of sound excellence, integrating some of the best audio components in the industry.





MUSES 01 Op-Amps help deliver premium audio
Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition includes six MUSES 01 Op-Amps, produced by the New Japan Radio Company. MUSES 01 are the top-of-the-line Op-Amps from the brand, which is considered a leader in quality audio components. Together with ASUS Xonar engineering, MUSES 01 Op-Amps take audio to new levels, with lifelike reproduction capturing every nuance.

Swappable Op-Amp design caters to most demanding audiophiles
Xonar Essence products have garnered greatly positive response from the audio enthusiast community and professional media, chiefly due to their DIY-friendly changeable Op-Amp arrangement. Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition presents the result of close cooperation between Xonar audio experts and one of the world's most respected sound component providers, creating a premium USB DAC that challenges market standards. Xonar audio engineers chose MUSES 01 Op-Amps for their impressive sound, as they furnish multi-faceted audio quality and are capable of satisfying the most discerning audiophiles. In preparing to combine ASUS Xonar Essence One hardware with MUSES 01 Op-Amps, engineers worked hard to optimize audio reproduction. New Japan Radio team members were very impressed with Xonar Essence One hardware:

"We've been constantly looking for well-designed audio devices to really make MUSES shine, and found the ASUS Xonar team has the expertise to create them. What really impressed us was their focus on the digital, PC-based audio realm", said Ichiro Kashiwagi, Second Marketing Department Manager, Semiconductor Sales and Marketing Division, New Japan Radio Company.

Op-Amps critical to quality audio
Operational amplifiers, or Op-Amps, serve to amplify analog signals and define tone, treble, and timbre. MUSES 01 components are notable as the first to use oxygen-free copper interconnects, allowing for better circuit conductivity and thus improved reproduction. They use exclusive fabrication techniques, including advanced symmetry die-bonding, a custom layout that lowers component crosstalk and generates better-balanced left/right channel symmetry. It is one of the main features responsible for the wider sound fields offered by Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition.

Xonar advantages produce the Essence of high-fidelity audio
In addition to premium MUSES 01 Op-Amps, Xonar Essence hardware employs genuine audiophile-grade design throughout. Symmetrical 8X 32-bit upsampling and a built-in 600ohm headphone amplifier boost personal audio enjoyment. An internal linear power supply ensures excellent voltage regulation, while Hyper Grounding technology is employed to reduce noise, resulting in an impressive SNR of 120 dB. For capacitors, Xonar Essence USB DACs use German-made and audiophile-respected WIMA parts. Engineers have also added optical, S/PDIF, and USB inputs, featuring asynchronous data transfer for low jitter alongside fully-balanced XLR and single-ended outputs. All these features mean Xonar Essence products create balanced and true to life sound.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Messages
1,194 (0.27/day)
Location
Arcadia
System Name Xeon build X58 / Main Rig X79
Processor Intel Xeon x5650 @ 4.2Ghz with HT / Xeon E5 1650 v2 @4.5Ghz
Motherboard Asus Rampage II Extreme socket 1366 / Asus P9X79 Pro socket 2011
Cooling Thermalright Archon +Ty 140mm|Fans : 2 front-1top-1rear-1bottom/ Gelid Phantom Twin Tower
Memory 16gb DDR3 1600mhz Kingstone Hyper x Quad Channel / 16gb DDR3 1600MHZ Patriot Viper 3
Video Card(s) Sapphire hd 7950 3gb Boost edition dual fan X / ZOTAC 1080 Ti Blower Edition
Storage Kingstone AV400ssd 120gb+Seagate B 2Tb+WD g 1tb+WD g 3tb+WD r 3tb+Seagate B 4tb+Lexar 2Tb NVMe
Display(s) AOC E2460S 24" 1080p 60hz 1ms / LG 32UK550B 32" UHD 4K HDR 10 with Freesync
Case Enermax Phoenix / Fractal Design Arc midi
Audio Device(s) SoundMaxHD+5.1 BHT1100 BLUESKY,Fiio E10 Olympus+SuperluxHD668b+KZ HBB pr2,Superlux E205.
Power Supply Sharkoon WPM Gold Zero 650W semi modular / Corsair RM 850 Fully Modular
Mouse Generic Mice / Corsair M90
Keyboard Generic Keyboard / Microsoft WK600
Software Windows 10 Pro 64 /Windows 10 Pro 64
this reminds me of a guy on tpu tells me this and external amp are not good for senheiser hd 650 tha are 300ohm headphone not rubt at full power with 600ohm headphone amp? its the double how they dont headle it? after all good external soundcard.
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Messages
751 (0.17/day)
System Name My PC
Processor i7 4790k @4.4ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte z97m-d3h
Cooling Corsair H105
Memory 4x4GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133-9-11-11-31-1T
Video Card(s) GTX970 Stric oc
Storage Samsung 840Pro 512GB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT
Case Lian Li 359
Audio Device(s) Denon DA-300USB / Denon AH-D5000
Power Supply Corsair AX860
Mouse Roccat Kone Pure Optical
Keyboard Corsair K70
Software Win10 64-bit home
Captain Harlock, Asus is not a company that is known for its hi-fi equipment. All they do is sound cards... The guy you mention probably ment that no Asus or Creative sound equipment could match the quality of the device required to pair with a HD650 and if that is the case, he was right.

