Finally finished my mega review of this card, I even included a shameless Head-fi plug as well 
Here it is! Enjoy and discuss.
Introduction
Once upon a time, when gamers had little choice but to choose Creative soundcards, they were longing for another manufacturers to counter Creative's near monopoly on the 'Average Joe Gamer' soundcard market. Things got interesting when a company called Auzentech, then little known to non-audiophile circles, introduced the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude, which offered audiophile satisfying sound and options while having a key aspect of gaming, that being Creative's EAX 5.0. Although this satisfied the 'audiophile gamer' for who could afford the card, there was still a void in the market for an alternative to Creative in the midrange and lower-priced end of the market.
Asus, then not known at all for producing sound-related products, saw this as an opportunity to enter the growing demand of the soundcard market and surprised everyone when they filled the low-end and midrange priced gamer soundcard market void left by Auzentech by releasing the Xonar DX series of cards. The Xonar DX series quickly became quite popular as an alternative to Creative as people dissatisfied with Creative's marketing tactics (see Daniel_K saga) took the opportunity to be free of Creative, it did not use the X-fi chipset nor software unlike the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude and a widely recognised computer parts manufacturer finally offered an alternative to Creative's dominance in the gamer soundcard market in a price range most people could afford.
Asus, now with a firm footing in the soundcard market, is now seeking to complete their entry to the market by targeting the high-end soundcard market, which is dominated by audiophiles and is the hardest market to satisfy, with the release of their new soundcard, the Asus Essence STX.
Does Asus have what it takes to enter and satisfy this highly demanding market or does it hype surrounding it sound too good to be true?
Thanks to ComputerLounge, I have been given the privilege to test out this card and we will see whether Asus can make the step up.
The Package
Opening up the package, the 4000 year old 'Chime of Tiger' greets me wanting to released it out of it's cage and bring it to life.
Lifting the lid on the box presents me with a well laid-out presentation, with the soundcard in the middle and the display and list of it's many features surrounding it.
The full package includes:
The Xonar Essence STX PCI-E card
1x RCA to 3.5 mm Y cable
1x 6.3mm to 3.5mm adapter
1x S/PDIF TOSLINK optical adapter
1x driver CD
Quick Start Guide
1x Audio Precision Report done via Asus' $27,000 test equipment that they use to test their sound products
2x posters showcasing the Essence STX, one in black, one in white.
More pictures are below:
Specifications
Hardware
Going by this definition, a soundcard is not a soundcard without the parts that make it a soundcard. That is indeed true so let's take a look at the specifications that make this soundcard what it is.
The specs in this card would not only make the tiger growl with excitement but also the audiophiles and non-audiophiles among us growl with joy as well.
A notable aspect that make the Essence STX stand out from it's direct competitors is the inclusion of a headphone amplifier built into the card. Although, contrary to popular belief, this is not the first soundcard to include this feature, this satisfies the audiophile market as most high-end headphones are of high impedance and thus require a dedicated headphone amp to power them properly and sound their best. Whether the built-in headphone amp can power some high-end headphones properly and whether it can be used as a pre-amp to an external headphone amp we will found out later.
The internal headphone amp used in the Essence STX is the Texas Instruments TPA6120A2, which can drive headphone of up to 600 ohms at 0.001% THD (total harmonic distortion) which means a very accurate reproduction of the signal.
This soundcard also features Asus' 'Hyper-Grounding' technology, in which during the construction of the card, it uses a multi-layer PCB (printed circuit board) design to reduce noise in the signal.
Another feature which is found with the Essence STX is an EMI shield, which is the same found on the Xonar DX series of cards and along with the 'Hyper-Grounding' technology, helps maintain the signal's integrity, which is of utmost importance in producing the best sound quality possible.
The DAC, or digital to analog converter, which is needed to change the digital signal from the computer to an analog signal for your output in which we can hear from, is a Burr-Brown PCM 1792A DAC. This DAC is often used in very high end audio equipment and is a favourite among audio DIY'ers.
The Essence STX delivers, according the Asus' official specification page, a 124 dB SNR (signal to noise ratio) for the front-out and a 110 dB SNR for the headphone-out.
The signal-to-noise ratio is a measurement of desired signal (such as music) to that of unwanted noise, such as hiss or static. The higher this ratio, the less noticeable noise is and thus better.
Although it is disappointing that the headphone-out is significantly less than that of the front-out, this aspect does not make or break the card as of course, there are other aspects of a soundcard which contribute to the sound it produces.
The Essence STX shares a couple of features that are found in the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude.
Like the Prelude, the Asus Essence STX also includes the ability to swap out the op-amps in the soundcard, which is great news for DIY'ers. The op-amp, or operational amplifier, is one of key components in a soundcard's sound properties and changing the op-amp often changes how the soundcard would sound like.
The Asus Essence STX, also shares the same default front op-amp as the X-Fi Prelude, the National LM4562.
By nature this is an op-amp that leans towards the bassier side of things. Whether the Essence STX sounds similar to the Prelude, we will see later on.
Other features of note are that the Essence STX processes Nichicon 'Fine Gold' professional capacitors, which are said to deliver rich bass and crystal-high frequencies. Not only are these high quality capacitors, it also gives a nice 'bling' touch to the card.
It also uses Asus' own ASUS AV100 audio chipset, capable of 192kHz/24bit audio output.
Software
It's all well and good having a great grunty soundcard, but without good software support to complement it, the essence of a soundcard wouldn't be complete (sorry bad pun I know).
From a software side, the Asus Essence STX doesn't disappoint either.
The support of multiple Dolby technologies (Dolby® Digital Live / Dolby® Headphone / Dolby® Virtual Speaker / Dolby® Pro-Logic II ) makes this card that people with surround sound speakers would love.
Gamers aren't left out either! The Essence STX also includes DS3D GX 2.5, the latest version of ASUS' gaming surround sound implementation to rival Creative's EAX. However DS3D GX have had compatibility problems with numerous games and whether this can really rival EAX we will found out later on.
The full specifications are as below as taken via the Asus' official website:
Installation
Hardware
The installation followed the usual steps in installing any sort of card into a PC.
If you are not sure, the Quick Start Guide will guide you into how to install it with easy-to-follow instructions.
If you've ever installed a graphics card or a soundcard before, this is pretty run-of-the-mill and standard.
However on some motherboard configurations and designs, the PCI-E x1 slot(s) might be quite close to the PCI-E x16 slot(s), in which PCI-E graphic cards are usually seated into.
Although not ideal, due to the design of my motherboard, I was forced to seat the Essence STX right below my graphics card, an ATI HD4850, as the other PCI-E x1 slot is directly over the SATA ports.
I was forced to do this on a P5QL-PRO, an ASUS motherboard!
Ideally, you would like to seat the soundcard as far away from the graphics card as possible to reduce the chance of EMI (electromagnetic interference) and to give the graphics card cooling fan adequate air for it to spin in.
Also remember as this is a PCI-E soundcard, to plug in a female 4-pin power adapter to the matching male pins on the soundcard.
