ASUS Xonar DG Review

A Closer Look

The box of the DG definitely demonstrates its main feature, the headphone amplifier and Dolby headphone compatibility.

On the rear we have the multi-language feature set.

Speaking of features, this has everything you'd expect from a soundcard at this price point. Of course it hasn't got the extreme audiophile-based features, but how many of us truly use those anyway?

In the box we have the card, a small but comprehensive manual (plug in, install drivers, done), the driver disk itself and a low-profile bracket should you wish to install the card in a HTPC chassis.

Onto the DG itself, this is very much a card designed to do everything it has to and no more. Often the expensive cards have their price justified with LEDs and EMI shields. This is a bare board that just has the 5.1 outputs, the chip, the front panel/CD audio headers and that's it. Functional is a positive attribute though.

Here we have the heart of the DG, the C-Media chip. Although it's definitely a step-down from the full-on Xonar chip, it's plenty capable enough.

Finally on the top right we have the standard headers for front-panel audio, CD in, and SPDIF out.