Test setup

All of today's testing has been run on the following:

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
- 4GB (2x 2GB) Corsair PC6400 DDR2 RAM
- Gigabyte GA-X38-DS5 (Socket LGA 775, PCI Express 2.0)
- 250GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 hard drive
- Sony DVD-ROM
- NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
- ASUS HDAV 1.3 Deluxe sound card
- ASUS Xonar D2X sound card
- Auzentech X-Fi Prelude sound card
- 1000W Thermaltake Toughpower power supply
- Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

The latest available driver release was used for all sound cards used in this review.

Benchmarks used

- RightMark Audio Analyser v6.0.5
- Unreal Tournament 3 v1.2

Our testing of ASUS' Xonar HDAV 1.3 Deluxe will be carried out on two fronts - First, by examining the performance of the part against a couple of its rivals (particularly Auzentech's X-Fi Prelude product and ASUS' own Xonar D2X) in a theoretical manner, using both RightMark Audio Analyser to examine the quality of the parts analogue audio output as well as testing of the performance hit garnered when using 3D audio in gaming situations.

We will then move on to embark upon some subjective testing, using a variety of movies, music and games to see how the Xonar HDAV 1.3 both sounds and looks sounds to this reviewer's ears.  So, let's get cracking!

RightMark Audio Analyser

We start our testing courtesy of RightMark Audio Analyser, checking out our review samples analogue output capabilities at two different output settings - First at 16-bit/48kHz, followed by 24-bit/96KHz.

16-bit/48kHz

At 16-bit/48kHz, the Xonar D2X trades blows with Auzentech's X-Fi Prelude, but the Xonar DHAV 1.3 isn't far behind in offering low noise levels here.

Both Xonar boards offer impressive dynamic range performance, beating out the X-Fi Prelude.  The Xonar D2X has a very slight advantage here, but it's barely worth mentioning.

THD stands for Total Harmonic Distortion, basically meaning that this test measures the amount of distortion caused by the passing of the audio signal through components of the sound card.  The Xonar D2X again impresses at these settings when testing THD, while the Xonar HDAV does well at the low end of the spectrum but can't quite keep up with the X-Fi Prelude at the high end.

IMD is an acronym for InterModulation Distortion.  Intermodulation is the result of two signals of different frequencies being mixed together, with IMD being the appearance of frequencies not initially present in the input signal, usually created by the mixing together of other frequencies. Testing IMD swept frequency at these settings sees the Xonar HDAV a little off the pace, with the Xonar D2X offering the best results.

Moving on to IMD + noise testing, there really isn't much at all between these three parts, although the Xonar D2X performs best overall.  The Xonar HDAV beats out the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude at the low end of the spectrum, while performing a little worse at the top end.

The Xonar HDAV actually suffers less from stereo crosstalk than our D2X, putting it reasonably close to the overall winner in the form of the X-Fi Prelude.

All three boards offer excellent frequency response at these settings overall, although the Xonar HDAV is the first to drop off, leaving the X-Fi Prelude and Xonar D2X almost neck-and-neck.

24-bit/96kHz

Finally, as a tougher test for the Xonar D2X, we test again using 24-bit, 96kHz audio input and output.

Although its noise level increases rather than drops at the very top-end of the spectrum, the Xonar D2X overall offers the best overall results at these settings, while the Xonar HDAV marginally beats out the X-Fi Prelude overall.

The same can be said of the Xonar D2X's dynamic range results, as the Xonar D2X comes in below its rival parts, albeit with more fluctuations in the output, while the Xonar HDAV outperforms Auzentech's X-Fi based offering.

The same can be said of THD performance at these settings, as both Xonar-based parts beat out the X-Fi Prelude to differing degrees.

The Xonar D2X by far offers the best IMD swept frequency performance at our 24-bit, 96kHz settings, some way above the Auzentech board which in turn outperforms the Xonar HDAV 1.3.

The Xonar D2X also impresses in our other IMD test at these settings, while the Xonar HDAV 1.3 again marginally outstrips the Auzentech X-Fi board.

As per our other crosstalk testing, the Xonar D2X sees a large increase in crosstalk at the high end of the spectrum, putting it behind the Auzentech X-Fi board as well as the Xonar HDAV, which seems to suffer less from this issue.

Frequency response from the Xonar D2X is exceptional, while performance between the Xonar HDAV and X-Fi Prelude is all-but identical once more.