I'm not going to win awards for cable management any time soon....
Nice and seated and ready to be tested! (Ati HD4850 graphics card; top, Asus Essence STX; middle, Auzentech X-fi Prelude; bottom)
Notice in the above picture the lack of I/O inputs in the Essence STX compared to the Prelude.
Although at first this may seem a like a bad thing, keep in mind that a lot of audiophiles use external receivers and DACs which take 6.3mm connections and that most of the I/O inputs needed would be on them.
In other news, the Essence STX I/O input indicators are actually readable unlike the X-Fi Prelude! The X-Fi Prelude names its I/O inputs along the bottom, thus can be masked by the case's design like on mine.
Having to not play 'guess the I/O input' is GOOD!
Hint, hint, Auzentech.
Although most high-end headphones require an external headphone amp, on which they use 6.3mm jacks and thus why Asus included one in their packaging, it would have been nice if Asus didn't force you to use 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapters and included 3.5mm headphone and microphone I/O jacks.
Software and Drivers
While installing the software for the Essence STX via CD, I did encounter a couple of minor problems.
When the CD boots up, there will be a popup stating to check that a 4-pin power cable is connected to the soundcard, in which I recommend you do so. It took a little while for the CD to start the setup which was rather annoying and could trick the user into thinking the CD tuned into a coaster.
Another minor annoyance is that there's no option to change the directory of the installation other than to force it to be in C:\Program Files.
Forced to be satisfied -.-
Otherwise, the installation of the drivers and software is rather standard and simple.
Software: Asus Xonar Audio Center
One of the things that I rather impressed with the Essence STX was the software.
A good soundcard hardware wise can be ruined by buggy or bad software but this is definitely not the case here. There a ton of features in which any audiophile or non-audiophile for that matter, could spend some time tweaking and experimenting with.
Like the X-fi software and it 'EAX Effects' in Entertainment Mode, the Xonar Audio Center has got it's 'gimmicks' like the 'Karaoke' mode and 'VocalFX', including a program called 'MagicVoice', which is a basic voice morpher. Other tools included include 'FlexBass', which is an advanced bass enhancer but what impressed me the most is what is contained in the 'Effect' tab.
From this tab, you can access the equaliser, 'Environment' effects, which are like the 'EAX Effects' found in Creative's X-fi software, some named preset equalisers and one thing unique to the Asus Xonar software, the 'Environment Size'. Having experimented with a few of the preset equalisers, I found them to be rather horrid, particularly the 'bass' EQ, which just drowned out very note for a minimal gain in bass.
The patented Dolby Headphone technology, which can be found on the 'Main' tab, also comes with a variety of options. A '7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter' in which you can shift the position of the various speakers to suit your preferences and also 3 'DH' modes, which emulate 5.1 surround sound from varying distances.
What I did also notice was that the various DSPs, such as 'Game', 'Music' and 'Hi-Fi', were really just presets as well. For example, the only real difference between 'Music' and 'Hi-fi'; was that Music had Dolby Headphone enabled and that the 'Hi-fi' had no effects enabled. In Creative's X-Fi software, the sonic differences between the three 'Entertainment', 'Game', and 'Audio Creation' modes are much more pronounced.
One key aspect of the Xonar Audio Center software is the Headphone Gain setting, which is represented by a hammer icon (
) on the 'Main' tab.
As you can see above, you have three options: 'Normal' gain for low impedance headphones, 'High' gain for medium impedance headphones and 'Extra High' gain for high impedance headphones.
I do highly recommend that you follow what Asus warns you about and set the headphone gain to what category the impedance your headphones fits into to avoid damaging your headphones.
If you are not sure what impedance your headphone are, a search of your model of your headphone's specifications would yield results. Resistance is measured in ohms and will usually be displayed as 'Impedance: ___ ohms' on the headphone's specification page.
I highly recommend setting a gain setting that suits your headphones as setting a gain setting that is too low for your headphones would result in your headphone not preforming to their full potential and the resulting sound coming out of them would sound flat and lifeless.
The Asus Essence STX's software just offers so many options for the audiophile to use.
Not only this, but it's easy to use, looks much slicker than Creative's X-Fi software and does not have the annoyance of mode changing that the X-fi software has.
Very good software indeed that would no doubt improve with updates in the future.
However, it's all well and good discussing the software and specifications, but we need to hear some results don't we?
Testing Setup
The Essence STX sounds good on paper but the questions still linger: Can the onboard headphone amp really stack up to an external headphone amp both in signal output and sound quality?
Can the latest version of DS3D GX, DS3D GX 2.5, really compete with the latest version of EAX, EAX 5.0? Or simply: What does it sound like?
Sounds like a good time to test it and answer these questions!
The testing will mainly focus on the headphone aspect of things as I have little doubt that audiophiles, gamers, and 'audiophile gamers' do indeed have a pair of headphones they use often.
The following equipment were used in the testing and what was used for the particular test will be stated in the comparisons:
Asus Essence STX driver version:
5.12.8.1756
Operating System:
Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3
Soundcards:
Asus Essence STX (Mode and settings will be stated)
Auzentech X-fi Prelude (on Audio Creation Mode + bit-matched playback enabled for music, Game Mode + CMSS-3D enabled for games)
Headphone Amplifiers:
Asus' internal onboard headphone amp
Meier Audio Headfive headphone amp connected via RCA to mini
Headphones:
Beyerdynamic DT880 (2003 edition, 250 ohms) recabled with Headphile Blackmax cable
By the way, I'll try and lay off the bad puns for now on. That was just plain silly before :P
Testing
Before I start I'll state this first.
As with all reviews, the degree of subjectivity depends on the reviewer's experience on the matter.
With audio, this is particularly prominent as we all do not have the same gear nor does everyone have the same pair of ears (the shape of the ear canal differs from person to person which can affect sound perception) and also not everyone has the same experience with different audio gear, both
hi-fi and 'low-fi'. The pair of headphones I am using are rather high-end and are known for their high detail, strong treble response and focuses on deep bass in quality but not quantity.
Different headphone models have different properties so what I write in my perceptions may be slightly different from your experience because of this. Also for my model of headphone, it is essential in that it needs a headphone amplifier. Generally, any headphone with a resistance rating of 75 ohms and higher, requires a headphone amp to power them properly and sound best. Most, if not all, 'low-end' headphones, say $100US and under as a general mark, are designed with low resistance (32 ohms and under) thus do not need a dedicated headphone amplifier as a requirement to sound close to its best. Of course, any headphone, no matter what impedance it has, benefits from a headphone amp.
Anyway, enough about that, how does the tiger preform in the wild and how does it preform against another 'audiophile gamer' card, the Auzentech X-fi Prelude?
Onboard Headphone Amp vs. External Headphone Amp
The amp I used in this experiment to compare against was the Meier Audio Headfive Headphone Amp, in which only 500 were ever made and are now discontinued. Second hand prices for this amp is usually around the NZ$300-$330 region.
I used the onboard headphone amp found in the Essence STX as a pre-amp to my Headfive.
