Asus Essence III - personal experience or “It can't be!”

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    A high-tech device with an attractive design that combines a preamplifier, headphone amplifier and USB DAC, designed for a modern home.

    • Support for DSD (Direct Stream Digital)
    • Headphone amplifier with support for balanced and unbalanced connection
    • Step attenuator with remote control
    • High-precision crystal oscillators with low phase noise and USB support in asynchronous mode
    • Separate power sources for left and right channels
    • The analog, digital and power parts of the device are made on separate printed circuit boards to minimize interference
    • Symmetrical wiring based on two monophonic digital-to-analog converters Developers AD1955
    • High-quality operational amplifiers AD827Q and MUSES 02
    • Linear power supply with a toroidal transformer for several separate power buses

    Here or almost such information you will find in the section of the ESSENCE product line - High End Hi-Fi Audio , dedicated to this device on the official Asus.com website.

    At the end of 2013, Asus announced the release of the flagship of its Essence line, and in 2014 several reviews of this device were published, in particular on Stereo.ru, Salonav.com, Ixbt.com and other resources. At the end, the device received the title of "Best Product" in the European USB DAC 2014-2015 category from EISA.

    A rather active discussion of the product among lovers of digital sound and adherents of sound devices from Asus before its appearance on the shelves and after. It seemed that the whole world already knew about this device and even knew about it before the birth of God, ALL ... except for me))

    Therefore, the whole subsequent history of my acquaintance with Essence III reminded me of the Soviet film by Leonid Gaidai in 1975 based on the works of Mikhail Zoshchenko - "Can not be!"

    And everything is so dignified and noble! The old way!


    It was in such ignorance that my acquaintance with this device began.

    I decided the issue of USB DAC for myself back in 2010 and didn’t advance in this direction for various everyday reasons.

    A review of headphones for gamers gave reason to think about finding a USB DAC with a more or less decent headphone output that would correspond to this price category of these headphones. Just at the same time, they threw off the list of Asus devices that could be taken for tests. From the entire list, I was interested in only two sections, headphones and USB-DACs. If at that moment I were more knowledgeable in terms of current products from Asus, I would not have made the mistake that later filled my life with the joy of being))

    But at that moment I looked at the list of devices from the USB-DAC series, and poked my finger at the top device in the list, making sure that there is a headphone output. Quickly popping into the search engine, I glanced quickly at the prospective candidate and visually made sure that there was a headphone output, gave confirmation that I was taking it! To my further regret, firstly, I looked not at Essence III, but at Essence STU, and secondly, I naively believed that I was taking a device from the price range of 15-25 thousand rubles and my equipment should be enough for tests.

    I ask - where is my daughter? Not that second, but this one.


    And one fine day my boss calls me and says that the device can be picked up. The first thing that guarded me at the time of receiving the device was the size, and most importantly, the weight of the box. I did not have time to consider the design of the packaging itself, since the box itself was wrapped in a bag. But there was no time to understand, I took the box without long dialogues.

    After some time, I found time to calmly begin to deal with the received device, unpacking the box, I began to understand that everything would not be as simple as I had originally intended))

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    By the way, the packaging was already in a combat state, apparently it was the same device that had once made a circle on the hands of researchers, the surfaces of the outer wrapper and the box itself were jammed, the corners of the box lid were torn. Later, I even had to glue them together to give a cultural look to the photo))

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    But the device itself was in perfect condition, from which I concluded that the quality of the materials of the case is very serious!

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    Only the device was not the one I expected to see, but more sophisticated.

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    I was especially puzzled by the back panel abundantly dotted with "adult" interfaces for connecting cables and a certain number of switches and small "twists".

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    Looking at all this beauty, I began to feel a certain catch)) But since I had already reached the device in my research, I decided that for the sake of interest I would connect what was still available. And there was a rather meager kit from the budget line of a CD player and a stereo amplifier from NAD.

    I performed the first connection method according to the classical scheme:
    CD player - coaxial cable - DAC - Amplifier - Speakers, pulled out a proven TELARC branded disc and tried to listen to this bunch. At the first volume control, I realized that when switching, I made some kind of mistake. I double-checked, found that the DAC can work in two modes, as a preamplifier and as a regular DAC. I switched the VR bypass switch to the on position so that two preamps would not work in the path. I turn it on again, anyway, some component is lying.

