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Why all the hate?

post #1 of 87
6/12/11 at 7:54am
Thread Starter 

I see a lot of hate towards the asus essence stx/st and i'm not exactly sure why. Granted it did take me forever to figure out how to get it to sound the way I wanted. I'm thinking that maybe headphone listeners who aren't completely computer literate were simply overwhelmed and couldn't get the sound card to produce the desired results. What compelled me to buy it was that, I love to listen to music on my computer but was stuck with on-board ALC889. After lots of messing around and tons of research I have my card playing my music just the way I like it. I have tried several much more expensive headphone amps from numerous companies and honestly I think my stx sounds better than most. At any rate here is what I had to do before my stx was even bearable.


1) Disable ALL software enhancements: All that 7.1 virtual sound/dolby headphone/dolby prologic II/flex bass/those retarded dsp modes (game/movie/music) All these "enhancements" do is make everything sound cloudy and bloated I also just found out if you enable the "hi-fi" option it turns all the post processing off for you.

2) Use 2 channel sound

3) Set sample rate to PCM44.1 KHz: herp derp?

4) Disable the stereo mix/line in/aux/wave/digital out in the control panel

5) Turn off everything under spdif out in the xonar audio center

6) Find some opamps that are suitable to your musical tastes: I'm not going to list the opamps that I have tried and own, because I think this is mostly personal preference. If you are only going to be listening through headphones, you only need to replace opamps A and B. If you need help or instructions on how to replace your opamps on your asus stx I can post/upload/send you the guide.


This is just what I did and I really am in love with this sound card. For 200 dollars I truly believe this card is untouchable in terms of bang for the buck.
Edited by SennheiserHD - 6/12/11 at 8:16am
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface 124 dB SNR /...
post #2 of 87
6/12/11 at 10:17am
A lot of hate? can you link me to the relevant threads?

AFAIK, it's a good source with excellent measurements..
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post #3 of 87
6/12/11 at 10:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by khaos974 View Post

A lot of hate? can you link me to the relevant threads?

AFAIK, it's a good source with excellent measurements..

I could but I'm not going to call anyone out. There is a good population on this forum of people who badge this card as inadequate, and suggest people to actually go for amp/dac combos that are actually inferior to the stx. I actually saw an entire thread talking about how this card was not better then onboard audio. I just wanted to show my appreciation for this sub 200 beast.
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post #4 of 87
6/12/11 at 11:39am

What??

You buy a 200$ soundcard, and search opamps or tweaks for it to sound right??
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by SennheiserHD View Post



Quote:
Originally Posted by khaos974 View Post

A lot of hate? can you link me to the relevant threads?

AFAIK, it's a good source with excellent measurements..



I could but I'm not going to call anyone out. There is a good population on this forum of people who badge this card as inadequate, and suggest people to actually go for amp/dac combos that are actually inferior to the stx. I actually saw an entire thread talking about how this card was not better then onboard audio. I just wanted to show my appreciation for this sub 200 beast.


 

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post #5 of 87
6/12/11 at 12:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sonci View Post

What??

You buy a 200$ soundcard, and search opamps or tweaks for it to sound right??
 



 


what exactly are you implying???? An opamp is 3 bucks......seems like a worthwhile investment to me.....

this right here is exactly what im talking about. people think just because of it's low price or because of the fact its a sound card people have stigma attached to it.
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post #6 of 87
6/12/11 at 11:59pm

Using those exact same settings except for the opamp stuff, there was no difference between my STX and my onboard ALC889. Also, my STX gave my JVC HA-RX700s white noise at 44.1KHz.

 

That's why I don't like it. What headphones are you listening to it with?


Edited by cuad - 6/13/11 at 12:00am
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post #7 of 87
6/13/11 at 6:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cuad View Post

Using those exact same settings except for the opamp stuff, there was no difference between my STX and my onboard ALC889. Also, my STX gave my JVC HA-RX700s white noise at 44.1KHz.

 

That's why I don't like it. What headphones are you listening to it with?


No white noise at any sample rates what so ever. Do you need me to walk you through the installation and setup of your card? There was probably a mistake during installation or setup, the components in this card are high grade and there is no possible way multiple people are experiencing it due to a flaw in the card.

Edit: Headphones I use with this card,hd448 and the m50
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post #8 of 87
6/13/11 at 10:32am

Possible reasons for the hate:

 

1. There are no worthy competitors in it's class, people can only and mostly compare it to external desktop/portable amps.

2. Lack of the general know-how of PC computing: e.g., thoroughly clean PC from old  audio drivers before installing Asus Xonar drivers (Driver Sweeper). Failure to do this will generate the error message "Please insert Xonar Essence ST/STX Audio Device!".

3. They may possess horrendously sub par generic PSUs, or inadequate ones.

4. They may have suffered from small overlooked mistakes during installation of the card, i.e. not grounding oneself (touching the metal casing or metal objects) or wearing an anti-electrostatic wrist strap.

 

I understand that some may be sour at the fact that PC sound cards can't really be auditioned: you buy it, install it, and it didn't work like you expected. Such is the nature of PC peripherals, you can only rely on customers' reviews, tech sites' reviews, before making the decision to go and get one.

