help me decide: Musiland 03 US or Asus Xonar STX for Ultrasone Pro 900's

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maximilian 

Rookie Question...

 

Building a new computer and I will be spending ALOT of time infront of this thing so i will need some good SQ :)   My understanding is that the musiland is indeed superior to the xonar,  but  im a bit confused if I can buy no sound card and plug in the musiland via usb then my headphones straight to that?   or is more equipment needed?   or is the musiland going to benifit from using the xonar aswell or is that just redundant?

 

Thanks for your time!

The Xonar STX is the highest-regarded sound card currently on the market, and will do you just fine. And yes, that would be redundant.

I have Musiland 01 US. I connect it with Fiio E9 for HD600. I'm pretty happy with this combination. It would not cost you a leg or arm but could still make music sing. 

If you have USB3, you might want to consider with 03 US or the latest 02 US dragon. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MohawkUS 

The Essence STX was not a good match for the PRO2900 that I had. I felt that it was a bit underpowered, and there was no synergy in the pair. The 2900 uses the same drivers as the 900. The main problem was that the STX did nothing for the harsh Ultrasone highs, if anything it made them worse, and the 900 is supposedly even brighter still.
Anyway, it was underpowered to the point that very dynamic songs got lost in static at times, I'd go for one of the DAC/AMP solutions like an Audinist MX-1

The thing about the STX is that it, unlike many DACs and sound cards, doesn't try to change the sound. It's simple a go-between that adds precision and lowers the noise floor. If the OP likes the PRO 900 the way they are right now, it's a good choice.