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HT Omega Claro Halo *or* ASUS STX

post #1 of 40
12/29/09 at 3:57pm
Thread Starter 
I was planning on purchsing the ASUS STX since it seems it's the most popular Card for both Music and Games. Recently I stublmed across the HT OMEGA which looked rather impressive. One thing that concerns me about the STX is that it has been said it can only do DOLBY Headphone through it's Headphone AMP while the Omgea can do Dobly through both the RCA and HEadphone. This is a bummer since I want to take advantage of the superior SNR of the STX's RCA output to my AMP.


-Does ASUS offer better drivers/support for the card and more features for games?

-Which of the 2 has a more Detailed/warm yet less fatiguing sound
many have said that the STX is aggressive(does this refer to both headphone and RCA?)

-In regards to gaming(since both have the c-Media chip) do both offer the same effects etc...

My current setup is 1212m>Gilmore lite>HD650
I also plan to buY Active monitors or Speakers for 2 channel

Any recommendations
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post #2 of 40
12/29/09 at 4:42pm
Funny enough, I am in the same boat as you. My primary use will be for 2 channel Audio in music and games. Those are the 2 cards I was debating over. It seems the Omega is geared more towards music than games if I am not mistaken. From what I have been able to gather the Asus drivers are better for games, but I could be wrong about this since my last card was an M-audio 7.1

Hopefully someone on Head-fi will be able to fill us in, since I am clueless about the Modern PC audio.
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post #3 of 40
12/29/09 at 4:42pm
I just got my Essence ST today and can answer that it only supports Dolby Headphone through it's headphone Amp.
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post #4 of 40
12/29/09 at 4:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paradigm View Post
I was planning on purchsing the ASUS STX since it seems it's the most popular Card for both Music and Games. Recently I stublmed across the HT OMEGA which looked rather impressive. One thing that concerns me about the STX is that it has been said it can only do DOLBY Headphone through it's Headphone AMP while the Omgea can do Dobly through both the RCA and HEadphone. This is a bummer since I want to take advantage of the superior SNR of the STX's RCA output to my AMP.


-Does ASUS offer better drivers/support for the card and more features for games?

-Which of the 2 has a more Detailed/warm yet less fatiguing sound
many have said that the STX is aggressive(does this refer to both headphone and RCA?)

-In regards to gaming(since both have the c-Media chip) do both offer the same effects etc...

My current setup is 1212m>Gilmore lite>HD650
I also plan to buY Active monitors or Speakers for 2 channel

Any recommendations
Just keep the 1212M
If you do gaming, buy an xfi!!
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post #5 of 40
12/29/09 at 4:53pm
"superior SNR"? these are the RMAA measurements for the Claro Halo lineout:
Quote:
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB +0.03, -0.04 Excellent
Noise level, dB (A) -111.7 Excellent
Dynamic range, dB (A) 111.8 Excellent
THD, % 0.0009 Excellent
THD + Noise, dB (A) -97.5 Excellent
IMD + Noise, % 0.0014 Excellent
Stereo crosstalk, dB -109.3 Excellent
IMD at 10 kHz, % 0.017 Very good
General performance Excellent
and just like the STX in a loopback in RMAA, the SNR figure is most likely limited by the ADC.

anything >100dB is overkill anyway: iXBT Labs - ASUS Xonar D2 Sound Card
Quote:
ASUS apparently fights Creative with the same marketing weapon - high SNR. Measured in the standard de factor, Audio Precision, the ASUS D2 demonstrates 118 dBA, while the Creative Elite Pro offers 116 dBA. In fact, SNR values above -100 dBA do not make practical sense. Such values are lower than quantization noise power of a 16 bit signal with TPDF (Triangular Probability Density Function). As no one has complained about noises in AudioCDs yet, high SNR for audio playback is overkill.
and most op-amps have a max CMRR of 100/110dB.

I've tried these 3 cards(Halo/ST/STX), they sound very similar(same DSP/same HP amp)...and the CMI8788 is really not great for games, go X-Fi if you're a gameholic IMHO.

also xbitlabs says that the Xonar suck at 44.1kHz: Universal Soldier: ASUS Xonar D2 PM Sound Card Review (page 13) - X-bit labs

and they said that it wasn't fixed on the STX: Two in One: Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card Review (page 8) - X-bit labs
Quote:
why is the odd problem with the noise level at 44.1 kHz not solved since the Xonar D2?
this russian site doesn't get bribed to publish review tests that look like press releases...for a change
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post #6 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:03pm
Yes,
even if they do sound different, yo`ll need some serious ampl/speak to really feel it, (if your ears are trained), get an Auzentechxfi, games+movies+music
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post #7 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:03pm
Thread Starter 
Leepary thank you so much for adding clarity to the mass confusion out there.