Personally I have a Creative X-fi titanium HD and if i use my headphones directly on it it doesnt sound as good (in many aspects) as using a real amplifier first. It all depends on how good your amp and headphones are though, and also how your ears are able to identify (and be bothered) by the difference.

I thought I should give you a link to a hi-fi website that give only 3/5 stars to Asus Xonar One http://www.whathifi.com/review/xonar-essence-one , at 350£ it should do better than just "short of detail and ragged at frequency extremes" as at this price you can buy some damn good headphone amp from a real hi-fi company.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Messages
751 (0.17/day)
System Name My PC
Processor i7 4790k @4.4ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte z97m-d3h
Cooling Corsair H105
Memory 4x4GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133-9-11-11-31-1T
Video Card(s) GTX970 Stric oc
Storage Samsung 840Pro 512GB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT
Case Lian Li 359
Audio Device(s) Denon DA-300USB / Denon AH-D5000
Power Supply Corsair AX860
Mouse Roccat Kone Pure Optical
Keyboard Corsair K70
Software Win10 64-bit home
After reading the TPU review on this device I am intrigued to buy some other op-amps for my X-fi card... I never bothered to do that in the past years...
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
412 (0.08/day)
System Name ARiA
Processor AMD Ryzen 3600
Motherboard MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz C16 DDR4 (2x16GB)
Video Card(s) Nvidia RTX 2070 Super FE
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe (1TB), 850 EVO SATA (500GB), WD Ultrastar (6TB)
Display(s) Asus VG279 144 Hz IPS
Case Fractal Design Define R6
Audio Device(s) Chord Hugo 2 to lots of headphones
Power Supply Seasonic Prime+ 850W Gold
Mouse Steelseries Rival 600
Software Windows 10 Pro
I wonder how much they are going to charge extra for a simple opamp swap.

From the looks of it, my LME49720HA is superior is all sides.
 
Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Messages
1,194 (0.27/day)
Location
Arcadia
System Name Xeon build X58 / Main Rig X79
Processor Intel Xeon x5650 @ 4.2Ghz with HT / Xeon E5 1650 v2 @4.5Ghz
Motherboard Asus Rampage II Extreme socket 1366 / Asus P9X79 Pro socket 2011
Cooling Thermalright Archon +Ty 140mm|Fans : 2 front-1top-1rear-1bottom/ Gelid Phantom Twin Tower
Memory 16gb DDR3 1600mhz Kingstone Hyper x Quad Channel / 16gb DDR3 1600MHZ Patriot Viper 3
Video Card(s) Sapphire hd 7950 3gb Boost edition dual fan X / ZOTAC 1080 Ti Blower Edition
Storage Kingstone AV400ssd 120gb+Seagate B 2Tb+WD g 1tb+WD g 3tb+WD r 3tb+Seagate B 4tb+Lexar 2Tb NVMe
Display(s) AOC E2460S 24" 1080p 60hz 1ms / LG 32UK550B 32" UHD 4K HDR 10 with Freesync
Case Enermax Phoenix / Fractal Design Arc midi
Audio Device(s) SoundMaxHD+5.1 BHT1100 BLUESKY,Fiio E10 Olympus+SuperluxHD668b+KZ HBB pr2,Superlux E205.
Power Supply Sharkoon WPM Gold Zero 650W semi modular / Corsair RM 850 Fully Modular
Mouse Generic Mice / Corsair M90
Keyboard Generic Keyboard / Microsoft WK600
Software Windows 10 Pro 64 /Windows 10 Pro 64
Captain Harlock, Asus is not a company that is known for its hi-fi equipment. All they do is sound cards... The guy you mention probably ment that no Asus or Creative sound equipment could match the quality of the device required to pair with a HD650 and if that is the case, he was right.

Personally I have a Creative X-fi titanium HD and if i use my headphones directly on it it doesnt sound as good (in many aspects) as using a real amplifier first. It all depends on how good your amp and headphones are though, and also how your ears are able to identify (and be bothered) by the difference.