    Of course, I knew the capabilities of my tract, and it was clear that the amplifier was the weak link in this entire structure. For the CD player in this case was used as a transport and the blemishes of its sound should be minimized due to the unused internal DAC, the speakers were originally taken for components of a higher price category, technically this is an analog of the Dynaudio Focus 160. Think about the DAC? Yes, it’s unlikely that it costs ... by the way, how much does it cost and what did I get on my hands? I wrote out the name from the packaging.

    “OK Google - what

    kind of thing is mine?” The IXBT review I found really crippled me, especially after the indicated cost of this device. And here came the realization of complete hopelessness in the current situation and ... panic, because there were none of the suitable components for the further test.

    Bringing myself to my senses a little, it was clear that actually with the source itself one couldn’t especially take a steam bath, a laptop, thank God, is at hand. The CD player will work as a transport and even in the worst cases, there should not be much sadness, even in conjunction with the “monster” from Asus that I got)) The

    main problem was the lack of a suitable stereo amplifier or power amplifier and headphones.

    Next time - don't get married quickly!


    I’m calling my boss, I explain the whole tragedy of the situation, I repent, I ask you to understand and forgive, and in general, they say, take your work of art back, but give me something simpler))

    I was calmly answered that they wouldn’t take anything back, but they would complete the set with the necessary minimum . In general, I asked for Sennheiser HD650 headphones, I think I’ll check the sound quality at least in my ears.

    Maybe in a month I was preparing for the sacrament of marriage! Maybe for six months I went to the hairdresser, to the bath! ..


    While waiting for the headphones, I began to prepare material for listening. Having rummaged in a zashashnik, I found several high-quality compact discs, this should have been enough to work with a CD player.

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    Well, let's launch DSD from a laptop.

    I also remembered that my NAD C 326BEE amplifier is technically divided into a preamplifier block and a power amplifier, which are connected by jumpers. And also recalling the old discussions on the thematic forums of his amplifier, I recalled that it was just the main complaints about the quality of the preamplifier.

    And this fact gave little hope that the powerful person himself should give a chance in this situation for a certain success. Of course, such a powerful man is not enough to unleash the full potential of the top DAC, but there has already been a steady desire to minimize losses by throwing the obviously weak preamplifier out of the path and check the operation of the resulting path.

    As a result, the sound path acquired the following structure: CD player - Essence III as a DAC and a preamplifier - NAD C326BEE as a power amplifier - speakers Sound Sound ML-1.

    Having started listening to this bunch, I was amazed at the changes that Asus made to the sound on components and materials that were once familiar to pain. Of course, I will be fair, the system did not turn into a High End level system, and I did not migrate to the top Hi-Fi line, BUT, its quality level really went up a notch, and this was clearly audible!

    For some time I enjoyed the resulting conversion of my system, putting the testing itself aside. For me, it was a free bonus in the form of the opportunity to hear the results of such an upgrade, and to realize what exactly my system lacked for a qualitative increase in its sound.

    Next, it was necessary to prepare a laptop for playing files with a DSD stream, which, as you know, I did not count on at first. But since DSD support was voiced for me, it was impossible to ignore this feature, as they say, otherwise “the guys won’t understand”))

    Honestly, I’ve never been interested in playing DSD files. Well, there simply wasn’t such a need in life, but here such “physicality” has taken over! Fortunately, no one has canceled Google, and some of the gaps in my knowledge, after a while, have been filled.
    By the way, there is an instruction for setting up Foobar on the Asus site itself

    Actually I installed a painfully familiar Foobar, the necessary plug-ins for it and the drivers for Essence themselves. By the way, Essence itself was able to update the firmware on the latest versions, from those available on the official website. By the way, also a plus in the karma of Asus.

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    The matter remained small, it was necessary to find the files themselves of the required format. Where they take this, I think, you do not need to tell;)

    However, I was surprised, it seemed to me, by a rather meager amount on request for DSD files that I was looking for on a well-known resource. I sincerely hoped that I would see a wide selection of assortments in this format. More precisely, there was a variety, but DSDs removed from SACDs were not many of the repertoire that I was interested in. And all interesting, was the digitization of vinyl. Checking the sound quality, I came to the conclusion that the digitization from vinyl had a low level of the low-frequency range and for the full sound it was necessary to use a subwoofer. The subwoofer in the arsenal was in the person of REL, namely Stampede, from the musical series “S”. But at this stage I did not plan to use it. Therefore, I selected rips from SACD discs with well-written bass.

