Audio Testing

The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero separates the audio section with traces to isolate it from electrical noise created by nearby components. This is standard practice for manufacturers who care about quality on-board audio support. Without isolation of the audio components, unintentional electrical noise can be introduced into the audio line, creating unwanted hissing and static sounds.

The board uses a Realtek ALC4082 Codec found below where it reads SurpemeFX. This is just a metal shield that supposedly helps block unwanted interference. The ALC40XX Codec is starting to show up on some AMD X570S and a few Intel Z690 chipsets I have seen so far. The biggest change from the ALC1200 is that the device is interfaced through USB. It also supports up to 32-Bit/384 kHz playback, but I was unable to set it above 32-Bit/196 kHz in Windows. This is not an exclusive issues with this motherboard. I am dealing with the same problem on others as well, which points to a software or driver issue being the culprit.

Anything above the 20 Hz to 20K Hz sweep had RightMark yield strange results on multiple motherboards, so while I would have liked to provide a wider range to show off what this audio codec and DAC combination is capable of, I didn't because I couldn't trust the results to be accurate. As such, the standard 20 KHz sweep is used once again.

RMAA results are below:

RightMark Audio Analyzer