I thought I should give you a link to a hi-fi website that give only 3/5 stars to Asus Xonar One http://www.whathifi.com/review/xonar-essence-one , at 350£ it should do better than just "short of detail and ragged at frequency extremes" as at this price you can buy some damn good headphone amp from a real hi-fi company.

this is not a normal sound card is and headphone amplifire for power 600oms headphones, you tell asus lie? they give fake specifics? learn than the price of most things like audiophile stuff are for a little piece of marlket so for grow up money the price for most things is high with specs out of the human ear , creative looks good but have one of the baddest support for old cards ,asus is different like auzentech.
 
Joined
Jun 17, 2007
Messages
7,335 (1.20/day)
Location
C:\Program Files (x86)\Aphexdreamer\
System Name Unknown
Processor AMD Bulldozer FX8320 @ 4.4Ghz
Motherboard Asus Crosshair V
Cooling XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 for CPU
Memory 8 GB CORSAIR Vengeance Red DDR3 RAM 1922mhz (10-11-9-27)
Video Card(s) XFX R9 290
Storage Samsung SSD 254GB and Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Display(s) AOC 23" @ 1920x1080 + Asus 27" 1440p
Case HAF X
Audio Device(s) X Fi Titanium 5.1 Surround Sound
Power Supply 750 Watt PP&C Silencer Black
Software Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
So would it be wise for me to use my Fiio E6 with my sennhiesier 598's on my Xfi Titanium?

Cause I'v just been using them directly with no amp.
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Messages
751 (0.17/day)
System Name My PC
Processor i7 4790k @4.4ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte z97m-d3h
Cooling Corsair H105
Memory 4x4GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133-9-11-11-31-1T
Video Card(s) GTX970 Stric oc
Storage Samsung 840Pro 512GB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT
Case Lian Li 359
Audio Device(s) Denon DA-300USB / Denon AH-D5000
Power Supply Corsair AX860
Mouse Roccat Kone Pure Optical
Keyboard Corsair K70
Software Win10 64-bit home
So would it be wise for me to use my Fiio E6 with my sennhiesier 598's on my Xfi Titanium?

Cause I'v just been using them directly with no amp.

I think that a £20 portable amp wont make a difference in quality, but if the Creative soundcard you have can't give enough volume to your headphones, then you should use the amp.

As for what Capitan Harlock asnwered, I actually might have misunderstood what he initially wrote. But the only certain thing is that any of Asus/Creative/auzentech are entry-level audiophile solutions.
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Messages
1,308 (0.20/day)
So would it be wise for me to use my Fiio E6 with my sennhiesier 598's on my Xfi Titanium?

Cause I'v just been using them directly with no amp.

No since the 598s are very easy to power. Adding the FiiO will degrade the sound quality. The headphone amplifiers are intended for use with hard to power headphones, like the HD 6/7/8xx series headphones from Sennheiser or any other headphone with very high power requirements.
 
Joined
Mar 6, 2009
Messages
5,976 (1.09/day)
Location
Cybertron aka Canada
Processor Intel Core i5-3570K
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V Pro
Cooling Noctua NH-D14
Memory 8GB Mushkin Blackline DDR3-1600
Video Card(s) Gigabyte GTX 670
Storage Intel 520 60GB, Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB
Display(s) BenQ 24" XL2420T
Case Corsair 550D
Audio Device(s) Sennheiser HD600, Audeze LCD-3F, Mytek Stereo 192 DSD, La Figaro 339, Burson HA-160, Geek Pulse X
Power Supply Corsair AX650
Mouse steelseries Sensei MLG edition
Keyboard Cooler Master QuickFire Pro
Software Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium
the retail price is $899

6moons has a preview

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/asus/1.html

I think you can do better with a dedicated DA converter and Headphone amp at $600-700. Asus hasn't changed the DA converter in the Muse Edition and once you get to $1000 you are looking at Wadia, Lavry, Benchmark, Wyred4Sound, etc. so a lot to live up to...
 
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
1,380 (0.29/day)
System Name Desktop
Processor Intel Xeon E5-1680v2
Motherboard ASUS Sabertooth X79
Cooling Intel AIO
Memory 8x4GB DDR3 1866MHz
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 970 SC
Storage Crucial MX500 1TB + 2x WD RE 4TB HDD
Display(s) HP ZR24w
Case Fractal Define XL Black
Audio Device(s) Schiit Modi Uber/Sony CDP-XA20ES/Pioneer CT-656>Sony TA-F630ESD>Sennheiser HD600
Power Supply Corsair HX850
Mouse Logitech G603
Keyboard Logitech G613
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
the retail price is $899

6moons has a preview

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/asus/1.html

I think you can do better with a dedicated DA converter and Headphone amp at $600-700. Asus hasn't changed the DA converter in the Muse Edition and once you get to $1000 you are looking at Wadia, Lavry, Benchmark, Wyred4Sound, etc. so a lot to live up to...

