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Audio-gd compass or Xonar essence STX - Page 2

post #16 of 78
4/25/09 at 10:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Telix View Post
I am uncertain if it is against the rules to post links to stores, but:

LIMITED GOODS Electronics D & M DENON HYBRID HDPNES/MAP $349 EA AH-D2000

They are frequently back ordered. I was fortunate enough to get them immediately upon ordering. They are quite legitimate, even though the store looks a little bogus.
They are legitimate alright. I recently ordered a Bey DT990 for $199 shipped...but they sent me the DT990 Pro instead. I think they made an honest mistake. I didn't want the DT990 Pro and ask for my money back. I also ask them to pay for return shipping which they accepted. Good customer service.
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post #17 of 78
5/9/09 at 3:10am
I'd recommend you get the Compass as the amp on the Essence would never have the power that the Compass can provide.
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post #18 of 78
5/9/09 at 4:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by koruki View Post
I'd recommend you get the Compass as the amp on the Essence would never have the power that the Compass can provide.
I beg to differ. The essence will make a bigger difference to the OP's setup than an amp will. Hes using a REALTEC onboard soundcard!

IMO just get the stx, its a no brainer. cans>source>amp. The stx alone sounds better to my ears than the merantz 6000 OSE > master hp amp. The STX amp is pretty decent at that.
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post #19 of 78
5/9/09 at 12:08pm
He can run a USB/Coaxial/Optical into the compass DAC so doesnt matter if he's using onboard?
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post #20 of 78
5/10/09 at 2:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by koruki View Post
He can run a USB/Coaxial/Optical into the compass DAC so doesnt matter if he's using onboard?
which is likely not bit perfect.
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post #21 of 78
5/10/09 at 2:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aCuria View Post
I beg to differ. The essence will make a bigger difference to the OP's setup than an amp will. Hes using a REALTEC onboard soundcard!

IMO just get the stx, its a no brainer. cans>source>amp. The stx alone sounds better to my ears than the merantz 6000 OSE > master hp amp. The STX amp is pretty decent at that.
If you're not going to listen to the gear, at the very least learn what it is before you make such an blatantly incorrect statement. The Compass is a DAC and an amp. Using the Compass DAC will bypass the onboard soundcard and kmixer via ASIO4ALL, a dedicated ASIO driver, or WASAPI.

Quote:
Originally Posted by aCuria View Post
which is likely not bit perfect.
Do you even understand why on-board soundcards tend to lack bit-perfect sound? It's because of kmixer resampling the data. Using any DAC or soundcard with ASIO or WASAPI compatability will bypass the kmixer, giving you bit perfect sound. Running a digital out to a Compass will bypass the DAC of the onboard sound card. If through some reason, that onboard can't output a bit perfect stream, then a USB port will output one. Then, bypass kmixer via ASIO4ALL or WASAPI and you will have bit perfect.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Telix View Post
I've heard both, and recently. I thought the Compass was quite bright and harsh on the high end with a pair of HD580s, but I didn't test it extensively.
This is interesting. It's been a while, but do you remember how which settings were used for the Compass and how many hours were on it? Some posters claim the Compass and HDAM sound is all over the place before both are at the ~350 hour mark. I'd be glad to do an Essence and Compass comparison, but right now I have neither a desktop nor the money to do so since I decided to leave my desktop at home and just recently purchased a Compass and traded an RS-1 for a Stax setup.
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post #22 of 78
5/10/09 at 3:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by doping panda View Post
Do you even understand why on-board soundcards tend to lack bit-perfect sound? It's because of kmixer resampling the data. Using any DAC or soundcard with ASIO or WASAPI compatability will bypass the kmixer, giving you bit perfect sound. [...]
I'd be glad to do an Essence and Compass comparison
except that getting bit-perfect outta the Essence would require a miracle

the stupid Asus drivers will resample everything to the locked samplerate you set in the drivers...yes, it will even resample ASIO...sad, oh sad
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post #23 of 78
5/10/09 at 5:38pm
This doesn't address either of the products you've mentioned, but distance cousins (twice removed) if you will.. Between the Auzen Forte and the upgraded Zero amp/DAC. The Fortes onboard amp is far superior to the Zeros.
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post #24 of 78
5/10/09 at 6:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by leeperry View Post
except that getting bit-perfect outta the Essence would require a miracle

the stupid Asus drivers will resample everything to the locked samplerate you set in the drivers...yes, it will even resample ASIO...sad, oh sad
How do you know? Just wondering, as this of concern to me.
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post #25 of 78
5/10/09 at 6:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 43st View Post
The Fortes onboard amp is far superior to the Zeros.
considering it's based on a JRC4580, allow me to doubt about that
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shahrose View Post
How do you know? Just wondering, as this of concern to me.
run simple tests, see for yourself.
I tried to explain it to that rob6 guy in the "official" thread here, have a look...if you dare
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post #26 of 78
5/10/09 at 7:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by leeperry View Post
considering it's based on a JRC4580, allow me to doubt about that

run simple tests, see for yourself.
I tried to explain it to that rob6 guy in the "official" thread here, have a look...if you dare
I went back and read all your posts in that thread. Unfortunately leeperry, I don't think you know what you're talking about. Not to offend, I suggest you wait till you actually own the card and try out various options. None of the problems you mentioned with your tests were reproducible in my system.
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post #27 of 78
5/10/09 at 8:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by koruki View Post
I'd recommend you get the Compass as the amp on the Essence would never have the power that the Compass can provide.
4 pin 12v provide 40W DC power, more than enough for a DAC/headphone amp. IMO size constraint is the bigger problem. Also note that PCI-E is 100 times better than USB.
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post #28 of 78
5/10/09 at 9:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by koruki View Post
I'd recommend you get the Compass as the amp on the Essence would never have the power that the Compass can provide.
Read the previous post, Reader beat me to it. The STX outputs a lot of power and controls all my headphones beautifully. It's another thing that I don't like the dry, close sound, but if it's power and driver-control you want, the STX delivers in spades.
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post #29 of 78
5/10/09 at 9:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reader View Post
Also note that PCI-E is 100 times better than USB.
That's an interesting statement, care to shed some light on your reasoning?
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post #30 of 78
5/10/09 at 10:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shahrose View Post
leeperry, I don't think you know what you're talking about.
haha yeah I'm clueless....thanks for showing me the light

simple test, again...

-set the samplerate at 48KHz and open a youtube video
-simultaneously, open a 24/96 FLAC in foobar/ASIO

my M-Audio ASIO drivers will give an error msg, saying they can't set the hardware samplerate to 96Khz...I'm forced to close youtube to get my 24/96 FLAC working in ASIO

the Asus STX will play! it will downsample to 48KHz, ANY stream is resampled at the locked samplerate set in the drivers(there's no "auto" rate, that's the problem!)...it's clearly explained 3 TIMES in the manual(maybe it's time you read it ), it's even a known issue on the D2 as well. there's a thread about that on AVS.

I suggest you play around w/ more professional cards(like Echo/M-Audio/RME/etc... ), these will never resample under ANY cirmcumstance...and as you know resampling increases the THD/THD+N rates

anyway, even w/ sloppy resampling this card is great...just a bit of whining to the Asus techsupport might improve it one last step further.
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