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Xonar Essence STX: Sneak Peek! - Page 26

post #376 of 2057
1/14/09 at 11:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dex85 View Post
guys, do you think this card will be able to drive K701 properly? i'm looking to upgrade from HD555 and need to know if Essence will be up to the job.
Yes, the Essence STX should have no issue driving your headphones.
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post #377 of 2057
1/14/09 at 12:24pm
^^ thanks mate
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post #378 of 2057
1/14/09 at 2:56pm
Also, make sure the 8800GTS's backplate (not sure if they have it, my old 8800GTX did), is not too close to the soundcard either.

I had this problem when installing my X-Fi soundcard in the PCI slot right behind my 8800GTX. It fried within a few hours of use, as it did not have any means of getting rid of its heat.
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post #379 of 2057
1/14/09 at 5:08pm
Review round-up 1/14/2009:

TweakTown
ASUS Xonar Essence STX Sound Card :: TweakTown (fantastic review)

FiringSquad
ASUS Xonar Essence STX Review (not so great)
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post #380 of 2057
1/14/09 at 6:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taso89 View Post
FiringSquad
ASUS Xonar Essence STX Review (not so great)
You will notice the only thing this article didn't like about the STX is that frequencies at 40kHz+ volume will fluctuate 1dB (though he mistakenly said 20kHz+) which falls exactly where the graph in the manual said it would under frequency response and then assumes that this is poor performance :P
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post #381 of 2057
1/14/09 at 7:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taso89 View Post
Review round-up 1/14/2009:

TweakTown
ASUS Xonar Essence STX Sound Card :: TweakTown (fantastic review)

FiringSquad
ASUS Xonar Essence STX Review (not so great)
TweakTown tested the Essence with a Sennheiser HD433 while Firingsquad used the Logitech Z5500.
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post #382 of 2057
1/14/09 at 9:30pm
Firingsquad didn't even use a decent pair of headphones (this is primarily an analog headphone/speaker sound card, mind you), they used one pair of earbuds which they said sounded good.

"...the accuracy of the Essence seemed to drop off itself once it got above the 20kHz range, which is not something you want to see when the card is being billed as ‘reference quality.’"

Was this a heard or measured analysis? 'Cause last I checked human ears don't even hear up to 20kHz, which is not something you want to see when you're looking for a 'good review.'

And the Logitech Z5500's take a digital input, so it is no indication of how good the sound card is anyway.
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post #383 of 2057
1/14/09 at 10:00pm
I thought both reviews are fairly positive.

Quote:
Originally Posted by taso89 View Post
Firingsquad didn't even use a decent pair of headphones (this is primarily an analog headphone/speaker sound card, mind you), they used one pair of earbuds which they said sounded good.
The Tweaktown used a pair of Sennheiser HD433, correct? Those are not good either.

Quote:
Originally Posted by taso89 View Post
And the Logitech Z5500's take a digital input, so it is no indication of how good the sound card is anyway.
Yeah, I thought that was pointless too.
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post #384 of 2057
1/15/09 at 12:00am
Well I got my card last night I did have to switch my video card to the bottom PCI Express 2.0 slot the fan on the video card was all most hitting the card when I had it on the top slot. Well guess no cross fire for me
This sound card bough the sennheiser 595 to life after using the ASUS mobo onbaord for the past year. Bass sounds like I have to 12ich subs in back of me, the highs sound good but could be better I just need more time tweaking it as well as the mids. I only have about 30mins on it so it should get better after the burn in and time to start saving for 650s







Quote:
Originally Posted by Bojamijams View Post
I should mention that with the current driver, I'm having issues getting the MIC IN working. Not a big deal as I have onboard for that, but I would like to get it resolved eventually.

Anyone else having issues with MIC IN?

I'm running vista x64 sp1
Mine is working good people said in ventrilo I sound a lot better than the onboard line in.
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post #385 of 2057
1/15/09 at 1:44am
Someone knows when this card will be released in Europe?
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post #386 of 2057
1/15/09 at 2:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kuben View Post
Someone knows when this card will be released in Europe?
From my past experience if you're having trouble buying Xonar stuff in your country, one way to go is to get to the dealer and complain the availablity issue, so they may go and wake up ASUS sales force to offer 'em the cards...that's how I get my Xonar D1.

Just a tip for those who can't seem to find the cards on local market, keep in mind that it's us who spend the bucks and we're always right.
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post #387 of 2057
1/15/09 at 2:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bojamijams View Post
Is your GTS blowing its exhaust onto the card?
Thanks for the reply ! no my Xonar STX is placed above my GTS. They are pretty close but they are not touching. My GTS takes up 2 slots. So if I put the Xonar STX on the 2nd PCI-E16X slot which is below my GTS, then its likely that GTS will blow its hot air on to the Xonar STX.
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post #388 of 2057
1/15/09 at 7:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Auidodude34 View Post
This sound card bough the sennheiser 595 to life after using the ASUS mobo onbaord for the past year. Bass sounds like I have to 12ich subs in back of me, the highs sound good but could be better I just need more time tweaking it as well as the mids.
Do you mean you've listened to another sound card that was better in those fields?
Quote:
Originally Posted by kuben View Post
Someone knows when this card will be released in Europe?
Here in Italy will be available on 5th February
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post #389 of 2057
1/15/09 at 6:26pm
For those with this card already, are you using the headphone 1/8th connection, or are you adapting it to the 2xRCA connections?
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post #390 of 2057
1/15/09 at 10:17pm
Just played a few songs for the first time with my new stx out of the headphone amp jack at low gain on my ad2000's. So far pretty impressive. Very solid sound. I think this is what I was missing from the D2X. I'm pretty sure the D2X has a really crappy power plug and it was effecting the sound. I had to push it in a couple times after the sound got really low for no apparent reason. I had assumed it was a driver problem at first but it was just a stupid floppy power plug design. Thanks to the nice solid 4 pin molex on the stx it sounds very solid without any annoying occasional artifacts. The D2X could be fixed easily by bending the power plug pins a little but I prefer the robust 4 pin molex type on the stx by far. So far so good!
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