I can tell you now that, yes, the onboard headphone amp can power high-resistance headphones with ease. What struck me about the Essence STX's internal headphone amp the most is how very transparent it is. By transparency, I mean it will pick apart the strong points and weaknesses of your headphones and emphasis them both and not mask or colour them in any way.
There are sonic differences between the Essence STX's onboard headphone amp and the Headfive.
With the Essence STX's onboard headphone amp, I did notice more sibilance creeping into recordings. Sibilance is the emphasis of the 's' 'ch' and 'z' type of sounds and is unwanted in recordings and unpleasant sounding to the ear.
In terms of bass response, the onboard amp compared to the Headfive did give slightly more bass detail but the Headfive gave a deeper bass response, which was particularly noticeable with the repetition of the Amen Break in the song 'Sounds of Life' by drum and bass group Pendulum.
Reverb was also more noticeable on the onboard headphone amp compared to the Headfive.
Reverb is the 'echoing' of a sound or a particular word in a recording and is used for musical effect.
The occurrence of piecing emphasised treble, which can be uncomfortable to the ear if listened to for a lengthy period of time, was more noticeable in the onboard headphone amp compared to the Headfive.
All of this just reinforces the notion that the onboard headphone amp is extremely transparent sounding as my model of headphones is known for high detail, particularly in the bass, strong treble response which can sound piercing at times and slightly recessed mids, which I noticed more with the onboard amp as well. The Headfive did though slightly colour the sound, making the mids less recessed and the treble less piecing to hear which did make for a more comfortable listening experience.
In conclusion, the onboard headphone amp found in the Essence STX is highly comparable to an external dedicated headphone amp.
Music
For the music testing, I chose several tracks that I thought had variety in both beat and passages, from a variety of genres and eras. The songs chosen were as follow:
Porcupine Tree - Anesthetize (Fear of a Blank Planet, 2007)
Michael Jackson - Black or White (Dangerous, 1991)
Jay-Z - Justify My Thug (The Black Album, 2003)
Muse - Hysteria (Absolution, 2003)
Rush - 2112 (2112, 1975 [1983 CD release])
Indigo Girls - Midnight Train to Georgia (1200 Curfews, 1995)
Diana Krall - The Girl In The Other Room (The Girl In The Other Room, 2004)
Pendulum - Sounds of Life (feat. Jasmine Yee) (Hold Your Colour, 2005)
There will be instances in the comparisons when I will quote like this: '[7:47]'.
This is how far into the song mentioned I am talking about and is quoted in minutes and seconds (e.g. passage described starts 7 minutes, 47 seconds into the song).
All songs are of CD quality and are lossless.
Asus Essence STX (Hi-Fi Mode, all effects turned off)
When comparing the Essence STX to the X-fi Prelude, one word comes to mind: clarity.
Whether it was the vocalist's vocals or specific aspects such as sound effects, such as the many used in 'Justify My Thug' (e.g. [0:30]), the Essence STX has sounds far clearer than the X-fi Prelude.
Instrument separation is also noticeably better. A good example of this is in the song 'Anesthetize', when the cymbals can be easily distinguished from the other instruments [11:05], while in the X-fi Prelude, in the same passage, the cymbal detail is lost and drowned under the bass guitar.
Detail is also better in the Essence STX and not only in music either. During the start of the song 'Black or White', when the kid is arguing with his Dad, the knocks on the door feel like they have more weight to them and sound more authentic and realistic than the X-fi Prelude's 'mono-tone' thuds.
I'll say this now, the card does not tolerate bad recordings very well. The reason I included the song 'Hysteria' was not because of the guitar riff, it was more because due to its horrendous mastering due to it being given the Loudness War treatment. When listening to 'Hysteria', all I heard was noise. Loud noise. Due to this recording having very little dynamic range, every note has the same loud loudness and it just sounded awful. That said though, there was an improvement in crispness, such as in Matt Bellamy's voice, even on this recording. The Essence STX will expose a recording for what it really is and if it's trash, then it will sound like trash.
Other differences between the Essence STX and the X-fi Prelude is in the bass and the soundstage.
While the X-fi Prelude has slightly more bass quantity wise, the Essence STX had better bass quality wise, both in detail and slightly deeper bass response. People often confuse, particularly with bass, that quantity = quality (see boyracers blasting cheap [sub]woofers for classic examples of this). In reality, bass quality and bass quantity are very separate things.
A good example of the bass detail is near the very end of “Justify My Thug”, when the last note did genuinely sounds like a bomb went off a few miles away while in the X-fi Prelude it's not as convincing and sounds more like one deep bass note with little reverb [3:56].
With all the songs, I found the bass in the Essence STX to have more punch and also found it to have more detail as well.
Asus Essence STX (Dolby Headphone, 7.1 Virtual Speaker Effect enabled)
Having chosen two songs that come off albums that were Grammy nominated for “Best Surround Sound Album” (Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet, Diana Krall's The Girl In The Other Room) it would be a crime not to test out the Dolby Headphone feature of the Essence STX.
With the support of Dolby Headphone technology, you can transform your stereo headphones into a simulated surround sound experience. However, can it really improve the listening experience?
Having experimented with the 'DH' settings, I felt that the 7.1 speaker effect, gave me the best experience out of them for surround sound. The speaker positions have been left at the default positions.
What is first noticed and what probably seems obvious is that there is a noticeable and significant improvement in soundstage resulting in each instrument being more separated and defined. In 'Anesthetize', this is really noticed at around when the second, more acoustic section of the song begins [12:10]. The 7.1 speaker effect makes this song out to be a much more intimate experience, so much that you can close your eyes and let the music overtake you. I didn't experience this feeling with the 'Hi-Fi' mode turned off nor did I with the X-fi Prelude. In the harmony introduced near the climax of the song [15:27], the three voices are clearly heard in three separate sound positions. This is in contrast to the smaller soundstages of both the Essence STX in 'Hi-fi' mode and the X-fi Prelude, where the three voices are 'blended' into either only one audible voice or two voices close to one another.
The significantly better soundstage was most apparent however in acoustic performances.
In 'Midnight Train to Georgia', a live performance, every voice and instrument had their place on the stage, the detail in all the voices and instruments were crisp and had great extension into the treble [voice at 2:14, 3:40-3:50]. This extension into the treble was also noticed in Diana Krall's voice in 'The Girl In The Other Room'. At the climax of 'Midnight Train to Georgia', every voice in the harmony and it's detail can be defined and heard within the soundstage while it squashed up in the smaller soundstages of the 'Hi-fi' mode and the X-fi Prelude. The crowd cheering at the end of the song makes you feel like you're in the middle of it as well [4:06 – 5:05].
The audio positioning was also significantly more accurate. This was noticed most in “Justify My Thug” when the background recordings of Jay-Z voice throughout the song was more varied and in 'Black or White', when Michael sings the lyrics 'dirt in my eye' [3:02], the sound out of the northwest and far right side of the soundstage while with the 'Hi-fi' Mode it is distinctly far left and far right. The treble also has more 'snap' and the bass is even more 'punchier' than the 'Hi-fi Mode' with all the songs.
