1 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:13,679 Welcome to an unboxing of something that is honestly a little bit outside the 2 00:00:11,679 --> 00:00:18,720 scope of my expertise. Let me start by saying I love good sounding audio 3 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:25,279 whether it's music, movies, or games. But this is a in a completely different 4 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:30,080 class from anything that I have experienced before. This is the Zonar 5 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:35,680 Essence 1 USB DAC and headphone amplifier. It is, according to ASUS, the 6 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:39,680 world's first 8X symmetrical upsampling DAC. And we're going to go ahead, we're 7 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:44,079 going to flip it around. I'm just going to be doing a very, very high-level sort 8 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:47,680 of coverage of exactly what this thing is and why you might care. And then 9 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:52,800 we're going to be following this up on my NCIXCOM channel with a more detailed 10 00:00:50,480 --> 00:01:00,480 look at exactly what it is and why it's so special. So this is uh the the zonar 11 00:00:56,719 --> 00:01:02,079 sort of symbol that uh uh the tiger that 12 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:07,040 is sort of representing according to ASUS the mankind's endless pursuit of 13 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:11,520 the essence of sound and also Zonar Essence STX's commitment to offer the 14 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:14,640 best quality ever from an audio card. So that is what ASUS believes they've done 15 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:18,720 here. This is your ultimate DAX solution. Extreme audio clarity with 120 16 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:23,759 decel sound to noise ratio. The difference between this and other 120 17 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:27,360 decel sound to noise ratio devices we've seen in the past is this one has the 18 00:01:25,439 --> 00:01:30,640 testing to back it up. So I would actually believe it. It has a built-in 19 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:36,880 headphone amp which powers up to audio file class headphones. That is up to 600 20 00:01:33,759 --> 00:01:39,840 ohm impedance headphones. No big deal, 21 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:44,400 right? User customizable tone characters with 11 swappable op amps. So two of 22 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:49,759 those are on the headphones and the others are not. So you can change 23 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:54,320 completely the way that the DAC sounds just by changing out to different op 24 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:58,399 amps. Cleanest sound thanks to dedicated internal power supply. So ASUS has put a 25 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:04,320 lot of effort into the power supply that is inside this unit in order to minimize 26 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:09,039 any interference or electrical noise that might be transmitted to the sound 27 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:14,879 that you are listening to. So we'll check out the packaging here. We've got foam on the top there to keep it from 28 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:19,120 getting damaged in any way. This unfolds here. 29 00:02:16,879 --> 00:02:24,160 This is a very expensive piece of kit. I should probably, you know, preface this 30 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:29,840 entire unboxing by saying that this is not something for your average Joe 31 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:32,480 computer user at all. It is very, very 32 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:38,640 hefty. And this is not an internal device, as I probably should not have to 33 00:02:35,519 --> 00:02:41,280 explain at this point in time. This is 34 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:49,040 meant to sit next to your computer and it is ASUS's response to other high-end 35 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:51,519 audio file class OP uh optics 36 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:56,239 USB DAX, but in their estimation should pretty 37 00:02:53,760 --> 00:03:01,360 much turn the entire rest of that market on its ear because it'll pretty much 38 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:05,360 blow away everything else in their estimation. If you guys are interested 39 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:10,080 in specs, they are here. Although I would, like I said, I haven't done as 40 00:03:08,159 --> 00:03:14,239 much sort of reading as I would be required to do in order to understand 41 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:18,959 exactly what all of that stuff means. I mean, what I do see here is that they've 42 00:03:16,319 --> 00:03:22,720 specified every component they're using. So, for the audio file guys out there 43 00:03:20,959 --> 00:03:28,560 who are really interesting in pairing this up with, you know, like a Sennheiser HD800 or something along 44 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:33,760 those lines, you're going to know exactly what chipset it's using, exactly 45 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:40,640 which op amps it comes preconfigured with, and exactly what this thing is 46 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:44,480 capable of. So, package contents. Let's 47 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:48,000 move on here to the accessories. 