I purchased the Nu Audio sound card after building my new computer and deciding to leave my Asus Xonar Essence STX in my old computer. And the quality of the sound card is suprisingly better then I anticipated with a new entry product from EVGA. While a increasingly niche computer component they do a good job in I/O options for audio connections. The only thing they are missing is a Digital Coaxial audio cable connection but at the point why when they have you mostly covered for options.
What equipment did you use?
CPU: Intel Core i9 9900K
Motherboard: EVGA 390Z DARK
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti
Sound Card: EVGA Nu Audio
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 G.Skill Royal Gold 4266MHz
SSD: Samsung 970 Pro 1TB, Samsung 970 Evo 1TB
Case: Lian-li 011 Dynamic
Mouse: Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard: Ducky Shine 5 Natural White Cherry MX
Mousepad: Ducky Flipper Extra
Headphones: Blue Sadie / Blue Mo-Fi
Speakers: Corsair SP2500
Camera: Sony A6000
Microphone: RØDE NT1-A
Main Monitor: Dell S2716DG
Side Monitors(2): BenQ XL2420Z, BenQ XL 2420Z
Mixer: ART TubeMix 5-ch Mixer / TC Helicon GoXLR
How you did you test the card?
Audio source used are .ape and .flac audio format music ranging from vaporwave, classic rock, classical music, jazz. Along with pc games such as Path of Exile, Escape from Tarkov, League of Legends, Monster Hunter Online, Mechwarrior 5, and more.
What did you enjoy the most about the EVGA NU Audio Card?
I love the easy of access and clean UI of the sound card application. Past sound cards I had like the HT-Omega and the Asus Xonar Essence STX had very clunky and dated UI's that often forced me to dig into them to find the settings I wanted to change and tweak but EVGA's implementation is a godsend which is no surprise with how well their EVGA Precision is made.
What improvements would you like to see?
The only improvement I would say is getting rid of the Molex power source required for it and switching it over to SATA power like which they did for the Nu Audio Pro for future product runs if they plan to keep the base Nu Audio cards to sell alonside the Nu Audio Pro
What was your overall impression?
I think EVGA did a service to the niche consumer base that still hangs onto the idea of buying sound cards and am impressed with their dedication to this product line which is further shown with the Nu Audio Pro cards they just released