Specification

As per ASUS' previous Xonar offerings, at the heart of the HDAV 1.3 is the AV200 HD audio processor, which supports everything from Dolby Digital Live and DTS interactive capabilities through to 192KHz/24-bit audio playback, while the HDAV 1.3 also brings with it support for the latest Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats amongst others, allowing it to support the full range of audio capabilities required to enjoy Blu-Ray movies to their fullest extent.

As we alluded to in our introduction this audio chip is heavily based on CMedia's CMI-8788 part, which natively supports 3D audio capabilities in the form of OpenAL alongside EAX 1.0 and 2.0 acceleration.  However, as per some previous Xonar offerings, the HDAV 1.3 can make use of ASUS' own DS3D GX 2.0 software, which (in its latest iteration) is designed to emulate and process any EAX effects in any game titles in software, all the way up to the latest EAX Advanced HD capabilities (aka EAX 5.0) previously only available to Creative's own SoundBlaster X-Fi parts.

As per the Xonar D2X, the HDAV 1.3 makes use of the PCI Express interface, making it a departure from the numerous PCI sound cards on the market.  However, this functionality isn't supported natively within the AV200 chip, leaving the HDAV 1.3 requiring the use of this PLX PEX8112 chip.  This is a PCI to PCI Express bridge chip, supporting a single PCI Express lane - Perfect for the PCI Express 1x connection required by this board.

Away from this bridge chip, the Xonar HDAV 1.3 also features four PCM1796 24-bit Burr-Brown DACs (Digital to Analogue Converters) which handle outputting any digital signals, together with a single 24-bit Cirrus Logic CS5381 DAC for the board's analogue inputs, giving it the same basic make-up for analogue audio as the Xonar D2X.  Where the HDAV does differ from the D2X however is that the OPAMPS used by the card can be replaced easily by the user (as per many of Auzentech's offering), meaning that if you want to aim for even better analogue audio quality then you can do so by purchasing and fitting some even higher quality OPAMPs yourself, which is always a nice touch.

The last part of the Xonar HDAV 1.3's puzzle is the video side of the board - This is powered (in conjunction with a normal DVI or HDMI capable graphics board) by a Splendid HD video processor, which can be used to improve colour and edge enhancement for any images output by the board, as well as containing scaling capabilities to upscale lower resolution images and content.  The Xonar HDAV supports the HDMI 1.3a standard (along with HDCP for Blu-Ray playback) at resolutions up to 1920x1200, and thus supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit colour depths and 'Deep Colour' technology.  So far then, it's sounding like both an audiophile and videophile's wet dream.

For a full list of what's what, you can find a summary of the Xonar HDAV 1.3 Deluxe's capabilities below: