Is it worth it going HI-FI if modern music is all I'm listening to?

Cables and such are tweaks. Don't worry about them. Sources, amps and headphones/speakers can make a big difference. The trick with so-so recordings is to find high fidelity gear that is revealing yet forgiving.

 

Some revealing setups will make poorly recorded material painful to listen to. Other gear can be forgiving of sonic shortcomings yet still bring out the best/most of what is on the recording. One example, the Stax O2Mk2 is pretty forgiving but is very detailed and still offers that unforgettable electrostatic experience.

 

Crappy recording technique is easier to ignore than uber compression. If a recording has no dynamics it will never have any audio realism, at least not the kind that will make the system vanish and present the music in front of you.

 

Of course it is much more important to play music that involves you, than to get a great sounding rig and play stuff you end up not liking as music. Realize this, and gear doesn't matter much. Great music sounds fine on a clock radio; music that sucks still sucks on even high end gear.

Edited by Clarkmc2 - 12/23/11 at 11:33pm

 

Actually the STX is pretty well regarded already and you should probably stick to the current setup(I know I would). Generally the reason why many choose or want to upgrade is the obsession of extracting the most detail/"musicality"/pureness as they can get with their system. There are many aims to getting to that sweet spot for each individual. Eg. For some, they would like more musicality, others would be more neutral and of course analytical types. 

 

The last thing you should upgrade is the STX. Upgrade the headphones if you want. I'd say it's worth it even for modern music, but don't go crazy and spend $2,000 on headphones.

Since upgrading from my Xonar some albums have become unlistanable. Its worth going hi end, but don't get one of the detail monsters like the HD800, or an Ultrasone like I did. Bright headphones tend to be very revealing, and are merciless on 'loud' CDs. I'm making the switch over to vinyl and trying to find some more forgiving headphones so I can go back to enjoying my favorite albums again.

Not objectively. Sure, there'll always be the people who claim that opamps are the devil, or that they can hear the difference between two "perfect" DACs.

 

I'm of the opinion that amps and DACs make little or no difference, unless they're designed to color the sound. So yes! The Essence STX will be all you need to hear the difference between two headphones, and you won't ever have to upgrade if you don't really want to. It's plenty powerful, more powerful than many dedicated amps. I'd only recommend you get something else if you're getting noticeable interference from your computer, or if you're trying to plug BA IEMs into it.

as long as it's not modern mainstream dubstep all you listen to

naw, but it's worth the time and effort to build a good system. there is still fantastic recordings, but remember it's all about the music. most people use it as background noise nowadays and no longer sit back and listen for hours is another reason why most mastering engineers don't put much effort in their work and most of them don't know what there doing as well since they were brought up in today's world in the music industry. music always goes downhill when it becomes a business. becomes more about money, not quality. jazz and classical is nothing special when it comes to the loudness war. they been suffering too. no magic shield. just less of it in those genres cause the age demographic mainly on who interested in those genres.

it's worth it to get into building yourself better system defiantly. just don't pay too much attention about things in the audiophile world and take it with grain of salt. lot of nonsense and exaggerations when it comes to certain things.

op-amps are the devil! time for you to repent my son and take acceptance in the holy grail of the one and only true, discrete amplification.
Edited by RexAeterna - 12/24/11 at 4:11pm

I know nothing about modern sound cards, so I read up on the Asus STX. I agree with Head Injury (great sig) that your best upgrade would be headphones. If you like what you are hearing now, don't get anything that does not sound quite a bit better. Hearing other phones over a long trial period would be ideal; it is hard to get a sense of a new piece of equipment with a quick listen, or even listening for one day. A-B comparison would help; blind testing is even better, where someone else randomly changes the phones and you can't see what is playing or even if they have been changed. This is not done much with headphones because most listeners dislike being blindfolded for hours.

Edited by Clarkmc2 - 12/24/11 at 6:24pm

That's how most people treat it. Me, I just find something neutral to stick them into, then use software EQ if and when I want to. Saves a lot of money in the long-run.

 

The problems arise when that's how people treat amping, but don't realize that's how they're treating amping. Their subjective impressions become gospel and suddenly colored amp X is widely regarded as objectively "better". Not everyone wants to be told what they like isn't neutral. So I let the numbers be the judge.

Yes and yes. I don't need higher than Low gain, actually.