Hey guys.  Sorry for all the posts in the last few days, but all the questions I have I cannot find anywhere (maybe because there self explainatory and I know nothing about sound at all) .  This question, again, has to do with the Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card.  As many of you probably know, there is a daughter board for the Asus Xonar Essence ST (the ASUS Xonar H6 7.1 Channel Output Upgrade) and I was wondering if this daughter board is compatible with the STX?  It just lists the St on amazon but I was wondering if since maybe the STX is a newer sound card  (I think) they made the daughter board compatible with it also? Sorry if this is a super dumb question, and any answers are greatly appreciated.

The Asus Xonar H6 only works on the Essence ST sound card and not on any other Asus sound card.
What are you trying to do ? audio wise?
Might be able to recommend something else for whatever your situation is?

It just would have been nice to maybe add some 7.1 speakers to my setup at some point, but it's not super important and I'm pretty set on the STX unless you have something that just completely blows it out of the water for around the same price.  Just one more quick question.  Do I just plug the 1/4 headphone chord to the jack on the sound card to get the 5.1? Or would I have to use the S/PDIF optical jack? Again, super new to this whole thing and I am just trying to get a grasp on some of this stuff.

elijah mckay said:

  It just would have been nice to maybe add some 7.1 speakers to my setup at some point, but it's not super important and I'm pretty set on the STX unless you have something that just completely blows it out of the water for around the same price.  Just one more quick question.  Do I just plug the 1/4 headphone chord to the jack on the sound card to get the 5.1? Or would I have to use the S/PDIF optical jack? Again, super new to this whole thing and I am just trying to get a grasp on some of this stuff.

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You would normally plug headphones into the STX's (1/4") headphone amplifier's output jack.
Both the STX's headphone jack and S/PDIF (optical & coaxial) can output Dolby Headphone 7.1 Surround Sound.
 
When you have nice headphones plugged into the Essence ST, can't really see a good reason to add 5.1 or 7.1 computer speakers.
Technically it would be better to run an HDMI cable from the computer's graphics card to a A/V receiver, that has 5.1 or 7.1 speakers.
A S/PDIF cable from the Essence ST to the S/PDIF on the A/V receiver would also work, for gaming or DVD movie audio.
But HDMI is the best way to send modern Blu-ray audio (S/PDIF would be a fairly decent second best for blu-ray audio).

Okay cool.  Is the receiver option just for speakers?

elijah mckay said:

  Okay cool.  Is the receiver option just for speakers?

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I would assume for speakers, not sure what else you would use a A/V receiver for?
The Essence ST should be better at driving headphones, then an A/V receiver's headphone output.
 
A game console could also connect to a A/V receiver, using HDMI.
And you could use headphones plugged into the A/V receiver.

Okay that makes sense.  More or less, an A/V receiver is a big sound card/mixamp that can provide 7.1?  Also, I assume a/v means audio and video?  What purpose does one of these have with video?

elijah mckay said:

  Okay that makes sense.  More or less, an A/V receiver is a big sound card/mixamp that can provide 7.1?  Also, I assume a/v means audio and video?  What purpose does one of these have with video?

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My best guess
An amplifier is something simple, that has basic analog inputs (usually RCA) that feed the analog audio signals to the internal speaker amplifier(s)
A receiver is a amplifier that may also come with several analog or digital inputs and outputs and maybe an AM/FM radio and other "extras", but it was all audio features, no video features.
Then when HDMI inputs and outputs (video stuff) were added to a receiver, the receiver can also do changes/enhancements (like upscaling) to the video signal and started calling them Audio/Video receivers, A/V receiver for short.

Awesome.  Thanks a ton for all the helpful answers.  I appreciate it.  -Elkay