    As a result, the following materials were selected for the tests:

    Lars Erstrand - The Lars Erstrand Sessions (DSF, DSD64) Jazz
    Malia, Boris Blank - Convergence (DFF, DSD128) Electronic, Jazz
    Masanori Ikeda - The Loud Works (DSF, DSD64) Electronic, Deep House
    Rochester Chamber Orchestra Brian (DSF, DSD64) Classic

    After installing the latest "bare" version of Foobar, as well as all the necessary plugins for Foobar and drivers from Asus to play DSD stream, I got the following with the following configuration options:

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    Looking ahead, I will say that as a result of further tests of two ASIO options Driver, I still settled on Asus’s relatives. I

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    also cleared all the DSPs.

    A little about the laptop, the old HP nc6320, with an updated processor to C2D T5600, 3 Gb of RAM and SSD128Gb. Wireless interfaces were disabled, all the material was uploaded to the SSD. The laptop was powered by an internal battery.

    As a test experiment, and given the set of equipment at hand, I decided to compare which source will sound better from a CD player or laptop. From the laptop WAV files should have been played, previously ripped from CD discs, which should have been played in a CD player.

    The CD player was connected by coaxial cable. I connected the laptop with a USB cable not from the kit, but which I used on my old DAC with “gold-plated” contacts))

    The test turned out to be quite funny and very interesting for me.

    Once again, I was struck by the pleasant transformation of my system by replacing the preamp. Very pleasant sound, detailed, open, with a good scene (within my premises), wonderful bass, vocals open and emotional. In general, the sound is very balanced, there has never been regret about the lack of a tone block in the path!

    I can recognize her - but in a coat!


    Finding the difference in sound between the two sources took a little longer than I expected. I had to listen to several different materials, and now the recording from Audiophile Vocal Recording with the composition “Fever / Valerie Joyce” clearly showed a somewhat simplified scheme for transmitting sound from a CD player. This was expressed in a slightly more simplified and somewhat harsh transmission of the mid-frequency range, in particular, the difference was well read when playing the saxophone. It was also possible to note a slightly different structure of the stereo panorama, which was somewhat blurry or, as they say less physical, the extreme sounds were a little more sticky to the speakers. The scene itself was a little shallower.

    On some materials, for example, The Best of Pink Floyd “Hey You,” I have long caught specific reasons why I had the feeling that the sound from the laptop was more attractive to me.

    But it was worth listening to a few tracks from Pink Floyd on a CD player and this difference was already lost.

    And by the way, the main reason for such torment was the lack of a direct choice of source for Asus Essence III! To be honest, I think this is the biggest drawback of this device. For this fact constantly complicated all comparative tests!

    In general, by the arrival of the headphones, it became clear - the main source for checking the operation of the headphone amplifier will be a laptop connected via USB 2.0.

    Headphones finally arrived, and we had to move on. But it was already clear that just some headphones for some useful review could not do. Nevertheless, the headphones, and more precisely the headphone amplifier built into Essence III, also needed to be given appropriate attention.

    Do you hear boots rattling?


    Testing the headphone amp built into Essence III seemed pretty straightforward to me because I didn't need an amp or speakers.

    Rum, pork belly and scrambled eggs - that's all I need. In fact, you needed a sound source, Essence and headphones - everything is so simple!

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    By connecting the Sennheiser HD650 to the Essence III, I, of course, was impressed by the sound level of the headphones themselves.

    The detail, openness, pleasant soft bass and dynamics made me very pleased. True, to detail and dynamics, I also noted a certain brightness of sound, but attributed it to the expense of the headphones themselves. But, as you know, first impressions may be false.

    And having devoted a considerable amount of time to the headphones, I began to realize that there are some flaws in the sound of this bunch. However, these problems related to the headphones or the amplifier itself for them, I could not say right away and with some confidence. In fact, I needed one more headphone of at least the same level, but I didn’t have one as an alternative headphone amplifier.

    After thinking a little about what I should do in this situation, I decided to conduct a rather adventurous experiment. Namely, it was decided to use the second Sennheiser RS180 wireless headphones that I have, which I connected to the Essence III line output by switching the “VR bypass” toggle switch to the “ON” position, because the headphones have their own amplifier with volume control.