48 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:50,879 All right. So, we have a headphone jack 49 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:59,120 adapter. We have a power cord inside 50 00:03:54,319 --> 00:04:01,360 just like Oh, look at that. I got a uh 51 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:05,280 an international one. Well, it's okay. It's just a standard PC one. So, it is 52 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:12,480 capable accepting. Actually, that's one of the cool things about the power supply. It is capable of accepting any 53 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:15,760 um any voltage input. So, you can use it in North America, you 54 00:04:14,239 --> 00:04:20,239 can use it in Asia, you can use it in Europe, doesn't really matter. Includes 55 00:04:17,280 --> 00:04:23,799 a USB A to B cable. And then what's in the other box here? 56 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:35,199 Fascinating. So, they managed to include 57 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:36,800 only Yeah. Not Yeah, they managed to not 58 00:04:35,199 --> 00:04:41,360 include only the one that I would be using with this particular device. So, 59 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:46,560 there you go. Okay, let's have a look at the unit itself 60 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:49,120 then, shall we? Man, that's heavy. So, 61 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:55,280 here we have our power switch. We have our upsampling button. We have 62 00:04:52,800 --> 00:05:02,880 our input selector, so we can use coax, toss link, or USB mute button. This is 63 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:08,720 your volume adjustment. And this guy right here, nice big knobs, 64 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:12,639 is your headphone volume. Finally, here is your headphone jack on the front. The 65 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:17,520 build quality of this thing is outstanding. Actually, it's just feels 66 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:23,360 like a piece of audio equipment, which is uh a far cry from what you get with 67 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:25,919 your typical PC equipment. All right, so 68 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:29,600 here is your unbalanced output. Here is your balanced output. So, you do have 69 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:33,919 the option of using either. And they're each connected to a different set of op 70 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:38,240 amps, so you can customize how you want each of these outputs to sound. Here's 71 00:05:35,919 --> 00:05:42,160 your coax output. Here's your toast link or rather input. Here's your toast link 72 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:46,000 or your optical input. And finally, here's your USB input. You're going to 73 00:05:44,479 --> 00:05:50,639 want to make sure you select the correct voltage. In this case, I'm going to have 74 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:54,320 to change that to 115 before using the device. And then it comes with a little 75 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:58,320 sticker covering up the power port. And I'm going to leave that so that I don't 76 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:04,160 accidentally screw this up when I uh when I go to plug it into power. So, 77 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:08,560 who is this for? total audio enthusiasts who want to use 78 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:14,960 it on their PC. Although you are not bound to using a PC, you can use any 79 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:18,560 digital audio source. And I would I 80 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:20,000 would sort of suggest that most of the 81 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:26,560 users who are going to be interested in a product like this are going to be using that port and not the stereo 82 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:31,440 outputs that are here on the back, be it the XLR or the coax out. I would suggest 83 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:36,479 most people are going to be using this as a way to drive their high-end 84 00:06:33,919 --> 00:06:40,080 headphones and deliver the most pure sound regardless of the volume level. 85 00:06:38,639 --> 00:06:45,520 So, the thing about a high sound to noise ratio is that even at a very low 86 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:50,080 volume level, you should still be able to enjoy all the different aspects of 87 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:54,960 the music and hear the entire range very, very clearly. However, if you do 88 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:59,280 prefer more of a warm sound or if you prefer more emphasis on the bass, then 89 00:06:57,199 --> 00:07:02,720 you can actually customize this guy. Whether you're using the ASUS software 90 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:06,960 or whether you're actually changing the hardware of the unit itself, it's fully 91 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:10,479 user customizable and there are no warranty void if removed stickers. Yeah, 92 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:15,199 you can take the whole thing apart if you really want to. Um, so you can 93 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:20,800 actually color the sound that way to match your preferences. Now, ASUS is 94 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:25,120 comparing this to DAXs that are in the neighborhood of $1,000 to $1,500 that 95 00:07:23,759 --> 00:07:29,039 exist on the market right now and are quite well regarded. However, uh this 96 00:07:27,759 --> 00:07:36,639 guy is going to be coming in at a significantly lower price point. 