WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:07.359 This video is brought to you by the Intel Core i7 4770K unlocked processor. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:13.120 If you're a speed freak, add an Intel 3500 series SSD to your Haswell system 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:17.199 for a truly enthusiast class experience. Now, I often get asked which sound card 00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:22.320 to buy. And the answer over the last couple years has been inevitably 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:26.080 uh decide on a budget and then buy whatever Zonar card fits inside your 00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:30.400 budget because it's pretty much that simple. Back in the day, every sound 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:35.200 card that was a sound card worth buying was creative. And then for a while, it 00:00:32.480 --> 00:00:39.840 was Ozentech. And nowadays, it really seems like it's just ASUS is the way to 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:43.840 go. But not all of their sound cards are built with the same things in mind. In 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:48.800 fact, they have a couple of offerings at the same price point around that $200 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:53.039 range that do differ a little bit. So, today we're going to be having a look at 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:56.360 the Zonar Feebis. This is the, as you 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:59.440 may or may not have figured out based on 00:00:56.360 --> 00:01:01.840 the massive Republic of Gamers logo on 00:00:59.440 --> 00:01:07.040 the front of the box, this is the gaming oriented card. So, it's not necessarily 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:11.760 about, oh, well, we brought you the absolute best possible DAC and we 00:01:09.520 --> 00:01:15.680 brought you, you know, swappable op amps for, you know, the music listening audio 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:19.920 files out there. It's more along the lines of the features that enhance the 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:25.439 gaming experience. So, why don't we start with the card itself physically, 00:01:22.240 --> 00:01:27.280 which has a very ROG look to it, as you 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:32.479 can plainly see, at least you'll be able to once I finally get it out of the box. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:36.720 So, it uses a PCI Express 1X interface. This is the same as the Zonar STX, which 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:42.720 is actually for music listeners, maybe the better choice. It has dedicated 7.1 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:45.200 audio out using all 3 and 12 mm jacks. 00:01:42.720 --> 00:01:48.720 This is again a more gaming oriented feature because many audio files are 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:52.320 going to be using headphones that use the larger jack style. So they would 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:56.479 have to adapt to get down to this whereas many gamers are using gaming 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:00.640 headsets which use standard 3 and 12 mm jacks. Another thing that gamers often 00:01:58.399 --> 00:02:04.719 do is they'll have mic and headphones and then they'll have a separate speaker 00:02:02.399 --> 00:02:08.640 setup that they use sometimes. So that's why it has dedicated plugs for all of 00:02:06.479 --> 00:02:14.319 them. This is in contrast to my personal Zonar Zense which is actually a very 00:02:11.200 --> 00:02:16.239 very very similar card which uses a 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:20.879 breakout cable in order to achieve those surround uh those uh those surround 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:24.720 outputs. There's a link right here. So that's for the external control box. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:28.480 More on that in a moment. And other than that, you've got pretty standard looking 00:02:26.959 --> 00:02:32.239 sound card. So the back of the card is a matte black PCB, which I've come to 00:02:30.720 --> 00:02:37.680 expect at this point from high-end gaming gear. Then on the top of the card, we find a PCI Express power 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:41.680 connector. This is essential for the amped headphone port on this card. It 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:45.760 can handle up to 600 ohm impedance headphones. So yeah, you need more power 00:02:43.440 --> 00:02:49.760 than can be delivered by a simple PCI Express slot. Other than that, speaking 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.879 of 600 ohm impedance headphones, there's a Zonar Feebas logo at the top that 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:56.400 glows red when you're in high impedance headphone mode and blue when you're in 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:02.000 low impedance headphone mode, which I think is kind of cool. And the rest of it is covered by a simple matte black 00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:06.560 shroud with ROG branding on it as well as ASUS branding and then some very cool 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:11.040 aggressive looking lines. Now, this actually has a functional purpose as 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:16.800 well as looking nice. An EMI shield does exactly what you might think it does and 00:03:13.519 --> 00:03:18.319 reduces electromagnetic interference by 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:22.159 shielding it. So, there you go. We can remove that though by simply removing 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:25.680 four screws, which gives us a better look at the actual guts of this card. 00:03:23.920 --> 00:03:29.920 Man, it just looks high-end. It's got all these components on it and stuff. 