Please do note that the 'Hi-fi Mode' is more intended for audio hobbyists that intended to line-out (e.g. via S/PDIF) through the soundcard to an external DAC or receiver thus don't need the soundcard to change the signal thus sound quality.
Gaming
Ever since the introduction of DS3D GX, Asus' answer and implementation of Creative's EAX (or if you're on Vista, ALchemy), the debate has arisen, can this really challenge EAX's domination of the game sound effects world and does it match up to it in quality and with the Essence STX coming with the latest revision of DS3D GX, DS3D GX 2.5, is it finally ready to really challenge the might of EAX 5.0?
To test this aspect, I used three games: Counter Strike:Source, Battlefield 2 and Fallout 3.
A big note to consider before I delve into this, is that I'm testing this on Windows XP.
At first this may not seem all that important but however consider that DS3D GX was primarily developed to be used in Windows Vista as the sound architecture of Vista is vastly different to that of XP (revamped and better) thus why, for example, EAX does not work properly in Vista and why you are forced to use ALchemy (converts EAX to OpenAL) with Creative cards. I won't bore you with the computer science behind it, but if you're interested, it's explained in simple terms here, which was adapted from this post. Therefore since I am testing this on Windows XP, my reflection might not necessary reflect results that may be found by using this on Windows Vista.
Each game was used with these settings:
Essence STX:
Dolby Headphone enabled using the 'DH-2' setting, 'Game' DSP and 'GX' DSP enabled
X-fi Prelude:
Game Mode with CMSS-3D headphone enabled
Counter Strike: Source
A couple of reasons I decided to test this game in particularly that I wanted to see how the Essence STX would handle older game sounds and also with the nature of Counter Strike being of close quarters combat, I want to see how DS3D DX 2.5 could handle close quarter range game sounds.
Map was 'cs_office' on the Australian based 'Internode' servers.
Using the Essence STX for Counter Strike can be compared to one thing: a wallhack.
Before you contact Steam to ban my account and say 'haha h@x0r!', what I mean by this is that there were times that although the enemy was around that corner and down the corridor,
the footsteps were clearly heard as if they were directly ahead of you in that direction.
The DS3D GX 2.5 processing just simplify didn't account for walls so it was like a wallhack but instead of seeing enemies through them, I was hearing enemies through them.
However, before you avid gamers rush out to buy this and improve your 133t skills with it, I have of bad news.
The limitation of gaming on the card, at least in playing Counter Strike:Source, is that it does not convey close distance sounds at all well. There were multiple times that I got killed by simply not hearing them run around the corner two metres from me but as I stated earlier, I could hear them across rooms and through several walls.
Since the game sounds in Counter Strike:Source are quite old, the Essence STX really rips them apart for what they are and that being bad recordings.
Also with the Essence STX, it sounds like all the guns have silencers or suppressors on them as they really sound 'muted' and lack the crisp cracking of the gun firing.
The basic game experience with the Essence STX is rather surreal in Counter Strike: Source and although the 'sound hacks' were convenient, they just didn't suit the close quarters nature of Counter Strike.
The Auzentech X-fi Prelude, with CMSS-3D headphone enabled, gives a more authentic and realistic experience. However with a custom mode using Dolby Headphone and the 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter option, this did offer a slightly more realistic experience than the default Game DSP option but still didn't sound as good than the 'Game Mode' in the X-fi Prelude.
It's not all bad though, as upon entering the server, I was greeted but a rather chilly atmospheric setting of the winter wind blowing interspersed by gunfire. It really set the scene well for some fragging and I really didn't get the same effect on the X-fi Prelude.
As DS3D GX 2.5 seems to convey distant sounds better than it does with close distance and creates a better 'atmosphere', how would it suit an 'atmospheric' game?
Fallout 3
Known for it's atmospheric sounds, I thought this game would give a good indication of this.
However I did encounter several problems unfortunately.
First of the sound just would not work with this game unless I turned off the 'GX' mode off which really defeated the purpose. Like in Counter-Strike: Source, the gunshots sounded 'muted', and it was just a more pleasurable experience (and less of a pain) with EAX 5.0 on the X-fi Prelude.
Not looking good for the Essence STX gaming wise so far.
Battlefield 2
An old favourite with gamers even though it's 3 years old, a long time in the gaming world, but it's also infamously known for it's heavy bias for sound quality towards EAX. So how would DS3D GX 2.5 cope with this?
Well, not very well. For one, I could not enable EAX. OK, that's fine, DS3D GX is not EAX, as much as it wants to be. I'll try the 'Hardware' option. I couldn't choose that either. I was forced to choose 'Software' which didn't sound good at all compared to the experience of of EAX with the X-Fi Prelude. Everything from the gunshots to tank shells to even the audio positioning didn't sound as well or as defined.
Conclusion
The past few years have seen revolutions happen in the world of hi-fi audio.
Due to the 'iPod revolution', more people than before (me included), have been introduced and seduced to the world of audio. With the advent of the Internet and such audio hobbyists sites such as Head-fi.org, the audiophile market has exploded in the range of products audiophiles have become aware of and gone are are the days of being stuck to the products the local shop can only offer.
This has meant increased competition and lower prices, which is always good, particularly in a hobbyists market. However, as the economy tightens, our wallets tighten as well and that means, if my high school economics has taught me right, we spend less on these hobbies or we start to pay more attention to more 'bang-for-buck' products.
So, does the Asus Essence STX offer this 'bang-for-buck' quality?
A definite yes.
From Asus' Xonar Audio Center to the onboard headphone amp, which can be used both as a pre-amp to your existing amp or as a dedicated amp, and compares very well to external headphone amps that cost just as much as the soundcard itself. This soundcard is truly one of the best value sound products out on the market right now. Yes, sure, the internal headphone amp can be beaten sound quality wise but you start talking about amps that really get into the US$300 range and up.
For potential buyers of this card that currently don't have 'mid-fi' or high-end headphones: I recommend upgrading the headphones first before buying a soundcard, as although the source is still important, that would make more of a noticeable difference to the sound quality than the source.
Despite this card preforming rather poorly in the realm of gaming, as least for Windows XP, one must consider that, despite it coming with DS3D GX 2.5, this card was not really designed with gamers in mind, as noted by the heavy focus on advanced audio options in the Asus Xonar Audio Center and inclusion of technologies such as Dolby Headphone. Therefore, I don't weigh the poor gaming performance of the card against it too much.
To sum up, Asus have definitely completed their quick ascendancy up the ranks to be one of the world's top soundcard manufacturers by making a big splash with a soundcard that not just offers unparalleled value, but also unparalleled accessibility to audiophiles and non-audiophiles alike to truly high fidelity sound.
Pros:
Value-for-money unparalleled in any other soundcard before it
Fantastic software via Xonar Audio Center
Great sounding onboard headphone amp that rivals a lot of external dedicated headphone amps
Well labeled I/O inputs
Cons:
Poor gaming performance that seems 'patchworked' onto the card (in Windows XP)
No 3.5mm I/O inputs
Bad EQ presets
Installation of software and drivers via CD could be better
Here it is! Enjoy and discuss.