97 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:38,960 So, 8x symmetrical upsampling. ASUS is 98 00:07:36,639 --> 00:07:42,639 is touting the upsampling as a huge feature of this deck, and I can see why 99 00:07:41,039 --> 00:07:46,800 they do that for a number of reasons. Number one, they have the hardware to 100 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:50,560 back it up. Number two is the fact that so much of the digital audio that you 101 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:54,319 can obtain these days is very low quality. But not everyone necessarily 102 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:57,199 wants to go to the trouble or the expense. Although if you're really that 103 00:07:55,759 --> 00:08:01,280 worried about the expense, I don't think you're buying one of these. But neither 104 00:07:59,599 --> 00:08:06,879 here nor there. No, not everyone wants to go to the trouble or the expense of 105 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:08,800 purchasing or finding the high quality 106 00:08:06,879 --> 00:08:13,039 audio that they require. So here's a little quick lesson on bit rate and 107 00:08:10,879 --> 00:08:18,400 sample rate. And so the bit rate is basically how um how high quality of a 108 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:22,160 sample you're taking of the audio. We didn't really have this with analog 109 00:08:19,919 --> 00:08:26,000 because it doesn't really work quite the same way. But with digital, everything 110 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:29,680 is in terms of hard to find numbers. Kind of like how pixels don't 111 00:08:27,599 --> 00:08:33,360 necessarily equate to the image quality we saw on an analog screen. It's just a 112 00:08:31,599 --> 00:08:37,839 different way of doing things. Okay? And then the sample rate is how many samples 113 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:41,760 at that quality that we're taking per second. So ideally you would have a very 114 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:48,560 high sample rate and a very high bit rate. So upsampling takes your how many 115 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:50,959 samples and your bit rate here and tries 116 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:58,519 to smooth it out to make it more like how the artist would have intended for 117 00:08:53,279 --> 00:08:58,519 you to hear the audio. 118 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:04,959 So why is 8x symmetrical upsampling important and what exactly does that 119 00:09:02,959 --> 00:09:11,200 mean? What it means is that it can upsample eight times 120 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:14,240 from a variety of different sources. So, 121 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:17,519 I'm going to equate this to actually 122 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:19,600 more of a video example. So, when you're 123 00:09:17,519 --> 00:09:23,920 when you were playing older games that didn't support high resolutions, 124 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:28,959 especially when LCD monitors first came out. So, I got a 24 in 1920x 125 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:33,760 1200 monitor. And I did that for a very specific reason. The reason for that was 126 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:40,000 that when I took older content that was running at 800 by 600 or was running at 127 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:43,839 1600 x 1200 and I upsampled particularly 128 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:47,200 from 800 by 600 to 1,600 x 1200 with 129 00:09:43,839 --> 00:09:50,240 black bars, I was getting exactly a 1 130 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:52,399 to4 relationship between the pixels that 131 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:58,160 I have and the pixels that it's being upsampled to. So this is not a perfect 132 00:09:54,959 --> 00:10:00,080 example because that resolution change 133 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:05,200 doesn't add any additional quality to the image. But what it does do is it is 134 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:10,160 an even multiple. So we're not going to lose any quality by dithering one pixel 135 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:14,560 between sort of the surrounding ones and blending the colors and using cheats and 136 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:19,120 hacks like that in order to increase the resolution. So think of this as your 137 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:23,760 audio resolution. So ASUS's explanation here is that common upscaling USB DAXs 138 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:31,279 transfer whatever audio source to 192 kHz indistinguishably. However, some 139 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:34,560 audio sources that are lower quality and 140 00:10:31,279 --> 00:10:38,079 you would want to upsample do not evenly 141 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:40,720 multiply to 192 kHz. So that's why the 142 00:10:38,079 --> 00:10:44,640 symmetrical AEX upsampling allows you to have two different destinations. So two 143 00:10:42,959 --> 00:10:50,240 different upsampling um quality levels for the different 144 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:54,800 audio sources. So it's kind of like the display example I'm giving you guys 145 00:10:52,079 --> 00:10:59,279 where you want to not lose any quality while you are trying to increase the 146 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:02,800 quality. So as I mentioned before here we have a slide about the sound to noise 147 00:11:00,959 --> 00:11:08,079 ratio which is bas or signal to noise ratio whichever you prefer. And that is 148 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:12,000 basically ASUS comparing to