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    The disadvantage of this experiment was the lower class of the RS180 headphones themselves, the plus was the fact that it was possible to switch between the two outputs (linear - headphones) quite quickly.

    As a source, at first, I used a laptop from which WAV and DSD were played. A little later, I repeated the tests several times, but already using a CD player, since this was a certain convenience for me, namely the presence of a remote control.

    If we omit the technical difference between the headphones, the sound of the RS180 from the line output was more interesting, in terms of sound structure, of course, the HD650 surpassed the younger model with sound quality, dynamics, and drawing instruments.

    Listening to material from two outputs, despite the fact that the HD650 itself sounded better, technically, subjective sympathy was in the direction of a linear output, even with simpler headphones.

    This caused me to associate the play of two musicians, a beginner, but on an expensive instrument and a master, but on a simpler instrument. Of course I'm exaggerating here, but it would be better to convey my idea))

    For example, at first I used wav, in particular Cafe Zimmermann - Johann Sebastian Bach - “3-5 Concert for two violins and string D minor, BWV 1043” showed how I I heard a more simplified scene construction scheme and sound transmission structure. Those. I’m not talking about sound quality, but about structural features, since it’s clear that the HD650 itself played better.

    A little later, I returned to this recording, but I already used a CD player and also concluded that with the headphone amplifier (i.e. in the HD650), the depth of the scene was somewhat lost, the top of the third-plan instruments were lost or, as they say, were washed, but the foreground was given more attention, because of this the depth was lost. There were also questions about the low-frequency component, a certain tightness of the bass was felt, the RS180 felt more relaxed in the lower case.

    Dave Brubeck Quartet "Park Avenue South" - On the Sunny Side of The Street - also has a less dense bass at the headphone output, i.e. it is textured, soft but not as deep and there is no such volume as on the linear output. Maybe headphones?

    The last thing I could do was pass the “headphone” test on DSD material. To be honest, here the whole picture is improved due to the material itself, yet high resolution improves the overall impression of the sound quality of the headphone output, while the RS180 transmitter is limited by the resolution of the CD. Nevertheless, I continued to use them.

    Let's say when listening to Lars Erstrand - The Lars Erstrand Sessions “Afternoon in Paris” (DSF, DSD64) the perception of the scene, through the headphone output and the HD650, there was a feeling that the scene was slightly reduced. Through the line-out with the scene, in my understanding, everything was fine. But the overall impression of listening to the HD650 was much better, here the RS180 could not constitute any alternative, well, only for a schematic analysis of sound.

    I decided to move away from the indicated list and included PINK FLOYD - Wish You Were Here (DFF, DSD128) in the test. All the same, DSD saves in a sense the state of affairs with headphones, but to be honest, I would like more.

    According to the results of a summary listening to all the materials, I had a mixed opinion, and there is a serious device like the Essence III, and there is a balanced headphone output, which hints that there is some emphasis on this part of the device from the marketing point of view, however There are questions about the sound quality in the headphones. It is also possible that the headphones themselves in the face of the HD650 are not the best option for Essence III, but it was not possible to check any of the alternatives of the same price range.

    In general, listening to DSD through headphones is very nice. It is strange that so little attention was paid to the headphone amplifier in this ASUS model. This applies both to the above-mentioned sound moments, and the "usability" of this interface, which consists, for example, in the absence of volume control via the remote control. And as you can see, I'm not the only one who kicked Asus for this shortcoming, because with this moment there were some inconveniences.

    Perhaps the replacement of the op-amp will help to resolve the issue with the sound quality of the headphone amplifier, as was the case with Asus sound cards of the same name. But with the remote control of the headphone volume, no way))

    Actually, having figured out, as far as the situation allowed, with the headphone amplifier, the last row of questions remained. Namely, it became interesting to me in what price category are the components that should be connected to the system and say that the system is now balanced.

    A relatively reasonable option for me was a trip to some Hi-Fi salon. Therefore, I had to take the DAC, Sennheiser HD650 headphones, and also taking our friend along the road, we went to one of these salons.

    Angry joker, mischievous cupid


    At first, they entered lightly, “hands in trousers,” the devices were left in the car and tried to pretend to be interested buyers. But the consultants were all busy, who was sitting on the Internet, someone was already discussing with others idly staggering “how spaceships plow the expanses of the Bolshoi Theater”, who already helped people listen to the technique.

