A few days after the Nu Audio Card released, I found myself handing EVGA more money to get my audio more up to par. First off a little bit about me.
I'm a huge audio guy, I wouldn't go as far to call myself a Audiophile, but I am an audio enthusiast. I enjoy listening to music, and getting the best sound possible while at it. I'm also a former professional gamer, and I relied heavily (and still do) on audio to help me gain the upper edge.
All equipment used in the build:
System:
DG-77 Case
Z370 Classified K MOBO
i5-8400 (Water cooled by EVGA CLC Cooler)
1080 TI FTW 3 Hybrid
16 GB DDR4
EVGA NU Audio Card
EVGA 650 Watt Gold-Rated PSU
Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SSD
2 TB WD Enterprise HDD
Audio:
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 250 Ohm
Xynex 1202 FX
AT-2020 Cardioid Condenser Mic
My first round of tests came from testing music in various formats. The three big ones were mp3, .wav and DSD files. That being said, you can notice a huge difference between the DSD and .wav files. The audio is much more clear, less interference, and the dynamics and tones were much more distinguished. The DSD allowed you to distinguish notes more clearly, hearing the difference as if it were right there being played in front of you. The bigger difference came from mp3 to .wav files. This is because you are going from a compressed format, to an uncompressed one. DSD and .wav files both use a lot more space, but they both have much more superior quality then that of a mp3 file. This is what I enjoy most about the audio card. The better playback of music, and the ability to listen to DSD and .wav files.
The amplifier and DAC do a good job at cleaning up audio, both cleaning it up to make more distinguished tones, as well as cleaning out interference.
When it comes to games, you don't see as much as a difference. There wont be as much interference in the audio with this card in it, however almost all game audio is compressed, thus limits the use of this audio card. Possibly in the future of gaming, where they work on making more superior audio, this card will really shine on.
When it comes to the downfalls of the card, it would be taking input at a high volume. This card is an Audio Card, it will give you superior audio, however when it comes to the input through the line-in and the mic ports at high volume, there is noticeable static in the background. To fix this, you need to limit the volume through the software, and turn up the mic volume separately via mixer, or software for your headset. My personal fix was to use the line in, and use about 75% volume in the software, the rest of it was fixed through the mixer.
My overall impression of this card, is it does very well at what it is meant to do, and that is be an Audio Card. It does very well at audio playback, and I would recommend it for audio enthusiast, and gamers who have a love for audio.