some other well-known USB DAXs. Like I said you 149 00:11:10,399 --> 00:11:15,920 have so many sound cards. I mean, you can go back as as long ago as an Odigy 2 150 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:23,839 ZS and they're claiming well in excess of 100 decel signal to noise ratio. It's 151 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:25,920 kind of nonsense. Um, my expectation for 152 00:11:23,839 --> 00:11:30,880 an audio file grade product like this is that this would be the actual signal to 153 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:35,040 noise ratio that they have achieved, but I haven't tested it yet. 154 00:11:33,279 --> 00:11:38,720 Now, the higher up you get in terms of headphone quality, the more power is 155 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:42,240 required to drive the I mean, they become speakers at a certain point 156 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:46,320 rather than being just, you know, headphone 157 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:50,800 doodads. So, yes, you require an incredible amount of power to drive very 158 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:57,120 very high-end headphones. And they're saying basically, I mean, this is sort 159 00:11:53,279 --> 00:11:59,120 of iffy whether or not a regular uh 160 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:03,519 normal headphone amplifier can drive a 300 ohm or you know, anything above 32 161 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:07,519 ohms. But the point of this is that they're saying theirs is capable of up 162 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:12,240 to 600 ohm impedance headphones, which is pretty much getting up there about as 163 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:15,519 high as it goes. So, this is a fascinating way to do product 164 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:19,040 development, and I think it is such a step in the right direction that it 165 00:12:16,959 --> 00:12:23,440 definitely merits a mention. Check this out. So they actually besides testing 166 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:27,040 I'm sure they tested them besides testing them they actually selected the 167 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:32,480 capacitors that they were using on the PCB based on what would interfere the 168 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:38,240 least with the quality of the audio based on checking out hi-fi forums like 169 00:12:35,519 --> 00:12:44,160 DIY audio and headfi.org sorry headfi.org. So that is uh a one way of 170 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:47,600 taking user feedback and integrating that very closely with the development 171 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:52,000 of a product because the reality of it is the guys who they're going to try and 172 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:56,320 sell one of these to already know that they want these particular capacitors 173 00:12:54,480 --> 00:13:00,160 which kinds of opamps they want to throw into the device and you're not going to 174 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:05,040 sell it to them unless you're using exactly what they want and ASUS went and 175 00:13:02,079 --> 00:13:08,240 figured that out ahead of time. So, in short, guys, if you don't already know 176 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:14,160 that you need one of these, and if you don't know what all of these numbers meant, and if you don't have the money 177 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:18,000 to spend on a highquality audio solution, then this is pretty much not 178 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:22,959 for you. This is a very niche, very high-end product. Is it a replacement 179 00:13:20,639 --> 00:13:27,600 for a sound card? Yes. Is it a replacement for a sound card for every 180 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:31,839 gamer and every guy who sits and listens to their iTunes library on their 181 00:13:28,959 --> 00:13:36,000 computer? No. This is a very specialty product. It will deliver better audio 182 00:13:33,839 --> 00:13:40,560 quality than almost anything else you can hook up to your PC, but you got to 183 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:44,720 pay to play. And I got to say, I'm definitely looking forward to checking 184 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:48,000 this out. But for myself personally, I don't think I would be running out 185 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:51,519 buying one of these because if you don't have the hardware to properly take 186 00:13:49,519 --> 00:13:55,360 advantage of it, and by hardware, I don't mean your PC because your PC is 187 00:13:53,200 --> 00:14:01,360 irrelevant. It uses the onboard chipset in order to completely eliminate any 188 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:05,440 uh quality interference that could come from a lowquality PC or low quality 189 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:11,199 sound card, whatever the case may be. But I'm talking hardware in terms of the 190 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:14,959 headphones you're using, the I mean, it's not really hardware, but the audio 191 00:14:12,959 --> 00:14:17,760 sources that you're listening to, you're going to want to make sure that you're 192 00:14:16,079 --> 00:14:22,240 properly equipped to take advantage of a guy like this before you go and set one 193 00:14:19,839 --> 00:14:25,920 up in your home. So, thank you for checking out my unboxing online tech 194 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:29,360 tips and don't forget to subscribe to my NCIXCOM channel as well because once 195 00:14:28,079 --> 00:14:34,880 I've had a chance to actually play around with this a little bit, I would love to give you my impressions.