    After waiting a bit, coughing in my palm and kicking one of the "knowledgeable" with my foot, I began to explain the situation that, supposedly, there is a DAC, I want to select the appropriate source and power amplifier for it in order to get some balanced system.

    I was asked about what kind of DAC in question? He said that the DAC from ASUS.

    In general, at first I was offered to go to Computer World for multimedia speakers, of course I made a disappointed face, they said it was already, nothing came up, only you are my last hope))

    Looking at me with a hopeless look, the consultant gave birth to his approval, they say , let’s go here, what do you have there. Okay, I’ll bring it now.

    He brought the boxes, began to unpack the DAC, while unpacking, the consultant looked at the box with a cursory glance, and saying against the background of the preparation of the source and cables that Asus has nothing worthy, and that there is, so-so and in general, that we are suffering nonsense. The fact that I was suffering from nonsense was clear to me anyway, but it had no direct relation to Asus))

    At first I decided to select a source using my headphones for selection, and then proceed to the selection of a power amplifier.

    The first candidate I was offered a SACD player from (it seems) Denon at a price of about 40 pre-crisis rubles, as something more or less adequate for “not big” money. After listening to the CD through the number, I got the impression that this is some kind of scam))

    Honestly, I didn’t like the sound, even though the problems with the headphones were already known and I perceived the sound, comparing my home and even from memory, but still did not like it.

    I say not, but there is something normal, otherwise this one plays worse than my budget sidyuk. Oddly enough, but the consultant did not argue, agreed that yes - this option is so-so. Therefore, a Yamaha CD-S 1000 SACD player was offered and a story was told about what a wonderful transport there, that it’s not miserable computer drives for you, but weight!

    I had to agree that this was a thing, and we began to prepare a room for wiretapping.
    Yamaha, I personally liked it and for her, for my part, there were no special questions. Definitely she was much better than the first option.

    By the way, right away, while listening through the headphones, I managed to beg for a couple more, Audio-Technica from the same price category and relatively cheap Audio-Technica W5000. What I liked, all the same, the headphone output still showed the difference between the headphones. On this occasion, I made a note for myself that perhaps there is a chance to tinker with the selection of suitable headphones.

    Before listening, they specified which acoustics we prefer, I asked for the shelving DynAudio Focus 160.
    Next went the case for amplifiers. At first, a couple like Maranz MM7025 and Anthem PVA 5, in the price range of $ 1200-1700, did not impress me. There was a sound difference between the amplifiers themselves, but there was no expected quality gain.

    Meanwhile, the consultant began to wonder at the number of outputs, the number of twists and switches on the back of Essence, this apparently began to destroy his myth of multimedia speakers. I suspect that after that he went to look on the Internet, what did we bring. And in the future, a slightly different attitude to the device was felt))

    I had to ask for an amplifier of the next price category, after which amplifiers from $ 2000-$ 2500 were used.
    And already Vincent SV-234 I started to like it. The next level in the cabin was already from $ 7000, and I refused this price level, also taking into account the geometric dimensions of these chests. And in general I thought that Essence III is the same device for the “modern house” in which there is no place, and here the amplifiers are the size and weight of a bank safe. At my joke and mentioning the size of these amplifiers, I suddenly remembered about the small, I would say compact and very modern in appearance, Luxman components, as if miraculously lying around in the cabin.

    I liked the idea of ​​small-sized components, and the Luxmann M-200 stereo amplifier was included in the system, falling into this category in the category from $ 2,500. Honestly, I liked the sound of this amplifier, but taking into account the size and price is pretty optimal. I was also asked to compare Essense with the Luxmann DA-200 DAC. This component was in the same price category, and when comparing it turned out that the Essence III line output produces a relatively weak signal. There was no time to deal with the reason for this, or it was so set up from the factory or they had already rolled me up, but this fact was present.

    By the way, in these tests, the advantage of using balanced cables was clearly audible!
    So if there is an opportunity to use them, it is advisable to use it.

    “Just think, I’ve known for three days.”
    - Not three! - And how much? - Four!


