After revealing the Xonar DS 7.1 a couple of days, Asus has now come out with yet another audio card bearing the Xonar brand, the Xonar Essence ST. Boasting a PCI interface like the DS 7.1, the latest of the Xonars is powered by the AV100 processor, comes equipped with a Burr-Brown PCM 1792A Digital-to-Analog Convertor (DAC) and a Cirrus Logic CS5361 A/D converter, and a headphone amplifier, and is claimed to be the first soundcard to feature auto clock tuning for lowering audio jitter.

Also featuring an EMI shield and Nichicon “Fine Gold” capacitors, the card provides 7.1 channel output, a 124 SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio), 192 KHz @ 16/24bit playback, and support for multiple Dolby technologies (Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Headphone, Dolby Virtual Speaker, and Dolby Pro-Logic II). Asus has not yet revealed the Xonar Essence ST's price of retail release date.