Introduction
Once upon a time, when gamers had little choice but to choose Creative soundcards, they were longing for another manufacturers to counter Creative's near monopoly on the 'Average Joe Gamer' soundcard market. Things got interesting when a company called Auzentech, then little known to non-audiophile circles, introduced the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude, which offered audiophile satisfying sound and options while having a key aspect of gaming, that being Creative's EAX 5.0. Although this satisfied the 'audiophile gamer' for who could afford the card, there was still a void in the market for an alternative to Creative in the midrange and lower-priced end of the market.
Asus, then not known at all for producing sound-related products, saw this as an opportunity to enter the growing demand of the soundcard market and surprised everyone when they filled the low-end and midrange priced gamer soundcard market void left by Auzentech by releasing the Xonar DX series of cards. The Xonar DX series quickly became quite popular as an alternative to Creative as people dissatisfied with Creative's marketing tactics (see Daniel_K saga) took the opportunity to be free of Creative, it did not use the X-fi chipset nor software unlike the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude and a widely recognised computer parts manufacturer finally offered an alternative to Creative's dominance in the gamer soundcard market in a price range most people could afford.
Asus, now with a firm footing in the soundcard market, is now seeking to complete their entry to the market by targeting the high-end soundcard market, which is dominated by audiophiles and is the hardest market to satisfy, with the release of their new soundcard, the Asus Essence STX.
Does Asus have what it takes to enter and satisfy this highly demanding market or does it hype surrounding it sound too good to be true?
Thanks to ComputerLounge, I have been given the privilege to test out this card and we will see whether Asus can make the step up.
The Package
Opening up the package, the 4000 year old 'Chime of Tiger' greets me wanting to released it out of it's cage and bring it to life.
Lifting the lid on the box presents me with a well laid-out presentation, with the soundcard in the middle and the display and list of it's many features surrounding it.
The full package includes:
The Xonar Essence STX PCI-E card
1x RCA to 3.5 mm Y cable
1x 6.3mm to 3.5mm adapter
1x S/PDIF TOSLINK optical adapter
1x driver CD
Quick Start Guide
1x Audio Precision Report done via Asus' $27,000 test equipment that they use to test their sound products
2x posters showcasing the Essence STX, one in black, one in white.
More pictures are below:
Specifications
Hardware
Quote:
| In philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity.- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essence |
The specs in this card would not only make the tiger growl with excitement but also the audiophiles and non-audiophiles among us growl with joy as well.
A notable aspect that make the Essence STX stand out from it's direct competitors is the inclusion of a headphone amplifier built into the card. Although, contrary to popular belief, this is not the first soundcard to include this feature, this satisfies the audiophile market as most high-end headphones are of high impedance and thus require a dedicated headphone amp to power them properly and sound their best. Whether the built-in headphone amp can power some high-end headphones properly and whether it can be used as a pre-amp to an external headphone amp we will found out later.
The internal headphone amp used in the Essence STX is the Texas Instruments TPA6120A2, which can drive headphone of up to 600 ohms at 0.001% THD (total harmonic distortion) which means a very accurate reproduction of the signal.
This soundcard also features Asus' 'Hyper-Grounding' technology, in which during the construction of the card, it uses a multi-layer PCB (printed circuit board) design to reduce noise in the signal.
Another feature which is found with the Essence STX is an EMI shield, which is the same found on the Xonar DX series of cards and along with the 'Hyper-Grounding' technology, helps maintain the signal's integrity, which is of utmost importance in producing the best sound quality possible.
The DAC, or digital to analog converter, which is needed to change the digital signal from the computer to an analog signal for your output in which we can hear from, is a Burr-Brown PCM 1792A DAC. This DAC is often used in very high end audio equipment and is a favourite among audio DIY'ers.
The Essence STX delivers, according the Asus' official specification page, a 124 dB SNR (signal to noise ratio) for the front-out and a 110 dB SNR for the headphone-out.
The signal-to-noise ratio is a measurement of desired signal (such as music) to that of unwanted noise, such as hiss or static. The higher this ratio, the less noticeable noise is and thus better.
Although it is disappointing that the headphone-out is significantly less than that of the front-out, this aspect does not make or break the card as of course, there are other aspects of a soundcard which contribute to the sound it produces.
The Essence STX shares a couple of features that are found in the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude.
Like the Prelude, the Asus Essence STX also includes the ability to swap out the op-amps in the soundcard, which is great news for DIY'ers. The op-amp, or operational amplifier, is one of key components in a soundcard's sound properties and changing the op-amp often changes how the soundcard would sound like.
The Asus Essence STX, also shares the same default front op-amp as the X-Fi Prelude, the National LM4562.
By nature this is an op-amp that leans towards the bassier side of things. Whether the Essence STX sounds similar to the Prelude, we will see later on.
Other features of note are that the Essence STX processes Nichicon 'Fine Gold' professional capacitors, which are said to deliver rich bass and crystal-high frequencies. Not only are these high quality capacitors, it also gives a nice 'bling' touch to the card.
It also uses Asus' own ASUS AV100 audio chipset, capable of 192kHz/24bit audio output.
Software
It's all well and good having a great grunty soundcard, but without good software support to complement it, the essence of a soundcard wouldn't be complete (sorry bad pun I know).
From a software side, the Asus Essence STX doesn't disappoint either.
The support of multiple Dolby technologies (Dolby® Digital Live / Dolby® Headphone / Dolby® Virtual Speaker / Dolby® Pro-Logic II ) makes this card that people with surround sound speakers would love.
Gamers aren't left out either! The Essence STX also includes DS3D GX 2.5, the latest version of ASUS' gaming surround sound implementation to rival Creative's EAX. However DS3D GX have had compatibility problems with numerous games and whether this can really rival EAX we will found out later on.
The full specifications are as below as taken via the Asus' official website:
Installation
Hardware
The installation followed the usual steps in installing any sort of card into a PC.
If you are not sure, the Quick Start Guide will guide you into how to install it with easy-to-follow instructions.
If you've ever installed a graphics card or a soundcard before, this is pretty run-of-the-mill and standard.
However on some motherboard configurations and designs, the PCI-E x1 slot(s) might be quite close to the PCI-E x16 slot(s), in which PCI-E graphic cards are usually seated into.
Although not ideal, due to the design of my motherboard, I was forced to seat the Essence STX right below my graphics card, an ATI HD4850, as the other PCI-E x1 slot is directly over the SATA ports.
I was forced to do this on a P5QL-PRO, an ASUS motherboard!
Ideally, you would like to seat the soundcard as far away from the graphics card as possible to reduce the chance of EMI (electromagnetic interference) and to give the graphics card cooling fan adequate air for it to spin in.
Also remember as this is a PCI-E soundcard, to plug in a female 4-pin power adapter to the matching male pins on the soundcard.
I'm not going to win awards for cable management any time soon....