Indeed, it really has to deliver for that price, because at around $800+ there are a lot of quality DAC/Amps to choose from (been looking at Shiit DAC/Amp for quite some time, only heard good things about them).
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Messages
1,308 (0.20/day)
Why do you think the Schiit is better? I have not seen any comparative reviews or in-depth reviews of any of the devices yet. It is so far purely speculative what performance levels the MUSES offers and what the Schiit DAC/amp offers.
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Messages
751 (0.17/day)
System Name My PC
Processor i7 4790k @4.4ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte z97m-d3h
Cooling Corsair H105
Memory 4x4GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133-9-11-11-31-1T
Video Card(s) GTX970 Stric oc
Storage Samsung 840Pro 512GB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT
Case Lian Li 359
Audio Device(s) Denon DA-300USB / Denon AH-D5000
Power Supply Corsair AX860
Mouse Roccat Kone Pure Optical
Keyboard Corsair K70
Software Win10 64-bit home
Well I was about to buy an Audiolab M-DAC but i'm not in a hurry to spend £600 so I will wait for some reviews of this new Asus DAC which at least looks cool from the outside!
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
412 (0.08/day)
System Name ARiA
Processor AMD Ryzen 3600
Motherboard MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz C16 DDR4 (2x16GB)
Video Card(s) Nvidia RTX 2070 Super FE
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe (1TB), 850 EVO SATA (500GB), WD Ultrastar (6TB)
Display(s) Asus VG279 144 Hz IPS
Case Fractal Design Define R6
Audio Device(s) Chord Hugo 2 to lots of headphones
Power Supply Seasonic Prime+ 850W Gold
Mouse Steelseries Rival 600
Software Windows 10 Pro
I had a look at the datasheet of the MUSES, and it was far from spectacular. If they are charging that much more for a simple opamp swap, even though they are charging £34 each for some reason.
 
Joined
Mar 6, 2009
Messages
5,976 (1.09/day)
Location
Cybertron aka Canada
Processor Intel Core i5-3570K
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V Pro
Cooling Noctua NH-D14
Memory 8GB Mushkin Blackline DDR3-1600
Video Card(s) Gigabyte GTX 670
Storage Intel 520 60GB, Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB
Display(s) BenQ 24" XL2420T
Case Corsair 550D
Audio Device(s) Sennheiser HD600, Audeze LCD-3F, Mytek Stereo 192 DSD, La Figaro 339, Burson HA-160, Geek Pulse X
Power Supply Corsair AX650
Mouse steelseries Sensei MLG edition
Keyboard Cooler Master QuickFire Pro
Software Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium
funny thing about the Essence One.. a lot of the poor reviews come from HiFi publications and the positive ones.. PC Tech haha
 
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
1,380 (0.29/day)
System Name Desktop
Processor Intel Xeon E5-1680v2
Motherboard ASUS Sabertooth X79
Cooling Intel AIO
Memory 8x4GB DDR3 1866MHz
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 970 SC
Storage Crucial MX500 1TB + 2x WD RE 4TB HDD
Display(s) HP ZR24w
Case Fractal Define XL Black
Audio Device(s) Schiit Modi Uber/Sony CDP-XA20ES/Pioneer CT-656>Sony TA-F630ESD>Sennheiser HD600
Power Supply Corsair HX850
Mouse Logitech G603
Keyboard Logitech G613
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
Why do you think the Schiit is better? I have not seen any comparative reviews or in-depth reviews of any of the devices yet. It is so far purely speculative what performance levels the MUSES offers and what the Schiit DAC/amp offers.

I didn't say the Shiit is better, I only said that Asus must deliver because there is a ton of options in it's price range (it's not a unique product like the Xonar Essence is/was) ;)
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
5,614 (1.07/day)
Location
San Diego, CA
System Name White Boy
Processor Core i7 3770k @4.6 Ghz
Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe
Cooling CORSAIR H100
Memory CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB @ 2177
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 680 CLASSIEFIED @ 1250 Core
Storage 2 Samsung 830 256 GB (Raid 0) 1 Hitachi 4 TB
Display(s) 1 Dell 30U11 30"
Case BIT FENIX Prodigy
Audio Device(s) none
Power Supply SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W Modular
Software Windows Pro 7 64 bit || Ubuntu 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores 2017 Unigine Heaven :: P37239 3D Mark Vantage
I remember seeing this I am surprised it took this long to come out.
 
Top