The Xonar Essence STX Q/A, tweaking, impressions thread - Page 275

Originally Posted by eggyhustles 

It's not the headphones

 

Before the stx, i had an old creative card in here and the bass was a lot deeper..tho not as detailed. 

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Originally Posted by BLACKENEDPLAGUE 

then get used to it.

well phrased.

The stock ST/STX with the stock JRC2114D opamps has emphasized bass already. 

The only other issue I can think of is that because the JVC is relatively low impedance its not getting enough current, since the ST/STX is made for higher impedance headphones.

This is the case with my Denons, however it does not lack quantity, just quality. In the Denons case anyway.

So again. 

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Originally Posted by WiR3D 

Get better headphones

A stupid audiophile question. Anyone using external DAC with STX and finding bigger benefits? I find the DAC in STX to be adequate. But, 5 years back i found my first bose speakers are my route to audio nirvana :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yviena 

Hi can anyone recommend me some op amps that work good with the dt770 pro 80 ? the stock JRC 2114 sounds a bit too bassy with the beyers

THS4032 - smooth trebble, neutral sound, great imaging. @Ebay

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Originally Posted by matbhuvi 

A stupid audiophile question. Anyone using external DAC with STX and finding bigger benefits? I find the DAC in STX to be adequate. But, 5 years back i found my first bose speakers are my route to audio nirvana :P

There is still room for improvement, but I think the next step up is easily over $550, just for the DAC. The problem with the STX is its coloured. Its not transparent. But this can be an advantage depending how you look at things.

I would first invest in a good preamp/amp then go to changing the DAC.

EDIT:

looking at it, you have the Yamamoto Soundcraft. I'd say thats pretty damn good. So yes the STX will be holding you back, but your headphones even more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by matbhuvi 

A stupid audiophile question. Anyone using external DAC with STX and finding bigger benefits? I find the DAC in STX to be adequate. But, 5 years back i found my first bose speakers are my route to audio nirvana :P

In my experience, nope, haven't found a DAC that I found really superior.  I have the Musical Fidelity M1DAC that I use for a speaker setup, which is about 1000$ (or was when it was new a couple of years ago), in all major reviews everyone pretty much raved about it and called it the gaint killer, or something that can pretty much perform as good as any DAC regardless of price, blah blah...but to be honest, I don't hear any difference when using it between the STX and headphone amps as opposed to connecting a headamp directly to the cards RCA outputs. I mean, there might be some tiny difference, I THINK the M1DAC has slightly more bass, (and thats probably placebo because reviews said it has great bass performance) and STX is maybe slightly brighter and detailed sounding in the highs...but its like 99% identical to my ears.  I also had the Essence One for a few days for testing, as well as Teac UD-H01 and CA Dacmagic plus, and while their headphone outputs varied from the STX and from each other, the DAC sections pretty much were all on par with each other. In other words, if someone put all of them on a table without letting me know how many DAC's there will be tested, blindfolded me before, and then switched between them, I doubt I'd be able to tell which one costs 1000$, which one is the STX, etc.  IMHO, STX DAC specs are one of the best out there, regardless of price, and it uses one of the best DAC chips available on the market, as well as pretty much some of the best other components available as well...and is built by a company that makes motherboards, graphics cards, etc., stuff that is technically a couple of lightyears ahead of soundcards, so as far as "assembly" of the parts and the technical side of things go, I think it cant get much better than it is now.

If you really wanted to hear any significant difference, you'd probably have to go for some seriously expensive professional DAC's or soundcards like the ones used in recording studios.

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Originally Posted by derbigpr 

 

In my experience, nope, haven't found a DAC that I found really superior.  I have the Musical Fidelity M1DAC that I use for a speaker setup, which is about 1000$ (or was when it was new a couple of years ago), in all major reviews everyone pretty much raved about it and called it the gaint killer, or something that can pretty much perform as good as any DAC regardless of price, blah blah...but to be honest, I don't hear any difference when using it between the STX and headphone amps as opposed to connecting a headamp directly to the cards RCA outputs. I mean, there might be some tiny difference, I THINK the M1DAC has slightly more bass, (and thats probably placebo because reviews said it has great bass performance) and STX is maybe slightly brighter and detailed sounding in the highs...but its like 99% identical to my ears.  I also had the Essence One for a few days for testing, as well as Teac UD-H01 and CA Dacmagic plus, and while their headphone outputs varied from the STX and from each other, the DAC sections pretty much were all on par with each other. In other words, if someone put all of them on a table without letting me know how many DAC's there will be tested, blindfolded me before, and then switched between them, I doubt I'd be able to tell which one costs 1000$, which one is the STX, etc.  IMHO, STX DAC specs are one of the best out there, regardless of price, and it uses one of the best DAC chips available on the market, as well as pretty much some of the best other components available as well...and is built by a company that makes motherboards, graphics cards, etc., stuff that is technically a couple of lightyears ahead of soundcards, so as far as "assembly" of the parts and the technical side of things go, I think it cant get much better than it is now.

 

If you really wanted to hear any significant difference, you'd probably have to go for some seriously expensive professional DAC's or soundcards like the ones used in recording studios.

Nice writeup. 