Nice and seated and ready to be tested! (Ati HD4850 graphics card; top, Asus Essence STX; middle, Auzentech X-fi Prelude; bottom)
Notice in the above picture the lack of I/O inputs in the Essence STX compared to the Prelude.
Although at first this may seem a like a bad thing, keep in mind that a lot of audiophiles use external receivers and DACs which take 6.3mm connections and that most of the I/O inputs needed would be on them.
In other news, the Essence STX I/O input indicators are actually readable unlike the X-Fi Prelude! The X-Fi Prelude names its I/O inputs along the bottom, thus can be masked by the case's design like on mine.
Having to not play 'guess the I/O input' is GOOD!
Hint, hint, Auzentech.
Although most high-end headphones require an external headphone amp, on which they use 6.3mm jacks and thus why Asus included one in their packaging, it would have been nice if Asus didn't force you to use 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapters and included 3.5mm headphone and microphone I/O jacks.
Software and Drivers
While installing the software for the Essence STX via CD, I did encounter a couple of minor problems.
When the CD boots up, there will be a popup stating to check that a 4-pin power cable is connected to the soundcard, in which I recommend you do so. It took a little while for the CD to start the setup which was rather annoying and could trick the user into thinking the CD tuned into a coaster.
Another minor annoyance is that there's no option to change the directory of the installation other than to force it to be in C:\Program Files.
Forced to be satisfied -.-
Otherwise, the installation of the drivers and software is rather standard and simple.
Software: Asus Xonar Audio Center
One of the things that I rather impressed with the Essence STX was the software.
A good soundcard hardware wise can be ruined by buggy or bad software but this is definitely not the case here. There a ton of features in which any audiophile or non-audiophile for that matter, could spend some time tweaking and experimenting with.
Like the X-fi software and it 'EAX Effects' in Entertainment Mode, the Xonar Audio Center has got it's 'gimmicks' like the 'Karaoke' mode and 'VocalFX', including a program called 'MagicVoice', which is a basic voice morpher. Other tools included include 'FlexBass', which is an advanced bass enhancer but what impressed me the most is what is contained in the 'Effect' tab.
From this tab, you can access the equaliser, 'Environment' effects, which are like the 'EAX Effects' found in Creative's X-fi software, some named preset equalisers and one thing unique to the Asus Xonar software, the 'Environment Size'. Having experimented with a few of the preset equalisers, I found them to be rather horrid, particularly the 'bass' EQ, which just drowned out very note for a minimal gain in bass.
The patented Dolby Headphone technology, which can be found on the 'Main' tab, also comes with a variety of options. A '7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter' in which you can shift the position of the various speakers to suit your preferences and also 3 'DH' modes, which emulate 5.1 surround sound from varying distances.
What I did also notice was that the various DSPs, such as 'Game', 'Music' and 'Hi-Fi', were really just presets as well. For example, the only real difference between 'Music' and 'Hi-fi'; was that Music had Dolby Headphone enabled and that the 'Hi-fi' had no effects enabled. In Creative's X-Fi software, the sonic differences between the three 'Entertainment', 'Game', and 'Audio Creation' modes are much more pronounced.
One key aspect of the Xonar Audio Center software is the Headphone Gain setting, which is represented by a hammer icon (
) on the 'Main' tab.As you can see above, you have three options: 'Normal' gain for low impedance headphones, 'High' gain for medium impedance headphones and 'Extra High' gain for high impedance headphones.
I do highly recommend that you follow what Asus warns you about and set the headphone gain to what category the impedance your headphones fits into to avoid damaging your headphones.
If you are not sure what impedance your headphone are, a search of your model of your headphone's specifications would yield results. Resistance is measured in ohms and will usually be displayed as 'Impedance: ___ ohms' on the headphone's specification page.
I highly recommend setting a gain setting that suits your headphones as setting a gain setting that is too low for your headphones would result in your headphone not preforming to their full potential and the resulting sound coming out of them would sound flat and lifeless.
The Asus Essence STX's software just offers so many options for the audiophile to use.
Not only this, but it's easy to use, looks much slicker than Creative's X-Fi software and does not have the annoyance of mode changing that the X-fi software has.
Very good software indeed that would no doubt improve with updates in the future.
However, it's all well and good discussing the software and specifications, but we need to hear some results don't we?
Testing Setup
The Essence STX sounds good on paper but the questions still linger: Can the onboard headphone amp really stack up to an external headphone amp both in signal output and sound quality?
Can the latest version of DS3D GX, DS3D GX 2.5, really compete with the latest version of EAX, EAX 5.0? Or simply: What does it sound like?
Sounds like a good time to test it and answer these questions!
The testing will mainly focus on the headphone aspect of things as I have little doubt that audiophiles, gamers, and 'audiophile gamers' do indeed have a pair of headphones they use often.
The following equipment were used in the testing and what was used for the particular test will be stated in the comparisons:
Asus Essence STX driver version:
5.12.8.1756
Operating System:
Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3
Soundcards:
Asus Essence STX (Mode and settings will be stated)
Auzentech X-fi Prelude (on Audio Creation Mode + bit-matched playback enabled for music, Game Mode + CMSS-3D enabled for games)
Headphone Amplifiers:
Asus' internal onboard headphone amp
Meier Audio Headfive headphone amp connected via RCA to mini
Headphones:
Beyerdynamic DT880 (2003 edition, 250 ohms) recabled with Headphile Blackmax cable
By the way, I'll try and lay off the bad puns for now on. That was just plain silly before :P
Testing
Before I start I'll state this first.
As with all reviews, the degree of subjectivity depends on the reviewer's experience on the matter.
With audio, this is particularly prominent as we all do not have the same gear nor does everyone have the same pair of ears (the shape of the ear canal differs from person to person which can affect sound perception) and also not everyone has the same experience with different audio gear, both
hi-fi and 'low-fi'. The pair of headphones I am using are rather high-end and are known for their high detail, strong treble response and focuses on deep bass in quality but not quantity.
Different headphone models have different properties so what I write in my perceptions may be slightly different from your experience because of this. Also for my model of headphone, it is essential in that it needs a headphone amplifier. Generally, any headphone with a resistance rating of 75 ohms and higher, requires a headphone amp to power them properly and sound best. Most, if not all, 'low-end' headphones, say $100US and under as a general mark, are designed with low resistance (32 ohms and under) thus do not need a dedicated headphone amplifier as a requirement to sound close to its best. Of course, any headphone, no matter what impedance it has, benefits from a headphone amp.
Anyway, enough about that, how does the tiger preform in the wild and how does it preform against another 'audiophile gamer' card, the Auzentech X-fi Prelude?
Onboard Headphone Amp vs. External Headphone Amp
The amp I used in this experiment to compare against was the Meier Audio Headfive Headphone Amp, in which only 500 were ever made and are now discontinued. Second hand prices for this amp is usually around the NZ$300-$330 region.
I used the onboard headphone amp found in the Essence STX as a pre-amp to my Headfive.
I can tell you now that, yes, the onboard headphone amp can power high-resistance headphones with ease. What struck me about the Essence STX's internal headphone amp the most is how very transparent it is. By transparency, I mean it will pick apart the strong points and weaknesses of your headphones and emphasis them both and not mask or colour them in any way.