It's it possible to have both a Forte and a 1212m in the same computer, as I have done this in the past on Vista with my 1212m and the onboard audio. I mean it should work, but there might be driver confliction as Patchmix DSP likes to take over the PC(not that it was ever a bad thing). I am to understand that the 1212m is a better 2 channel sound card for music playback.

Also why does the Forte lack Dolbyheadphone, I am aware Creative X-fi uses this CMSS alternative for 3d headphone audio, but it seems people are claiming that DH better in games.

Ultimatley I wanted to have both Superior Game card and MUSIC such as: X-fi Fortie and AUDIOTRACK Prodigy HD2 SE
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post #8 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:09pm
np, some ppl seem to make it confusing on purpose

the $2.25 TI HP amp on these 3 cards sounds very harsh anyway(and I'm not the only saying it!)...many ppl say that the discrete HP amp on the Forte sounds miles better, but there's been many reports of hissing/buzzing and misc. background noise interferences on those auzen cards...so YMMV

if I were you, I'd order a bunch of them from a shop w/ a return policy and keep the one I prefer the most.
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post #9 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:13pm
Ìt`s just funny what Creative thinks of Audiophille Pc
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/multim...interview.html

It`s not that they cannot buid an audiophille card, they just don`t **** a ****,
most of people use cheap speakers for PC, the audiophille grade quality would be just a market glimp
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post #10 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
yo`ll need some serious ampl/speak to really feel it,
Trust me with my hd650 on the gilmore I like it loud, hehe....Keep in Mind this is on properly mastered recordings, not that brickwalled, clipping lack of dynamic modern pop, rock etc..audio.

Also sound card manufactures need to stop with these 1/8 jacks in high end audio, Glad to see a starting trend to RCA. After using dual 1/4 with the 1212m I have become Anti 1/8 even though people have told me that 1/8 can sound just as good, bah!
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post #11 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:28pm
if you regularly listen louder than 100dB, you'd be better off buying some of this than a new soundcard:

some food for thoughts: HeadWize: Preventing Hearing Damage When Listening With Headphones
Quote:
Originally Posted by sonci View Post
Ìt`s just funny what Creative thinks of Audiophille Pc [..]
It's not that they cannot buid an audiophille card, they just don`t **** a ****
well, they're the market leaders! a wild guess would that 80% of the ppl in the world use onboard(mostly realtek), 15% some old crummy Audigy or whatever, and the last 5% for the highend end stuff...and Creative prolly makes up for more than half of that last part I'm sure.

it's indeed a niche market, and the new trend is to go for killer SNR and big ass black metal shields to impress the n00bz and fry the components faster...AHMAGAD IT'S TEH +5 SHIELD FROM ZEE KOMPUTER NOIZE

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post #12 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paradigm View Post
Trust me with my hd650 on the gilmore I like it loud, hehe....Keep in Mind this is on properly mastered recordings, not that brickwalled, clipping lack of dynamic modern pop, rock etc..audio.

Also sound card manufactures need to stop with these 1/8 jacks in high end audio, Glad to see a starting trend to RCA. After using dual 1/4 with the 1212m I have become Anti 1/8 even though people have told me that 1/8 can sound just as good, bah!
I don`t think using headphones is audiophille, but you know..
It`s just my personal opinion..
a kind of blasphemy around here..
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post #13 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:32pm
Well by the looks of things it seems your saying the forte is the choice for gamers. Only issue I have is that all the new games are using custom sound engines that rely on the multi CPU's. What really is the point in getting X-fi when all the sound processing and effects are done in CPU.

Take Half life 2 for example, that game relied on Values custom sound engine all processed by the CPU. Since most games today are moving towards this path what benefit does X-fi offer over C-media Oxygen HD.

What do you guys reckon is better for gaming, ASUS XONAR or Clario Halo
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post #14 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mim3Tic View Post
What do you guys reckon is better for gaming, ASUS XONAR or Clario Halo
same DSP(CMI8788), you can read an unbiased review against the X-Fi here: Two in One: Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card Review (page 6) - X-bit labs
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post #15 of 40
12/29/09 at 5:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
if you regularly listen louder than 100dB, you'd be better off buying some of this than a new soundcar
My Amp volume is turned up 40-60% depends on material and how the audio was processed, for example on some of the music that sadly was Hotmastered, I have to use Replay gain and so I then have to turn the volume up a little more than usual, but never blistering loud.

What I discovered many years ago was that people turn there audio up too loud because there cheap equipment is not capable of producing the fine details and soundstage that only decent audio equipment can. They think if the music is brighter it sounds better and loud music on crap equipment only distorts the audio further when cranked. Ever since I got into headhones with dedicated DACS and amps, I have never really needed to crank audio up in order to hear the details better, most the time and if I do it's only for maybe 1 track.
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