    In fact, the time spent getting to know Essence III was far from three or four days)) The

    amount of material heard also exceeds and is much larger than indicated on the review list. Flac was also used for tests, and the listened material included heavy music styles. I did not describe tests using Flac, since the main highlight of Essence III is precisely the ability to work with DSD. It is this fact that should attract the buyer to take a closer look at this model.

    Unfortunately, it was not possible to carry out a couple of tests using active acoustics, and the use of Essence III in my friend’s already tested setup, which consists of components of the upper HI-FI segment with an additional comparative test of DACs from Asus and Hegel in terms of use for CD players . Did not work out.

    But let's get back to Essence III and some of its nuances regarding the conveniences, and more precisely the “not usability” of using this device. So to speak - I’ll step twice on a sore spot.

    Consider the front panel:

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    I must say right away that from a distance (1 -1.5 meters) the signatures to the LED indicators are poorly read, and in my usual, not bright light in the room, they are not read at all.

    The three buttons on the left are the same, and if the leftmost one is clear that “Power”, then “Output” and “Input” I sometimes confused, even sitting pretty close to the DAC. Those. before clicking the desired button, you need to read the signature to make sure that it is the button you need at the moment, God forbid, instead of Output, press Input;)

    Now the main trouble with Essence III in terms of usability is a step-by-step algorithm for switching signal sources, which takes a very long time carries out this very switch. Given that there are as many as 5 of them, switching (using the same Input button) from Coaxial to USB seems like an eternity! When conducting a comparative test, this is simply a disaster.

    What prevented me from making a direct choice of the signal source with separate buttons or a selector knob like let's say with TEAC UD-501, I don’t understand.

    Now about the motorized volume control. I never liked these “fashionable” motorized volume controls, or rather, their ambiguity in the regulation of low volume. In my case, the sound in the speakers appeared in the control position for almost 9 hours, and sometimes the next volume step appeared after two “+” presses, sometimes after one, there were cases when you increase the volume, and after a while it decreased by one step.

    At one time I had similar problems on the Pioneer A-6 amplifier, as a result of the inconvenience of using such a regulator, I had to sell this amplifier altogether.

    It is especially inconvenient to use these controls to adjust the volume in small rooms and a quiet time of the day due to the limited adjustment range in the low volume area.
    In the afternoon I did not experience any problems, since the operating position of the regulator was in the region of 12 hours.

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    Now about the headphone volume control, I don’t know what the manufacturer was thinking, but running up to adjust the headphone volume when you are sitting on the couch and the device is in the “stand” is not very convenient! Already at least electronic, but could realize.

    As a result, the entire part allocated to the headphones turned out to be some kind of incomplete. The volume with the remote control is not adjustable, there are complaints about the sound quality. I agree with the previous speaker, it would be better if Asus threw out balanced headphone outputs, but at least they would bring it to mind. After all, mind you, not a single domestic test where headphones with balanced connection would be used, but what is the probability of their use by the end user ?!

    Actually, this ends my list of chagrin))

    Both knobs of the volume controls are illuminated by LEDs, the backlight is not bright and gives a rather noble look.

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    About the material of the “twists” of the volume themselves, they are plastic, but for the entire time of operation I did not experience any negative feelings from this. To be honest, I generally accidentally remembered that, unlike the Essence III case made in metal, the handles are made of plastic. You can only find fault with the notches on the side surface of the handles, the dust that gets there is a little annoying, but you just can’t wipe it with a rag, you can remove it only with a brush or even remove the handles.

    The next one under consideration is our remote control. In general, its appearance does not cause melancholy, comfortable, pleasantly lies in the hand, gray, i.e. does not pay much attention.

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    The only thing is that when you change the batteries, you will see that after all this is painted plastic.

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    The device’s form factor, this is an unanswered question, it’s not a rack-mount format and not half as Cyrus say, something in between.

    Of the big pluses, for my part, I note the build quality of the device itself and the quality of the materials. Here, in my opinion, everything is wonderful.
    A large number of source connection interfaces, the ability to adjust the signal level, even a switchable USB mode from 2.0 to 1.0, who cares? For some reason, it seems to me that a person who has enough money for Essence III should also have enough money for a new laptop))

    Well, the sound quality when using a linear output, and even more when using a balanced output is a very strong point of Essence III! I also note a good level of pre-amplifier.

    Well, in conclusion, consider the scenarios for using Essence III.

