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A few questions about Essence STX, Forte and CALs - Page 4

post #46 of 52
8/18/10 at 10:49am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ROBSCIX View Post

Even less with DAC's in the same price range.


You mean that the difference will be wider if i use a decent soundcard (the essence for instance) than a similarly priced dac/amp?

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post #47 of 52
8/18/10 at 10:53am

Audio quality is subjective so what sounds good to you might not to another. 

I would say that it depends on the devices being tested.  The Essence card offers alot of audio muscle for the price.  It would be difficult to find an external DAC and headphone amplifer that will provide the same sound quality for a similar price.  Some have said the Musiland 02 sounds as good or better but again that is a subjective opinion and I have never heard the unit.

You have to use your ears to decide which is best for you but it can be hard in some situations to compare devices.

 

Hope that helps


Edited by ROBSCIX - 8/18/10 at 10:57am
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post #48 of 52
8/18/10 at 6:15pm
Thread Starter 

Sadly i cant test any of these. There are very few dedicated audio stores here and most dont have the gear popular on these forums on stock, that's why all the questioning, i always have to blind-pick so i need to cross several opinions and draw my own conclusions.

 

Both the Audinst and the musilan 02 seem nice, better bangs for the buck than the Essence. Yet the Essence seems to be a safer buy (more feedback and opinions on gaming for instance, the only reference for gaming on the musiland for instance its just that it's "ok") and at least i know it has built in Dolby headphone (and openal, althought i think most gear supports that one lately).

 

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post #49 of 52
8/19/10 at 12:51am

Sigh... so follow your instinct then.

 

I mean, no EAX, is really not an issue today.

Crysis doesn't support EAX, WOW doesn't support EAX, StarCraft II doesn't suportt EAX....

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post #50 of 52
8/19/10 at 2:37am

if you really wanna go Essence get the ST, it's got a much tighter masterclock. The STX sounds much worse on 44.1kHz material when you compare both because the DSP PLL is 24.576Mhz(48kHz*512), so it needs some assistance to give a low jitter on 44.1kHz.

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post #51 of 52
8/19/10 at 7:40am
Thread Starter 

Yeah i was thinking on the ST, but mainly because i dont have any other free PCI-E slot (its a pity because the one i got offered used was an STX for 120€ shipped, and new the ST is like 180€).

 

I'm not yet fixed on the Essence, i just found a lot more reviews on it (specially gamig wise) than on the dacs, but i'm still comparing them.

 

Thanks a lot for the feedback btw.

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post #52 of 52
8/19/10 at 7:49am

The ST is a great card also and has the 7.1 upgrade options through the H6.

The PCI interface can make it a non option for many.

Read up on it if your interested.

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