Asus Strix Soar

Universal Soldier

Strix is one of the newest lines in the range of sound cards from Asus. The Taiwanese manufacturer claims that this line with equal success can help both in the heat of battle and become the best friend of an audiophile.

Memorable appearance

The younger model Strix Soar is made on a full-length printed circuit board and occupies one expansion slot. The top of the card is covered with a nice metal lid with a stylized image of an owl's eye, which is highlighted during operation. It looks very nice and somehow it’s even a pity to hide it deep into the case. At the same time, the cover performs not only a decorative function, but also provides additional protection against interference (Hyper Grounding technology).

Premium electronics

The key node of the audio path is the Cirrus Logic CM6632AX audio processor. The role of the ADC is assigned to the CS5361 chip (dynamic range 114 dB), and the premium 8-channel SABER 9006A chip (dynamic range 120 dB) is used as the DAC. Support for headphones up to 600 ohm impedance is based on the high-quality TI TPA6120A2 amplifier commonly found in professional audio equipment. All this good stuff can work in 192 kHz/24-bit mode. Plus there is full support for 7.1 multi-channel audio.

Sound quality at the level of more expensive cards

In general, it is difficult to find fault with the filling even if you really want to — usually, such components are used in more expensive sound cards, so the Strix Soar sounds clearly not worth the money. It is by the price factor that Strix Soar should be judged. If you compare it with its counterparts in the price segment, then it has no weaknesses — a nice design, high-quality sound, a damn convenient Sonic Studio software package for channel tuning, equalization, etc. If you climb into the higher price segment, where the older brothers Strix Raid PRO, Strix Raid DLX and the critically acclaimed Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 live, then the younger one can find shortcomings in terms of panning and the ability to win back low frequencies. But, you see, when you want to compare a product with a competitor several times more expensive, this says a lot.