Just got the HD-650's and the Xonar Essence STX sound card about a week ago and so far it's good stuff, but, it seems like I'm really missing out on something with these things with this combo. I was first able to tell when just yesterday I hooked up the 650's to my decent Onkyo HT-R980 receiver that came with my Onkyo HT-S9300THX package that I use for my home theater setup and almost instantly noticed a difference. The bass was much more noticeable and harder hitting on my receiver than my Xonar card and just overall I thought everything sounded a bit better. It looks like my receiver drives them better, which somewhat surprised me since it's nothing special. To clarify, I am not an audio or video phile, but I do notice and appreciate the differences between cheap and expensive setups.
After researching more I got to the point where I'm seriously considering getting the Burson Audio HA-160DS and selling the Xonar STX but I don't know if I can justify the cost because I really don't need anything over the top, especially if I was quite satisfied with just my Onkyo driving them. So what I was thinking was maybe upgrading the op-amps on the STX and then getting some good $300-$400ish amp to help drive them to full or almost full potential. I do like the improvement in sound quality with the STX over my old X-Fi card with my 2.1 speaker setup(Logitech Z-2300) which is another reason why I sort of would rather just upgrade the card and add an amp. If anyone has some good suggestions please don't hesitate. I am still somewhat willing to get the Burson Audio HA-160DS or maybe the dedicated Burson Audio HA-160 amp and using Xonar as DAC, but just don't know if it can really be justifiable. Also my music genre is mostly dance music but I do listen to just about everything, like most of the popular stuff on the radio. Play music by Avcii, David Guetta, Deadmau5 all the way to Coldplay, Newboyz, LMFAO, Linkin Park, and My Chemical Romance, so I do have a wide variety but even most of the non dance artists songs I'll listen to the dance remixes of, HA!
Here's a list of a few songs to get an idea of my type of music...
Avcii - Levels
Deadmau5 - Hey Baby
The Killers - Mr. Brightside (Jacques Lucont's Thin White Duke Remix)
Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall (Avicii's 'tour' Mix)
Steve Aoki & Laidback Luke - Turbulence (feat. Lil Jon)
Don Omar Ft. Lucenzo - Danza Kuduro (Gordon & Doyle Love B-t-h-s 3x Bootleg Mix)
Nero - Promises
Akcent Vs Edward Maya Ft. Alicia - That's My Stereo Love (Mash Up ReMix By Dj Kapa)