00:03:27.440 --> 00:03:34.400 So, the processor itself is an Oxygen CMI 8888. This is a slightly updated 00:03:32.959 --> 00:03:41.200 version of the controller that's in the Zent. And then for our DAC, we're using 00:03:37.440 --> 00:03:43.599 a TI PCM 1796A DAC. Slightly slept 00:03:41.200 --> 00:03:47.440 stepped slept down. It's asleep over there. No, it's not asleep over there. 00:03:45.040 --> 00:03:52.319 Slightly stepped down versus the Zonar Essence STX. And speaking of things that 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:55.920 are step down versus the Zonar STX is what you're going to see looking closely 00:03:53.440 --> 00:04:02.879 at this card is that while it does use JRC 2114 op amps, they are soldered. So 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:07.599 you do not unfortunately have the option to change them out for different op 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:10.480 amps. What op amps basically do is they 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:15.200 can color the sound or they can they could be more warm or more rich or more 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:18.959 uh flat or whatever else. And some people have a very their their ear is 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:22.320 very tuned to a preference of what they want to hear and they like being able to 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:26.560 swap out op amps like you can on the Essence 1 or the Zonar Essence STX. Not 00:04:24.960 --> 00:04:30.479 possible on this card. It's sort of a take it or leave it. We've tuned it this 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:34.560 way and this is how you're going to experience it because this card is 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:40.400 optimized for gaming. Not necessarily those discern this discerning m music. 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:43.960 My screen turned off. those discerning music listeners and those audio files 00:04:42.400 --> 00:04:47.600 and those sorts who want that customizability. Also, there's a 00:04:45.919 --> 00:04:52.560 headphone amp built into this guy right here. So, there's the that is a 00:04:49.880 --> 00:04:56.400 TPA6120 A2 headphone amp able to handle, as I said before, up to 600 ohm 00:04:54.080 --> 00:05:00.000 headphones. The 7.1 circuitry is completely separate from the headphone 00:04:57.840 --> 00:05:03.600 circuitry. And while it's reasonably high-end, it's not to nearly the same 00:05:01.919 --> 00:05:08.800 extent because, well, there's a lot more of it. And it's deemed less important 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:12.039 from a gaming or even an audio file standpoint because you're bound to be 00:05:10.440 --> 00:05:16.160 using probably There you go. There's your 00:05:13.840 --> 00:05:19.840 spitf out. Probably a digital out to some kind of external decoder or you're 00:05:18.320 --> 00:05:24.720 going to be using headphones directly off of it. And if you're using something like powered speakers, they're not going 00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:29.680 to be so high-end that you'd notice much of a difference. Anyhow, this brings us 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:32.800 to the Feebas control pod, which is maybe not that different from what you 00:05:31.440 --> 00:05:37.120 might find if you have a pair of speakers that includes one of these already, but it does have some cool 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:42.240 functionality. So, it allows you to extend your headphone and microphone jacks, meaning that you can, you know, 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:46.639 plug in short cables. So, some headphones come with the breakaway cables these days. You've also got a 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:50.120 control pod cable. There you go. That goes right there. So, you go ahead and 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:54.560 plug all these in together and they're conveniently togetherly located 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:57.360 locations just like that. And it allows you to do a few different things. You 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:00.240 can adjust your volume with the knob on the top. You can mute your mic by 00:05:58.960 --> 00:06:05.360 pressing it. And then there you go. You plug in your front headphone and microphone. It's got a bit of weight to 00:06:02.400 --> 00:06:11.039 it. But this this, my friends, is where the special sauce happens. Those are two 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:14.000 microphones. And if you were someone who 00:06:11.039 --> 00:06:18.560 was not using this correctly, you can use this as a microphone. Please don't 00:06:15.919 --> 00:06:22.400 do that. That's get a real microphone. But what you can use this for is 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:26.880 environmental noise cancellation. Now, I haven't used the Zonar Feebist yet. I'm 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:30.720 unboxing it now. But I have used their Thunder FX external sound card, and I 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:36.400 can tell you their environmental noise