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Xonar Essence STX: Sneak Peek! - Page 34

post #496 of 2057
1/29/09 at 12:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sluggoaudio View Post
Honestly, the 4562 is a fine chip: the bottleneck is with the 2114's, why Asus chose them is a mystery; for all the money they wasted with the posters and fake individual performance reports, they could have dropped the extra 2 bucks and put in 2134's.
One other thing: replacing the 4562 will not improve the headphone output; it has nothing to do with that part of the circuit. I'm not sure anyone has actually made this claim (this a BIG thread).
So, has anyone been able to download the new driver yet?
as long as it improves the RCA-out i'm happy, since that's what i'll be using (to achieve the 124db SNR spec). it'll be feeding into my M^3 so amping isn't my concern.
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post #497 of 2057
1/29/09 at 9:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sluggoaudio View Post
One other thing: replacing the 4562 will not improve the headphone output; it has nothing to do with that part of the circuit. I'm not sure anyone has actually made this claim (this a BIG thread).
Finally my question has got an answer. Thanks for your post
BTW, do you think the 2134 is the best replacement for the 2114? And what about going for a discrete opamp instead of the 4562?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sluggoaudio View Post
So, has anyone been able to download the new driver yet?
No way, servers are busy all the time
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post #498 of 2057
1/29/09 at 3:46pm
You're not going to be able to fit a discrete on there AND be able to use the EMI shield. You might not even have the clearance from your other computer mobo devices. And even if you had room and didn't want the EMI shield, I'm not sure it would stay plugged in with all that weight hanging upside down (unless you have a reverse ATX case)
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post #499 of 2057
1/29/09 at 8:47pm
Thread Starter 
@Sluggoaudio, I already stated a few pages back the 2114D's are used as a differential input I/V section and the LM4562 is a single end buffer.
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post #500 of 2057
1/29/09 at 8:48pm
Thread Starter 
You can get extension wires for the discrete opamps.
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post #501 of 2057
1/29/09 at 8:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shahrose View Post
as long as it improves the RCA-out i'm happy, since that's what i'll be using (to achieve the 124db SNR spec). it'll be feeding into my M^3 so amping isn't my concern.
All three opamp affects the RCA outputs. This is where you get the 124dB SNR from, Those are measured values not spec...the spec value is about 127dB.
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post #502 of 2057
1/29/09 at 10:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ROBSCIX View Post
All three opamp affects the RCA outputs. This is where you get the 124dB SNR from, Those are measured values not spec...the spec value is about 127dB.
yea that's what i thought. thanks for confirming it.
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post #503 of 2057
1/29/09 at 11:54pm
I am going to get the new Sennheiser HD 800's would the Xonar Essence be a sufficient source for it?
I already own a Xonar essence I hope it will be good enough for the HD 800's.
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post #504 of 2057
1/29/09 at 11:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkRegion View Post
I am going to get the new Sennheiser HD 800's would the Xonar Essence be a sufficient source for it?
I already own a Xonar essence I hope it will be good enough for the HD 800's.
i don't care how good everyone thinks the STX is. there's no way i'd pair it with possibly the best dynamic headphones in existence. there are better sources and much better amps out there that would do the HD800 more justice.
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post #505 of 2057
1/30/09 at 12:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shahrose View Post
i don't care how good everyone thinks the STX is. there's no way i'd pair it with possibly the best dynamic headphones in existence. there are better sources and much better amps out there that would do the HD800 more justice.
So it would be a waste to get the HD 800's to use with the xonar essence?

Are there other sources that are better that can still upmix to virtual 7.1?
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post #506 of 2057
1/30/09 at 12:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkRegion View Post
So it would be a waste to get the HD 800's to use with the xonar essence?

Are there other sources that are better that can still upmix to virtual 7.1?
not a waste. but if there's any headphone that would benefit from a better source/amp, it would likely be the HD800. $1400 headphone with a $200 soundcard...price isn't the best indicator of value but that's just pushing it.
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post #507 of 2057
1/30/09 at 12:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shahrose View Post
not a waste. but if there's any headphone that would benefit from a better source/amp, it would likely be the HD800. $1400 headphone with a $200 soundcard...price isn't the best indicator of value but that's just pushing it.
Hmm would the D7000's be a better pair with the Essence?
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post #508 of 2057
1/30/09 at 2:48am
I like how people are commenting on the HD800 without even laying their hands on it.
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post #509 of 2057
1/30/09 at 3:27am
btw, if anyone has been paying attention to what's going on with Asus's driver page.. it's pretty funny.

The current drivers are so buggy that they bluescreen when you try to run dxdiag and crash several games immediately on launch. Asus claims that they have already released drivers that fixes the issue.

The drivers were "released" on the 23rd, on 24th when no one still could actually download the new drivers, one of the driver devs posted that they have uploaded the drivers and they would be available in "few" hours once their servers "sync". Fastforward a week and the driver dev has quietly stopped posting on the forums and we still don't have any download links that work.

Now I freely admit that my earlier post was rather exaggerated but there's no way around the fact that Asus driver support is so pathetic that it makes Creative look like a dream come true..

Edit: I should add that if you don't care about gaming then this is no doubt a brilliant card. I have absolutely nothing to complain when it comes to sound quality, both digital and analog output have been outstanding.
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post #510 of 2057
1/30/09 at 7:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stimpy_7 View Post
Hi everyone,

First post in the forum but have been lurking for a fair few months!

I'm extremely interested in this product but i have one question that i need answering before I take the plunge.

I'm currently using a creative X-FI Platinum on my PC, although i mainly use it for 2 channel music (this is my priority) I also dabble in music creation, most notably using guitar rig 3, pluging my guitar directly into the front panel.

I was just wondering if i will suffer any latency issues moving to this card? will asio be effected in anyway and can i continue to use my guitar in this way?

Obviously the line in at the back is a 1/4 jack, which is the same as a standard guitar lead.

I've had a good read about but i can't seem to find anything related.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Adam
Anyone?

Cheers
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