There are sonic differences between the Essence STX's onboard headphone amp and the Headfive.
With the Essence STX's onboard headphone amp, I did notice more sibilance creeping into recordings. Sibilance is the emphasis of the 's' 'ch' and 'z' type of sounds and is unwanted in recordings and unpleasant sounding to the ear.
In terms of bass response, the onboard amp compared to the Headfive did give slightly more bass detail but the Headfive gave a deeper bass response, which was particularly noticeable with the repetition of the Amen Break in the song 'Sounds of Life' by drum and bass group Pendulum.
Reverb was also more noticeable on the onboard headphone amp compared to the Headfive.
Reverb is the 'echoing' of a sound or a particular word in a recording and is used for musical effect.
The occurrence of piecing emphasised treble, which can be uncomfortable to the ear if listened to for a lengthy period of time, was more noticeable in the onboard headphone amp compared to the Headfive.
All of this just reinforces the notion that the onboard headphone amp is extremely transparent sounding as my model of headphones is known for high detail, particularly in the bass, strong treble response which can sound piercing at times and slightly recessed mids, which I noticed more with the onboard amp as well. The Headfive did though slightly colour the sound, making the mids less recessed and the treble less piecing to hear which did make for a more comfortable listening experience.
In conclusion, the onboard headphone amp found in the Essence STX is highly comparable to an external dedicated headphone amp.
Music
For the music testing, I chose several tracks that I thought had variety in both beat and passages, from a variety of genres and eras. The songs chosen were as follow:
Porcupine Tree - Anesthetize (Fear of a Blank Planet, 2007)
Michael Jackson - Black or White (Dangerous, 1991)
Jay-Z - Justify My Thug (The Black Album, 2003)
Muse - Hysteria (Absolution, 2003)
Rush - 2112 (2112, 1975 [1983 CD release])
Indigo Girls - Midnight Train to Georgia (1200 Curfews, 1995)
Diana Krall - The Girl In The Other Room (The Girl In The Other Room, 2004)
Pendulum - Sounds of Life (feat. Jasmine Yee) (Hold Your Colour, 2005)
There will be instances in the comparisons when I will quote like this: '[7:47]'.
This is how far into the song mentioned I am talking about and is quoted in minutes and seconds (e.g. passage described starts 7 minutes, 47 seconds into the song).
All songs are of CD quality and are lossless.
Asus Essence STX (Hi-Fi Mode, all effects turned off)
When comparing the Essence STX to the X-fi Prelude, one word comes to mind: clarity.
Whether it was the vocalist's vocals or specific aspects such as sound effects, such as the many used in 'Justify My Thug' (e.g. [0:30]), the Essence STX has sounds far clearer than the X-fi Prelude.
Instrument separation is also noticeably better. A good example of this is in the song 'Anesthetize', when the cymbals can be easily distinguished from the other instruments [11:05], while in the X-fi Prelude, in the same passage, the cymbal detail is lost and drowned under the bass guitar.
Detail is also better in the Essence STX and not only in music either. During the start of the song 'Black or White', when the kid is arguing with his Dad, the knocks on the door feel like they have more weight to them and sound more authentic and realistic than the X-fi Prelude's 'mono-tone' thuds.
I'll say this now, the card does not tolerate bad recordings very well. The reason I included the song 'Hysteria' was not because of the guitar riff, it was more because due to its horrendous mastering due to it being given the Loudness War treatment. When listening to 'Hysteria', all I heard was noise. Loud noise. Due to this recording having very little dynamic range, every note has the same loud loudness and it just sounded awful. That said though, there was an improvement in crispness, such as in Matt Bellamy's voice, even on this recording. The Essence STX will expose a recording for what it really is and if it's trash, then it will sound like trash.
Other differences between the Essence STX and the X-fi Prelude is in the bass and the soundstage.
While the X-fi Prelude has slightly more bass quantity wise, the Essence STX had better bass quality wise, both in detail and slightly deeper bass response. People often confuse, particularly with bass, that quantity = quality (see boyracers blasting cheap [sub]woofers for classic examples of this). In reality, bass quality and bass quantity are very separate things.
A good example of the bass detail is near the very end of “Justify My Thug”, when the last note did genuinely sounds like a bomb went off a few miles away while in the X-fi Prelude it's not as convincing and sounds more like one deep bass note with little reverb [3:56].
With all the songs, I found the bass in the Essence STX to have more punch and also found it to have more detail as well.
Asus Essence STX (Dolby Headphone, 7.1 Virtual Speaker Effect enabled)
Having chosen two songs that come off albums that were Grammy nominated for “Best Surround Sound Album” (Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet, Diana Krall's The Girl In The Other Room) it would be a crime not to test out the Dolby Headphone feature of the Essence STX.
With the support of Dolby Headphone technology, you can transform your stereo headphones into a simulated surround sound experience. However, can it really improve the listening experience?
Having experimented with the 'DH' settings, I felt that the 7.1 speaker effect, gave me the best experience out of them for surround sound. The speaker positions have been left at the default positions.
What is first noticed and what probably seems obvious is that there is a noticeable and significant improvement in soundstage resulting in each instrument being more separated and defined. In 'Anesthetize', this is really noticed at around when the second, more acoustic section of the song begins [12:10]. The 7.1 speaker effect makes this song out to be a much more intimate experience, so much that you can close your eyes and let the music overtake you. I didn't experience this feeling with the 'Hi-Fi' mode turned off nor did I with the X-fi Prelude. In the harmony introduced near the climax of the song [15:27], the three voices are clearly heard in three separate sound positions. This is in contrast to the smaller soundstages of both the Essence STX in 'Hi-fi' mode and the X-fi Prelude, where the three voices are 'blended' into either only one audible voice or two voices close to one another.
The significantly better soundstage was most apparent however in acoustic performances.
In 'Midnight Train to Georgia', a live performance, every voice and instrument had their place on the stage, the detail in all the voices and instruments were crisp and had great extension into the treble [voice at 2:14, 3:40-3:50]. This extension into the treble was also noticed in Diana Krall's voice in 'The Girl In The Other Room'. At the climax of 'Midnight Train to Georgia', every voice in the harmony and it's detail can be defined and heard within the soundstage while it squashed up in the smaller soundstages of the 'Hi-fi' mode and the X-fi Prelude. The crowd cheering at the end of the song makes you feel like you're in the middle of it as well [4:06 – 5:05].
The audio positioning was also significantly more accurate. This was noticed most in “Justify My Thug” when the background recordings of Jay-Z voice throughout the song was more varied and in 'Black or White', when Michael sings the lyrics 'dirt in my eye' [3:02], the sound out of the northwest and far right side of the soundstage while with the 'Hi-fi' Mode it is distinctly far left and far right. The treble also has more 'snap' and the bass is even more 'punchier' than the 'Hi-fi Mode' with all the songs.
