ASUS Xonar Essence STX Impressions

Oh really?

What software did you use for playback?

Did you make sure to use ASIO, Kernel Streaming (KS) or WASAPI output of some sort?

Did you turn the DSPs off in the soundcard's configuration and whatever media player you decided to use?

That's fine, let him be, it's Crazy Carl after all.

Congratulations. You are now out of crazy "OMG YOU NEED AN $800 DAC!!" land. It's much less expensive here and everything sounds great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy*Carl 

I just got a Xonar Essense STX and I have to say it sounds amazing!

 

but,

 

My onboard sound (as well as my ipod) also sounds amazing.  I have tested Many different types of lossless files and I can tell no difference between my onboard intel high def audio, ipod, or asus Xonar using my Sennheiser HD580s.  Back to the store...

 

This is my 4th "high end" audio device I have heard, and all have the same results.

 

Despite the supposed need to amp high impedance headphones, I think its bogus.  Spend money on good headphones.

 

 

You can't tell a difference between sources but you can tell a difference between headphones.... interesting. Also I wouldn't call the Xonar Essence STX a high end audio device, despite the fact that it is probably one of the better internal sound cards you can buy.
 

While on board audio has improved quite dramatically from the AC97 days it still retains some of the thickening & detail loss of the AC97 class devices. these characteristics cause a loss of soundstage which though is minor with intel HD audio is still there & is absent in the Essense STX soundcard. believe it or not these effects seem to be more easily heard with high quality speakers & amps than with headphones, you still hear it with headphones, just not as easily.AC97 sounds real cloudy in comparison to even Intel HD audio. differences are much more subtle between Intel HD audio & the Essense STX but still there. If you choose a headphone that is less detailed you will likely not hear the difference at all.

Note these inpressions of mine are with the RCA output of my essense STX card modded to D.C. coupling which improves the sound a bit over the stock output & are driving speakers that are also modified to bring the best out of them. Every one who has heard this system in person is amazed by the sound qualty i'm getting especially when they hear how much money I put into it or lack thereof I should say. I get better sound out of my system costing less than 1000 dollars than many people get from systems costing over 10,000 dollars. I do have some high qualty earphones as well which I do hear the difference on as well.

In stock form I would say the Essense STX borders very closely to high end but not quite there especially out the RCA jacks but with the mods the RCA output is definately high end The headphone output is already there though that is not to say there can't be improvement in that area. These would mostly be tailering of sound to suit the headphone in question. (different I/V amps). I find the sound on mine certainly adequate to qualify for highend. I have heard worse from supposed high end gear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy*Carl 

Then I would consider my HD intel audio and ipod high end when it comes to sound quality.

 I wouldn't quite go that far as I never heard an Ipod that I liked the sound from. There is still a loss of soundstage from Intel's HD audio as well as I pointed out above. The Essense card is superior in this regard even stock. All my amps that I am using in my system are full D.C. coupled & very very revealing & it definately does not like Intels HD audio. Part of what high end audio is about is recreating a believable soundstage. The Essense card does that & intel HD audio as hard as it tries does not quite do a believable soundstage on headphones or speakers.

 Note I do have both Intel HD audio & Essense STX in my system & can definately hear a difference between the 2. Also if you were to use high sensitivity IEMs you would find the noise from the Intel HD audio to be intolerable where as the Essense cards would be at or very near dead silent depending on which high sensitivity IEMs you used. Some are 122db at 1mW may reveal some very slight noise from the essense card whereas even ones of 115db at 1mW would drive you out of your mind with the noise they would pickup from Intels HD audio.

What motherboard are you using? I've always found the difference between onboard and any other usb dac easy to tell apart but comparing dacs with other dacs become very difficult. I wouldn't say the onboard on my motherboard is horrible, but I would never say it is good either so probably more like "not bad". I prefer listening from my zune over my onboard a lot more. If I was stranded on an island with nothing but onboard audio from a computer, would I listen to music with that? Yes I would since ultimately I enjoy listening to music

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy*Carl 

Intel DP35DP motherboard with Intel HD Audio.

Looking at the specs for your particular motherboard I found the codec used & looked that up & it does look like it may be above the typical codecs used with intels HD audio. Most only offer 88db S/N but this one on your mother board lists S/N at 105 db so is definately an improvement. You particular case there my be only the most subtle of differences. In my case there is a definate loss of fidelity compared to the Essense STX card though admitedly somewhat subtle compared to AC97 standards which is real raunchy as in bad.

S/N however is only part of the sound equation & there is very little in specs that will tell what it actually sounds like. I've heard amps that supposedly had only .005% distortion sound really bad & ones with .5% distortion sound really superb. A lot depends on how those specs are achieved. Whether it was superb amp desigh or just a lot of negative feedback. Many early japanese designs that had supurb specs were actually poor designs that used horrendous amounts of negative feedback to get good specs but really in fact sounded horrible. The japs have largely cleaned up thier act & are producing better gear based on proven designs now than in the past

The HD audio on my motherboard specs at 90db S/N ratio so it is definately a rung or 2 below yours.