Also, headphone amplification has been optimized with the help of a Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 high fidelity headphone amplifier that can easily drive headsets up to 600 Ù load with 0.00014% THD+N, together with a SNR Dynamic Range of above 120dB. ThunderBolt utilizes a CIRRUS LOGIC CS5361 ADC here that is capable of accepting up to 114dB at 192KHz with a THD+N as low as only -105dB. Next to the DAC, you'll need a good ADC (Analogue/Digital Converter) to convert the external analogue inputs into digital. And that's pretty darn impressive alright. These are the gold colored capacitors.Īudio wise, without a good DAC (Digital/Analogue Converter) you'll be nowhere for a clean conversion of audio signal for analogue audio devices.The ThunderBolt utilizes a pair of CIRRUS LOGIC CS4398 DAC that are capable of outputting up to 120dB at 192KHz with a THD+N as low as only -107dB, allowing ThunderBolt to provide an actual output capability of up to 116dB at 192KHz with a THD+N as low as -108dB. Let's rip 'er open.Īsus ThunderBolt is the first motherboard bundled audio solution to utilize the power of Nichicon Fine Gold (FG) designed to be used on high grade audio equipment of three different capacitances, allowing really premium audio output. Admittedly it is a pretty sexy add-on alright. Alongside the motherboard you will also receive ThunderBolt, an add-on card that integrates Xonar sound as well as a BigFoot's Killer NPU.Īccording to Asus, the audio provided by Xonar gives sound quality that is four times better than a regular sound card.

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