cancellation, at least on that one, I'm sure it's better on this. It's like, 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:40.319 yeah, thumbs up you because what it does is it uses these mics to listen to the 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:44.800 environment and then the microphone on your headset itself to listen to you and 00:06:42.880 --> 00:06:49.840 it's able to cancel out what these ones here in a very, very cool, very 00:06:47.400 --> 00:06:53.440 effective. It works. It's awesome. It's actually really, really good. So that 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:56.639 along with their Zonar software, which I personally really like. That's part of 00:06:54.960 --> 00:07:01.199 what makes their sound card so easy for me to recommend, are what makes this 00:06:58.880 --> 00:07:05.199 sound card so easy to recommend. So the Zonar software has gotten an ROG skin. 00:07:03.599 --> 00:07:08.560 I've actually used the skinned version. I personally don't like it quite as 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:12.319 much, but I'm not as used to it because the one that I use day-to-day is a Zent, 00:07:10.400 --> 00:07:15.840 which doesn't have the ROG skin. But this one comes with something that not 00:07:13.599 --> 00:07:20.960 all Zonar cards do, and that's Dolby Home Theater V4. So, this allows you to 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:25.840 add virtualized surround support to things like headphones, which is uh from 00:07:23.919 --> 00:07:30.960 what I've read, haven't tried it yet, very, very effective and a definite 00:07:28.479 --> 00:07:34.880 differentiating factor between this one and other Zonar cards. So, there's a 00:07:32.960 --> 00:07:38.639 graphic equalizer as well built into the Dolby side of the software. And then 00:07:36.960 --> 00:07:42.720 there's the separate Zonar software. There's two two separate applications 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:47.360 for it. And there's also a tweak dialogue option that allows you to in 00:07:45.039 --> 00:07:52.160 movies and games particularly enhance dialogue and hear it more clearly, which 00:07:49.840 --> 00:07:55.520 from what I've seen apparently actually works, which is uh which is very very 00:07:53.840 --> 00:07:58.720 cool and probably part of the reason why this product has been on the market a 00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:04.400 year already by the time I'm actually doing this video and hasn't been replaced in any way yet. So, 00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:08.800 subjectively speaking, haven't used the card yet, but it is very, very similar 00:08:07.280 --> 00:08:13.120 to the Zonar Zense, which I've been using extensively for a long period of 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:17.120 time. And with the Zonar Zense, I was never tempted in any way to upgrade the 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:22.240 card. Personally, I'm not one of those audio file guys who is swapping out op 00:08:19.440 --> 00:08:26.479 amps on a regular basis for the most tuned possible music listening 00:08:24.479 --> 00:08:30.960 experience. That's not me. I do appreciate good audio. I do appreciate a 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:34.719 high-end sound card and a decent pair of cans and all of those things. I mean, 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:39.360 who doesn't appreciate a decent pair of cans? But I'm not one of those super 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:42.959 fussy guys. So, based on my experience with the Zense, I can confidently 00:08:40.959 --> 00:08:46.399 recommend the Feebis because it has, well, this additional benefit, which is 00:08:44.640 --> 00:08:50.320 nice. It also looks really cool and glows in your system, which is also 00:08:47.760 --> 00:08:54.880 nice. And with some of the more gaming oriented features such as the oh the 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:58.080 environmental noise cancellation can't underscore how important that is enough 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:03.600 especially in something like a crowded land as well as the EAX emulation and 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:05.279 Dolby home theater V4. Yeah, very 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:09.519 excited to try this out. Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for unboxings, reviews, and other computer 00:09:07.839 --> 00:09:13.600 videos. And let me know in the comments, do you have a sound card yet? Because as 00:09:11.680 --> 00:09:19.120 much as I'm talking about a $200 sound card right now, ASUS has Zonar cards 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:24.399 that are like 3040 bucks. In fact, they have a headphone amped one that isn't 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:26.080 that's under $50. And I get tweets at 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:29.760 least probably once a week. I'll get a tweet or a message or something like 00:09:27.760 --> 00:09:33.440 that saying, "Hey, Lionus, I didn't try a sound card until you told me to try 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:36.959 one. And holy crap, I can't believe I wasn't doing this before. It makes such 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:40.000 a big difference compared to onboard." Unless we're talking about very high-end 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:44.480 onboard like what you might find on something like a Maximus 6 formula. Thanks for watching guys. Don't forget 00:09:42.880 --> 00:10:12.129 to subscribe and we'll see you again next time.