 

There's so many factors at hand when it comes to PC peripherals. PSU + RAM + CPU + Motherboard combos, OS setup, installed programs, it's pretty wild: some people don't have problems, some do. The thing about PCs is they are the opposite of vertical integration, we are free to mod, build and tinker to our liking. I see most setups in head-fi involve laptops, MBPs, macs with external desktop amps/portable amps. There are some setups that have godly modded DIY PCs that uses external desktop amps, there's nothing wrong with it, people have their own personal preference.

 

My friend got an STX, uses an HD650 and grado SR125i, I have an ST, a D6, SR60i, and an MS2i: they all work flawlessly. We even switch cans, HD650 on my PC, MS2i on his, no hiss, no hiccups. We use J River MC, FB2K, no glitches, everything works and sounds heavenly. He uses an i7 + Asus Sabertooth motherboard + Silverstone 1000Watt PSU, I use a Tagan 500W PSU + Core2Duo 3.16Ghz + Asus Rampage Formula 1 motherboard.

 

When I got my ST, I pretty much did what the OP did based on the STX Q/A and tweaking thread. Would love to get my hands on some OPamps, but honestly I'm happy with the sound that I have right now. I think I understand how the OP feels when new head-fi'ers come in here asking for advice, STX/ST instantly gets written off by some as not being an electrifying economical choice for a PC setup.

Disclaimer: I have nothing against Apple users, desktop amp users, portable amp users, creative sound card users. Just stating my opinion, happy listening! gs1000.gif

 

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post #9 of 87
6/13/11 at 10:57am

First of all, I find Creative X-Fi Titanium HD to be a better soundcard than Xonar Essence ST/STX, with a nice warm sound, contrary to the bright-ish sound of the STX. Many people consider them to be exactly on the same sound level, and I agree, even if I find the Titanium HD to have a much more pleasant sound. And has a better price as well.

 

Second, if someone really wants to get a Xonar card, the Xonar D2X is again a better choice, with a nice tweaked Oxygen chip, and none of that harsh amp that comes with the STX.

 

Now, I don't think the Essence STX is a bad card by any measure, just that I have several others that I'd buy instead.

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post #10 of 87
6/13/11 at 11:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SennheiserHD View Post

No white noise at any sample rates what so ever. Do you need me to walk you through the installation and setup of your card? There was probably a mistake during installation or setup, the components in this card are high grade and there is no possible way multiple people are experiencing it due to a flaw in the card.

 

 

 

Some people can't hear the difference between onboard and ST/STX, some people can't hear the white noise/hiss at 44.1KHz through headphone out... I assure you, there were no mistakes made during the installation or setup of the card with either of the hardware configurations I used it with. I use it, but I'm not blind to any of its flaws; was never much of a fanboi of anything...

 

 

What's the point of this thread anyway? Just as with every other piece of equipment discussed here, different people have different opinions about the Xonar Essence cards. Some like it, some don't. Trying to convince the ones that don't that their opinion is somehow wrong seems rather pointless.


Edited by fufula - 6/13/11 at 11:14am
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post #11 of 87
6/13/11 at 2:14pm
He didn't seem, to me, to be implying they are wrong, but rather that due to the complicated nature of the card its very likely people were shrugging it off as junk when in fact they had likely not taken enough time to learn it and set it up appropriately.
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post #12 of 87
6/13/11 at 2:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Logistics View Post

He didn't seem, to me, to be implying they are wrong, but rather that due to the complicated nature of the card its very likely people were shrugging it off as junk when in fact they had likely not taken enough time to learn it and set it up appropriately.

thank you!!!
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post #13 of 87
6/13/11 at 2:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by fufula View Post

 

 

 

Some people can't hear the difference between onboard and ST/STX, some people can't hear the white noise/hiss at 44.1KHz through headphone out... I assure you, there were no mistakes made during the installation or setup of the card with either of the hardware configurations I used it with. I use it, but I'm not blind to any of its flaws; was never much of a fanboi of anything...

 

 

What's the point of this thread anyway? Just as with every other piece of equipment discussed here, different people have different opinions about the Xonar Essence cards. Some like it, some don't. Trying to convince the ones that don't that their opinion is somehow wrong seems rather pointless.


is your card physically touching anything else in your case? I had to move my video card to my second 16x slot because the shield was physically touching my video card. Also did you make sure the power going to your card was from the first molar in that group with nothing else attached? A weaker psu may have some trouble.
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post #14 of 87
6/13/11 at 2:56pm

User error isn't likely, because if you look in the thread I started about this problem, there's a link to the x-bit labs review that mentions the 44.1KHz problem and asks why it hasn't been fixed from a previous ASUS card. There's also a bunch of other handy info.

 

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/546291/white-noise-coming-from-my-essence-stx-from-44-1khz


Edited by cuad - 6/13/11 at 3:00pm
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post #15 of 87
6/13/11 at 4:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cuad View Post

User error isn't likely, because if you look in the thread I started about this problem, there's a link to the x-bit labs review that mentions the 44.1KHz problem and asks why it hasn't been fixed from a previous ASUS card. There's also a bunch of other handy info.

 

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/546291/white-noise-coming-from-my-essence-stx-from-44-1khz


I don't understand why only SOME users would experience this error and not others. It is way too large of a percentage to be quality control (especially a card with as high quality components as the stx), it must be user error. unless you have another theory lol?
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ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface 124 dB SNR /...
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