Please do note that the 'Hi-fi Mode' is more intended for audio hobbyists that intended to line-out (e.g. via S/PDIF) through the soundcard to an external DAC or receiver thus don't need the soundcard to change the signal thus sound quality.
Gaming
Ever since the introduction of DS3D GX, Asus' answer and implementation of Creative's EAX (or if you're on Vista, ALchemy), the debate has arisen, can this really challenge EAX's domination of the game sound effects world and does it match up to it in quality and with the Essence STX coming with the latest revision of DS3D GX, DS3D GX 2.5, is it finally ready to really challenge the might of EAX 5.0?
To test this aspect, I used three games: Counter Strike:Source, Battlefield 2 and Fallout 3.
A big note to consider before I delve into this, is that I'm testing this on Windows XP.
At first this may not seem all that important but however consider that DS3D GX was primarily developed to be used in Windows Vista as the sound architecture of Vista is vastly different to that of XP (revamped and better) thus why, for example, EAX does not work properly in Vista and why you are forced to use ALchemy (converts EAX to OpenAL) with Creative cards. I won't bore you with the computer science behind it, but if you're interested, it's explained in simple terms here, which was adapted from this post. Therefore since I am testing this on Windows XP, my reflection might not necessary reflect results that may be found by using this on Windows Vista.
Each game was used with these settings:
Essence STX:
Dolby Headphone enabled using the 'DH-2' setting, 'Game' DSP and 'GX' DSP enabled
X-fi Prelude:
Game Mode with CMSS-3D headphone enabled
Counter Strike: Source
A couple of reasons I decided to test this game in particularly that I wanted to see how the Essence STX would handle older game sounds and also with the nature of Counter Strike being of close quarters combat, I want to see how DS3D DX 2.5 could handle close quarter range game sounds.
Map was 'cs_office' on the Australian based 'Internode' servers.
Using the Essence STX for Counter Strike can be compared to one thing: a wallhack.
Before you contact Steam to ban my account and say 'haha h@x0r!', what I mean by this is that there were times that although the enemy was around that corner and down the corridor,
the footsteps were clearly heard as if they were directly ahead of you in that direction.
The DS3D GX 2.5 processing just simplify didn't account for walls so it was like a wallhack but instead of seeing enemies through them, I was hearing enemies through them.
However, before you avid gamers rush out to buy this and improve your 133t skills with it, I have of bad news.
The limitation of gaming on the card, at least in playing Counter Strike:Source, is that it does not convey close distance sounds at all well. There were multiple times that I got killed by simply not hearing them run around the corner two metres from me but as I stated earlier, I could hear them across rooms and through several walls.
Since the game sounds in Counter Strike:Source are quite old, the Essence STX really rips them apart for what they are and that being bad recordings.
Also with the Essence STX, it sounds like all the guns have silencers or suppressors on them as they really sound 'muted' and lack the crisp cracking of the gun firing.
The basic game experience with the Essence STX is rather surreal in Counter Strike: Source and although the 'sound hacks' were convenient, they just didn't suit the close quarters nature of Counter Strike.
The Auzentech X-fi Prelude, with CMSS-3D headphone enabled, gives a more authentic and realistic experience. However with a custom mode using Dolby Headphone and the 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter option, this did offer a slightly more realistic experience than the default Game DSP option but still didn't sound as good than the 'Game Mode' in the X-fi Prelude.
It's not all bad though, as upon entering the server, I was greeted but a rather chilly atmospheric setting of the winter wind blowing interspersed by gunfire. It really set the scene well for some fragging and I really didn't get the same effect on the X-fi Prelude.
As DS3D GX 2.5 seems to convey distant sounds better than it does with close distance and creates a better 'atmosphere', how would it suit an 'atmospheric' game?
Fallout 3
Known for it's atmospheric sounds, I thought this game would give a good indication of this.
However I did encounter several problems unfortunately.
First of the sound just would not work with this game unless I turned off the 'GX' mode off which really defeated the purpose. Like in Counter-Strike: Source, the gunshots sounded 'muted', and it was just a more pleasurable experience (and less of a pain) with EAX 5.0 on the X-fi Prelude.
Not looking good for the Essence STX gaming wise so far.
Battlefield 2
An old favourite with gamers even though it's 3 years old, a long time in the gaming world, but it's also infamously known for it's heavy bias for sound quality towards EAX. So how would DS3D GX 2.5 cope with this?
Well, not very well. For one, I could not enable EAX. OK, that's fine, DS3D GX is not EAX, as much as it wants to be. I'll try the 'Hardware' option. I couldn't choose that either. I was forced to choose 'Software' which didn't sound good at all compared to the experience of of EAX with the X-Fi Prelude. Everything from the gunshots to tank shells to even the audio positioning didn't sound as well or as defined.
Conclusion
The past few years have seen revolutions happen in the world of hi-fi audio.
Due to the 'iPod revolution', more people than before (me included), have been introduced and seduced to the world of audio. With the advent of the Internet and such audio hobbyists sites such as Head-fi.org, the audiophile market has exploded in the range of products audiophiles have become aware of and gone are are the days of being stuck to the products the local shop can only offer.
This has meant increased competition and lower prices, which is always good, particularly in a hobbyists market. However, as the economy tightens, our wallets tighten as well and that means, if my high school economics has taught me right, we spend less on these hobbies or we start to pay more attention to more 'bang-for-buck' products.
So, does the Asus Essence STX offer this 'bang-for-buck' quality?
A definite yes.
From Asus' Xonar Audio Center to the onboard headphone amp, which can be used both as a pre-amp to your existing amp or as a dedicated amp, and compares very well to external headphone amps that cost just as much as the soundcard itself. This soundcard is truly one of the best value sound products out on the market right now. Yes, sure, the internal headphone amp can be beaten sound quality wise but you start talking about amps that really get into the US$300 range and up.
For potential buyers of this card that currently don't have 'mid-fi' or high-end headphones: I recommend upgrading the headphones first before buying a soundcard, as although the source is still important, that would make more of a noticeable difference to the sound quality than the source.
Despite this card preforming rather poorly in the realm of gaming, as least for Windows XP, one must consider that, despite it coming with DS3D GX 2.5, this card was not really designed with gamers in mind, as noted by the heavy focus on advanced audio options in the Asus Xonar Audio Center and inclusion of technologies such as Dolby Headphone. Therefore, I don't weigh the poor gaming performance of the card against it too much.
To sum up, Asus have definitely completed their quick ascendancy up the ranks to be one of the world's top soundcard manufacturers by making a big splash with a soundcard that not just offers unparalleled value, but also unparalleled accessibility to audiophiles and non-audiophiles alike to truly high fidelity sound.
Pros:
Value-for-money unparalleled in any other soundcard before it
Fantastic software via Xonar Audio Center
Great sounding onboard headphone amp that rivals a lot of external dedicated headphone amps
Well labeled I/O inputs
Cons:
Poor gaming performance that seems 'patchworked' onto the card (in Windows XP)
No 3.5mm I/O inputs
Bad EQ presets
Installation of software and drivers via CD could be better
The Verdict:
9.7 / 10
9.7 / 10
