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Upgrade from the Asus Xonar Essence STX

post #1 of 11
1/27/12 at 10:50pm
Thread Starter 

Alright so this is my first time posting on the forum and I have been thinking of upgrading my audio rig for a while here. I currently have some Senheiser HD 650's and the next thing I am going to buy is a Stefan Audio Art cable for my HD 650's I love the headphones but I want an upgrade on my system. So I need some help on what DAC and AMP to look at. I mostly listen to electronic music and I like the deep base that the 650's can reproduce. So if someone could link me to some review preferably anything under $1, 000.


Edited by Brosa - 2/6/12 at 9:19pm
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post #2 of 11
1/28/12 at 12:11am

Oops.


Edited by PurpleAngel - 2/6/12 at 10:18pm
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post #3 of 11
1/28/12 at 3:38am

From that much money you could also look for a new headphone, it would make more significant difference.

 

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post #4 of 11
2/6/12 at 9:18pm
Thread Starter 

I don't want new headphones I am perfectly happy with the sound of my 650's and plan to keep them all I want is suggestions for DAC/AMP combos.

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post #5 of 11
2/6/12 at 9:21pm

In my opinion (and mathematically) the Essence STX is plenty for the HD650 and a new amp won't improve things much at all. On the other hand, that money could buy you an Audeze LCD-2, similar in sound signature to the HD650.

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post #6 of 11
2/6/12 at 9:27pm
Thread Starter 

Well I still want to go with something external there is just something about the sound that I am not liking just yet, I was thinking of buying a stefan audio  art cable because I heard lots of complaints with the stock 650 cable. Other than that I was looking at the essence one from asus and trying to read up on some other all in one combos.

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post #7 of 11
2/6/12 at 9:49pm

Uhhh, why not upgrade to better Sennheisers of the same series? Like others have already mentioned (and will mention in the future), unless you're dealing with the top-tier stuff, you're not going to get much difference out of your existing set by upgrading your DAC/AMP from the Essence STX.

Kinda like upgrading your car seats instead of your suspension. Look at the Essence One after you've upgraded your headphones, not instead of.

Another route you could take is upgrading your existing set via modification, but I have no idea how well yours are for that. (Not a big fan of Sennheisers, myself.)

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post #8 of 11
2/7/12 at 4:43am

Upgrade the op-amps to LME49990's. You can get them on the adapters on ebay. 2x each adapter. It is amazing, trust me.

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post #9 of 11
2/8/12 at 2:26pm

I'm extremely happy with my combo (Xonar E1 + HD650). Was on the fence about the DT880 but ended up with Sennheiser and I'm good for now ;]

 

But if I already had the Essence STX and $1000 I would probably upgrade to the LCD-2, as Head Injury said (or maybe wait for some feedback on the HD700). The custom cables I've seen are pretty expensive and I don't believe they warrant any significant improvement (same as burn-in, imo).

 

 

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post #10 of 11
2/8/12 at 2:42pm

 

 

Originally Posted by puscifer View Post

I'm extremely happy with my combo (Xonar E1 + HD650). Was on the fence about the DT880 but ended up with Sennheiser and I'm good for now ;]

 

But if I already had the Essence STX and $1000 I would probably upgrade to the LCD-2, as Head Injury said (or maybe wait for some feedback on the HD700). The custom cables I've seen are pretty expensive and I don't believe they warrant any significant improvement (same as burn-in, imo).

 

 

 



You're more right than you know.

 

See thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/486598/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths (or more specifically, cases like #29).

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post #11 of 11
2/9/12 at 2:49pm

I figured I was gettin close to the real thing when i bothered using all foobar eq plugins and surround settings and got to the point where nothing sounded "bitperfect" to me.. I rarely bother using the 8x upsample on the Xonar E1, just on mp3s, which is very rarely.

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