    Option 1

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    If you recall this illustration from the Asus website, where Essence III is positioned as a high-tech device designed for a modern home, and judging by the cost of the device, it seems that the room is not the smallest in size (well, again, judging by the picture).
    Immediately we recall the lack of volume control on the headphones))

    Option 2

    The location of the device on the desktop, here the volume control for the headphones is not needed, because the DAC will be in range, the active speakers of a rather high level are used as acoustics. It seems to me that in this situation, there should be enough space around the desktop, because such acoustics sometimes have large dimensions. The use of such acoustics on a small desktop is in my opinion pointless, if only the listening area of ​​the monitors is behind the chair or armchair itself, i.e. somewhere further. In this situation, the functionality corresponds to common sense. The most meaningless use of this device, in my opinion, is to use it only as an amplifier for headphones, even for listening to DSD.

    But the use of Essence III with active acoustics having the size of full-fledged speakers is, in my opinion, the most interesting both in terms of sound and in terms of price. As practice showed, Essence III feels rather comfortable in a bunch of amplifier - speakers with a total cost of $ 5000, active acoustics will be cheaper. In addition, when choosing it there will be no such problems as when choosing individual components, i.e. you don’t need to spend so much time on a separate choice of amplifier, and then another speaker (or vice versa).

    - Well, narrowly to me, narrowly!
    - But where is it narrow? I would even say - wide!
    - Yes, I say: widely to me.


    Indeed, the above-mentioned cons of Essence III, such as the lack of a normal source selector and some flaws in the sound quality through the headphone amplifier, can change priorities when considering this device for purchase. The price tag for the device is assigned not small, respectively, and the requirements of the buyer will not be modest!

    However, if you are looking for a DAC specifically for working with DSD, then the picture may change. Let's say the number of competitors is not so great. The first to come to mind is the aforementioned TEAC UD-501, but it does not have a pre-amplifier for linear output, on the other hand, when using active acoustics, this does not matter, and the price tag is lower.

    Asus calls for a balanced headphone output, which unfortunately no one in the reviews tested and whether it will be so much in demand by users is also not known.

    But if the user has already formed a Hi-Fi or High End system, with a power amplifier, then perhaps the choice towards Asus may turn out to be more priority.

    Well, the main trump card from Asus, perhaps, will be a proprietary chip for easy replacement of operational amplifiers, to select the desired character of sound. Perhaps for someone this moment will play a major role. And maybe even all the questions with the headphone amplifier will disappear.

    In addition, do not forget about the software update from Asus, someone also has a nice bonus.

    Notes:


    When considering buying an Essence III, carefully consider checking both the headphone amplifier and the headphones themselves, since the main reviews were made using the HD650, which in fact may not be the best choice.

    When the laptop was working from the power supply, obvious interference was heard through the speakers, however, they were not heard in the headphones either from the headphone output or from the line output to the wireless headphones. Therefore, all tests were carried out when the laptop was running on the built-in battery.

    The most interesting moment for me was the ability to fix the level on the linear output when the toggle switch “VR Bypass” is set to “ON”. I found this possibility at the very end of the test, when I carried out an additional test of the RS180 headphones on the Essence III line output. The meaning is that you can set a fixed but necessary signal level at the linear output. It is done as follows: put the “VR Bypass” toggle switch to the “OFF” position, turn the pre-amplifier volume control to the desired level and put the “VR Bypass” toggle switch to the “ON” position, as a result you will get a fixed signal level from the line output but with the necessary you amplitude.

    I did not take photos of the insides of the devices due to the fact that there are plenty of them in other reviews and on the ASUS website itself

    And a short video, for example, is HERE

    I didn’t write down the delights of various microcircuits used in the device because of a lack of knowledge in this area, for me, as an end user, the main thing was the quality of the sound itself. Indeed, in addition to the capabilities of the DAC or OA microcircuit itself, the moment of high-quality binding of such ones will also be important, and I really have no idea how they were actually tied up technically. Therefore, the sound quality in my opinion is the main criterion in this review.

    By the way, I didn’t do the graphics either, because Asus made them myself and put them in a booklet, the booklet is included, but for those who are interested, I post it:

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    Options

    Because I didn’t get the complete equipment, I didn’t take pictures, but the list of the attached ones is laid out:

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    Funny

    Found a flaw in the instructions - find 10 differences))

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