When ASUS entered the world of sound cards, the company had a plan of execution, but of course, things don’t always go perfect.
Xonar AV-1 faced numerous delays as ASUS engineers are learning how to create drivers for the professional segment, and the part still isn’t available on market. But, according to some sources, the card should be ready by CES/NAMM (mid-January ’09), three quarters late. It will be interesting to see will ASUS enter that arena on NAMM show, or the company will leave professional music market to its partners, in the same manner as AMD does.
But, experiences learned on development of AV-1 paved way for creation of Xonar Essence STX, consumer PCIe sound card which claims to be the best in the world.
Is this "The Sound Card"?
VR-Zone brought the press release forward, and disclosed the story about the Essence STX. There were no news about the price of the card, but now Xonar series has a pitch against Creative Labs in almost all market segments: low-height HTPC, mainstream and gamer (Xonar D2 and D2X) and now, the high-end parts.
