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Xonar Essence STX: Sneak Peek! - Page 35

post #511 of 2057
1/30/09 at 8:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alydon View Post
@ADD, I double-checked my STX and it does indeed have the 5381 ADC.

Very much appreciated. Now I can be confident that the ADC quality of the Essence will be at least as good as my current original PCI Xonar - most likely better given the power and component improvements.

I now have it on order again and look forward to saying goodbye to my last computer PCI card for good.
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post #512 of 2057
1/30/09 at 9:07am
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
Well the STX's drivers support ASIO 2.0, so I would say probably no.
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post #513 of 2057
1/30/09 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
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
The jacks on the back on the Essence STX are 1/4" yes, but they are not made for a guitar input. The Input on this card is Line-In and a Mic-in. I wouldn't connect a guitar to it. The card has not been made for that.
I use guitar Rig all the time but I don't use the STX for input...
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post #514 of 2057
1/30/09 at 1:29pm
For those of you who are having issues with the Essence and gaming, I installed Vista and the current Essence Vista drivers and have had no problems. WOW works fine, with no sound issues.

I know this isn't a solution and ASUS should fix their drivers, but I just wanted to throw it out there that my Essence card and Vista seem to work much better together when it comes to gaming.... I know, who would have thought!
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post #515 of 2057
1/30/09 at 7:14pm
I have to add, though not much help to those suffering, with my vista x64 its also super smooth.. its just some hardware config in your system is messing **** up and essence isn't handling the best

I know because I had to flash my bios to remove the old auzentech prelude that was in the pci slot cause it was taking up the memory for the pci-e STX.

But.. after that.. smooth sailing
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post #516 of 2057
1/31/09 at 1:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bojamijams View Post
I know because I had to flash my bios to remove the old auzentech prelude that was in the pci slot cause it was taking up the memory for the pci-e STX.
That doesn't make any sense to me. Did you first try resetting the PCI configuration in CMOS setup?
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post #517 of 2057
1/31/09 at 12:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HammerSandwich View Post
That doesn't make any sense to me. Did you first try resetting the PCI configuration in CMOS setup?
Yes I fully agree that it shouldn't have been necessary, but it was. Maybe its a vista file, maybe nvidia chipset driver fail, I dunno. I hate both equally. Nevertheless..
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post #518 of 2057
1/31/09 at 3:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ROBSCIX View Post
Hey Guys, I figure many of you here may be interested in some new information about the upcoming Xonar Essence STX card. Have a look: HERE

HWC actually has a engineering sample of the card and we will be looking it over with a magnifying glass and testing it fully to see what it has to offer the headphone and audio communities. Do we have any opinions, suggestions or comments on this card?
Hi Rob,
I posted something about a Compass DAC in another ASUS related thread. You sent me a PM, I couldn't answer because your PM Box is full!!

Take out the Trash!
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post #519 of 2057
2/1/09 at 12:52pm
Thread Starter 
I have been doing some testing with various opamps will report some findings when I am done.
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post #520 of 2057
2/1/09 at 1:35pm
Hey folks. I have an odd question.

I bought this card along with a pair HD650s. The headphones support +300 impedance so I made the settings in the software but it was just too loud. I have the sound level at maximum 10-15%, or around 5% with 300 impedance when I want the extra kick. It's still pretty loud and it's getting ridiculous to lower the volume to 1 or 2%. Is it possible to lower the entire output volume, to have more freedom with the volume adjuster? The volume is at around 5% in the Xonar software, so you have a bit of elbow room in there, but Windows' own volume control (the vertical bar you have a shortcut to next to the clock, bottom right of the screen) is at the absolute minimum, and adjusting it just a tiny little bit results in a big difference. I just want to cut out the last 50% of the volume. Or half the dB amount.

I have Dolby Headphone and 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter enabled. Adds some life to the sound as it otherwise feels a bit static, in my opinion.

I have the sample rate at 192 KHz. What exactly is the advantage of that instead of 44?

Hehe. Alright I just discovered the mixer settings... they don't call me Columbus for nothing.
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post #521 of 2057
2/1/09 at 2:17pm
Just change you gain setting to medium.. that'll lower your voltage output and thus the volume. I found their gain settings to be really conservative. So I'd say trying to medium gain option with the 650's.
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post #522 of 2057
2/1/09 at 3:40pm
How do this stack up to the Elite PRO or Prelude? I ain´t using it´s amplifier so with that ruled out?

It supports dolby encoding which is important for me. Does it have dual outputs one optical and one coaxial? I need to run coaxial to my speakers and then optical from my PS 3 to the Xonar. Or can the Xonar just output digital signals?
Reason for this is that I need to run my PS 3 through my Elite PRO to give feedback to my buttkicker LFE.

Maybe someone here have tried this but with a subwoofer may be more common
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post #523 of 2057
2/1/09 at 5:49pm
Thread Starter 
The digital is a combo port, Coaxial and optical with a adapter. You get surround out of the digital outputs using Dolby Digital Live. To Note, there is also an internal S/Pdif output most likley for use with HDMI GFX card where you can connect up S/PDIF.

The Essence has:
Digital out -coax/optical
Headphone amplifier out
RCA-stereo out
Internal S/Pdif out.

I guess if you were good with electronics you could wire up the internal S/Pdif to an external bracket essetially giving you two digital outs.
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post #524 of 2057
2/1/09 at 6:56pm
so no spdif/in and you can´t simultaneously run coaxial and optical? Well I am greatful it rules this out then.
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post #525 of 2057
2/1/09 at 7:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ROBSCIX View Post
I have been doing some testing with various opamps will report some findings when I am done.
looking forward to this. can you tell us which opamps for the time being?
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