Music to the ears

Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition is Asus’ flagship USB DAC (digital-to-analogue) and headphone amplifier designed for enjoying high-fidelity music.

The MUSES Edition is an improvement on the already excellent Xonar Essence One, which won a 2012 CES Innovations Award in the audio component category.

It’s called MUSES for the simple reason that it uses 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. Using MUSES 01 Op-Amps, the Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition provides crystal clear and spacious sound for music with every nuance.

MUSES 01 components the first to use oxygen-free copper interconnects, allowing for better circuit conductivity and thus improved reproduction of sounds.

To achieve better stereo symmetry, the MUSES 01 employs Advanced Symmetry Die-bonding (ASD) Technology. The specialised layout techniques offer super low cross-talk and well-balanced symmetry between both left and right channels and create the most spacious sound field found to date.

Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition was one of gadgets that I was very happy to test and I enjoyed listening to music through it for hours.

It’s not cheap but it is really a must if you enjoy listening to digital music stored on your computer or notebook through your headphones.

As a USB DAC, it will replace your computer’s sound system and it will reproduce and amplify the sounds to your premium phones. It comes with 6.3mm headphone-out jack and the package also provides a 6.3mm to 3.5mm stereo adapter as most premium headphones now use s 3.5mm jack.

You need to install the drive from a companion CD and connect the USB DAC to your computer using the provided USB cable. When you turn on the USB DAC, your computer will switch to the USB sound system automatically.

Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition can also function as a standalone DAC by connecting it to other audio sources using S/PDIF input. The DAC has a coaxial input and an optical input for connecting to two more sources and there is an input selector button at the front panel.

With its extremely high SNR (120dB), the Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition provides audiophiles clearer sounds with every detail retained while significantly reducing noise levels.

Xonar Essence One uses symmetrical 8X up-sampling technology to restore lossless playback with higher audio resolution. The 8X symmetrical up-sampling turns 44.1KHz/88.2KHz/176.4KHz input into 352.8KHz, and 48KHz/96KHz/192KHz into 384KHz symmetrically, ensuring better sound.

The Essence One supports Audio Stream Input/Output 2.2 drivers, known as ASIO 2.2. One of the most renowned audio protocols for bit-perfection, it allows digital 

signals to bypass Windows audio layers to avoid redundant processing.

The Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition also features innovative asynchronous data transfer (ADT) to minimise jitter beyond common synchronous data transfer (SDT). Standard internal clock compensation for different transfer rates between PCs and USB audio devices may still cause jitter, but with ADT, audio processors automatically tune buffer status to system output, enabling faster clock adjustments and better jitter reduction and delivering the highest fidelity with extensive detail and lively sound imaging.

It amplifies the crystal-clear music with a dedicated 600 ohm-optimised audiophile-class headphone amplifier, making sure you hear every detail even from low-power sources.

The unit is made of premium grade components to ensure good sound quality. Its circuit board is designed with Hyper Grounding technology for the purest sound possible. By applying this design, sensitive analogue signals are neatly separated from digital signals to reduce cross-talk and other unwanted effects. Twin grounding layers also form a shield to block interference.

The Xonar Essence One has an internal power supply supports all international voltages and has generous margins for over and under voltage conditions. The dedicated power supply provides the cleanest power for the cleanest sound with excellent immunity to noise on the AC line.

The Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition also features balanced (XLR) outputs, which offer higher quality output, for connecting to a premium stereo amplifier.

During the test with my Windows 7-system computer, I was impressed by the music clarity reproduced by the USB DAC. I tried it using a Foobar 2000 music player to play various types of digital music files, including lossless FLAC format and MP3 at 320 Kbps bit-rate files as well as MP3 files with lower bit rates.

The test was done using Marshall Monitor headphones and Sony MDR-EX1000 earphones.

The music quality was great and the details excedllent. For example, I enjoyed Pink Floyd and Roger Waters’ progressive songs reproduced by the USB DAC and I could hear some details I hadn’t noticed earlier. Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition has a suggested retail price of Bt29,990.

 

      Key specs

_ Audio Processor: C-Media CM6631 High-Definition Sound Processor

_ Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Front-out): 120 dB

_ Output THD+N at 1kHz (Front-out): >0.000316 %(-110 dB)

_ Frequency Response (-3dB, 24bit/192KHz input): 10 Hz to 48 KHz

_ Analogue Playback Sample Rate and Resolution: 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 Driver Support: 44.1K/48K/88.2K/96K/176.4K/192KHz @ 16bit/24bit with very low latency

_ Upsampling capability: Up to 352.8 kHz (44.1K 88.2K 176.4KkHz input) or 384 kHz (48K/96K/192KkHz input), 32bit

_ Analogue Output: 1 x 6.3 mm jack Headphone out, 2 x RCA (Un-Balanced), 2 x XLR (Balanced)

_ Digital input: 2 x S/PDIF in (1 x Optical (Toslink)/1 x Coaxial)

_ Dimensions: 261.33 x 230 x 60.65 mm ( L x W x H )