ASUS Maximus XII Hero WiFi Motherboard Review

Sandra is a software collection of synthetic benchmarks that will give us a basic idea as to what a system is capable of. It should be noted that SiSoft numbers change depending on what hardware is being tested.  These were recorded using Sandra Professional Version 30.29.2020.5

One of the most difficult things about doing reviews is finding some kind of common ground to establish a benchmark on so that when we say something is good our readers know it is based on something they can try themselves.  In the case of audio reproduction there are too many factors to consider such as hearing quality, sound equipment (speakers) and room dimensions so we are turning to the RightMark Audio Analyzer to give us a set of audio specs.  We will then use those numbers to determine what kind of audio quality you can expect.

This test was performed using a loopback cable which is basically a jack that connects the analog line-out plug back into the analog line-in.  That way we can remove almost all of the variables and concentrate on what is actually being reproduced and recorded.

Specs
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.01, -0.06
Noise level, dB (A):  -102.8
Dynamic range, dB (A): 102.1
THD, %: 0.00087
THD + Noise, dB (A):  -91.1
IMD + Noise, %:  0.00384
Stereo crosstalk, dB: -96.7
IMD at 10 kHz, %: 0.00366
General performance Excellent

Color coding indicates good to bad, Bright green = Excellent - Bright Red = Poor - Black = Good

Synthetic performance never really tells the entire story, but is a good indication of what the system would probably be capable of doing under the right conditions.  For this set of benchmarks I decided to keep things simple and run the new Z490 against an older Z390 and X299.  The reason being that 1) we want to know how the 10900K stacks up against the previous generation.  2) we also might want to know how a 10-core LGA 1200 stacks up against a 10-Core LGA 2066.  The architecture is different between all of the platforms and they all have good aspects along with bad.

The Rightmark audio benchmark is a great tool for exposing audio specs for the various chips and software used and read much like if you were buying an amplifier or sound system for your house.  There is a bunch of Excellent rated numbers on that list and to be honest the ASUS SupremeFX audio controller really surprised me.  Granted a good portion of this score is hardware and how it interfaces with the software so consider the results a combination of the two.