Asus has unveiled a high-end sound card dubbed as the Xonar HDAV1.3 series boasting HDMI 1.3a compatibility and Dolby TrueHD bitstream support. The Xonar HDAV 1.3 series sound solution comprises of a AV200 audio processor custom-made by C-Media and a TotalMedia Theatre player by ArcSoft. The same audio processor is used in Asus Xonar D2X, the PCI-Express sound card.

 

No official information about pricing and availability has been given out by Asus, but many stores are selling it at prices ranging between $240 (Rs. 11,600 approx.) and $263 (Rs. 12,700 approx.). It might be available at a premium price of Rs. 14,000-15,000 in India.

 

 

 

Asus promises bit-to-bit lossless Blu-ray audio output via the AV200 audio processor and the TotalMedia Theatre player. This sound card is capable of streaming the output at a lossless compression rate of 24bit/192KHz, which can be received over AV receivers thanks to Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Also, 7.1-channel 24-bit/192KHz Linear Pulse Code Modulation (multi-channel) audio output can be streamed through the HDMI port of this card.

 

Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 has Protected Audio Playback Systems (PAPS) and Advanced Access Content System certification for content protection. The EAX 5.0 and 3D gaming audio in Windows Vista will be enabled with DS3D GX 2.0, which automatically enables the latest EAX and DirectSound hardware post installation without the use of any driver patches, OpenAL, or game modifications.

 

Asus is expected to ship the Xonar HDAV1.3 sound card in mid-July, but it would take a while to reach Indian shores.