The only problem I'm having is the amps I see in your sig. None of them are particularly great. They are all decent don't get me wrong, but if you have a $1000 DAC you should have an $1000+ amp and $1000 headphones, or you won't hear the difference because thats the choke in the chain.

Now if you had something like a Woo instead of the Bellari, or a Burson instead of the Headbox then I would shut my yap.

If your happy, stay as you are. But I'm saying just because you didn't hear a difference SPECIFICALLY because of your setup, then it doesn't mean others with fairly deep pockets won't, Because I'm sure they will

I just got a Xonar STX and when I turn PC on and off, or when I switch between speakers and headphones using supplied application from asus, I hear a tick from sound card. its not through speakers, its from actual physical card. Is that normal? do you guys experience same thing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by igagnidz 

I just got a Xonar STX and when I turn PC on and off, or when I switch between speakers and headphones using supplied application from asus, I hear a tick from sound card. its not through speakers, its from actual physical card. Is that normal? do you guys experience same thing?

Yes that's normal.  Someone mentioned it's the protection relay to keep your headphone from popping.

Thanks. I even contacted Asus support, and they said it was not normal. what you know, community knows more and better than official support. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by igagnidz 

I just got a Xonar STX and when I turn PC on and off, or when I switch between speakers and headphones using supplied application from asus, I hear a tick from sound card. its not through speakers, its from actual physical card. Is that normal? do you guys experience same thing?

The actual card packs three NEC® DPST relays to switch the outputs of the onboard DAC's amongst three analog output connections, viz., the dual RCA jacks ("2 Speakers"), the single 1/4" jack ("Headphone"), and the internal header to the computer's front audio ("Front 2 Speakers," "Front Headphone").  The dual RCA's are driven by the Line Level Buffer dual op amp, which is a National Semiconductor®/Texas instruments® LM4562AN in stock form; upgrades from Texas Instruments® (including Brown-Burr® OPA and National Semiconductor® LME), Analog Devices®, NEC®, &c., are available, some of which require a dual 8-pin SOIC to JEDEC 8-pin DIP adapter subframe.  The 1/4" output is driven by a Texas Instruments® TP6120A2 dual power amplifier.

The "clicking" of at least one relay cycling is normal when Microsoft® Windows® 6-up boots, both with the official Asus® XONAR® software and the Unified XONAR® Software by Brainbit.  Don't know if that's also the case with the ALSA Virtuoso driver for LinUX.

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Originally Posted by WiR3D 

Nice writeup. 

 

The only problem I'm having is the amps I see in your sig. None of them are particularly great. They are all decent don't get me wrong, but if you have a $1000 DAC you should have an $1000+ amp and $1000 headphones, or you won't hear the difference because thats the choke in the chain.

 

Now if you had something like a Woo instead of the Bellari, or a Burson instead of the Headbox then I would shut my yap.

 

If your happy, stay as you are. But I'm saying just because you didn't hear a difference SPECIFICALLY because of your setup, then it doesn't mean others with fairly deep pockets won't, Because I'm sure they will

Its not the only amps I've ever tried, I had and tested a lot of various amps, including the Musical Fidelity M1HPA that I had for a while, which is pretty excellent solid state for 800-900$, and again there were no major differences.  Besides, I dont think I need 1000$ headphones to hear a difference. Something as unforgiving and transparent as K701's is more than enough. I can clearly hear a difference between the amps I have, but between DAC's, not really. And actually, there SHOULDN'T be much differences between DAC's when you get to that level anyway. I'm not saying that more expensive DAC's wont be better, but the differences wont be major.  Its not like when you get a 1000$ DAC instead of a 200$ one, you'll hear the same amount of difference or improvement as you would hear between headphones for 200 and 1000 bucks. 

So,  in my experiences, to answer the question whether one should upgrade to a more expensive DAC from Asus STX or ST.  No, unless you intend to pay a lot more money, as you said.  Probably, when you add up all the little improvements you gain by switching from 300-400$ headphones and ST to 1000$ headphones, amp and DAC, you'd hear a good difference. Still, nothing too major. Its very obvious that the prices raise exponentially in relation to actual improvements in sound you get, and in my experience that is particularly true when it comes to DAC's. Headphones and amps are a different story.

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Originally Posted by igagnidz 

Thanks. I even contacted Asus support, and they said it was not normal. what you know, community knows more and better than official support. 

Typical customer support service.

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Originally Posted by igagnidz 

Thanks. I even contacted Asus support, and they said it was not normal. what you know, community knows more and better than official support. 

Its definitely normal.

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Originally Posted by derbigpr 

Its definitely normal.

Indeed. The relays can be seen on this picture, there are a total of 7 of them, they are the white-ish rectangular shaped devices with "NEC JAPAN UC2-4.5NU" printed on them.

Yup mine does the same thing.

What connection do people usually use for their STX card to an external amp?  Headphone Jack or RCA outputs?

I ask because I notice very faint static when their is no music on and when I play videogames a slight buzz in the headphones.  Their is no buzz in load screens but only during in game playing.

  This buzz is not present when I just put the headphones direct to the soundcard.  I tried the amp with the same headphones with an Ipod and had no problem.  It only seems to be when I have this set up do I experience anything:

Senns HD 600 to BH Crack Amp to STX sound card.  Gain set to normal. 

Any thoughts?

Thanks!