[leeperry]

Ouh, sorry to hear that. I've mostly been using it in UAC1 mode on W7SP1, all I really need is 44.1/88.2/96@24bit support and I haven't encountered any issue whatsoever.
 
I'm using foobar in KS and Reclock in WASAPI, I must play youtube videos like once every few months. I've got FLASH disabled in Firefox, Firefox's sound mixer muted and all system sounds are also disabled/muted.

 

[wigglepuff]

is this out in the market? how would this compare to the essensce one muses?

 

[TheManko]

Since I upgraded the firmware 4 days ago I went back to using USB and haven't had any problems, so I guess that fixed it!

 

[TheManko]

I’ve been playing around with op-amp rolling the past week. I’ve changed the I/V, LFP and balanced buffers from the standard AD827SQ to Muses01. I left the DC servos as they were. The result of changing to Muses01 is a marked increase in the amount of detail in the sound.
 
A common complaint in reviews of the Essence III has been that it doesn’t have the same uber detailed sound as other high end dacs. Switching the op-amps solved this completely. It changes the tone of the sound, so it isn’t as bassy as before. But it still sounds extraordinarily clean and non-fatiguing with the HD 800. Except now with an incredible sense of resolution.
 
I’m so glad Asus has the option to easily switch op-amps in all their dacs. I’ve had the dac since November, and only recently I started to feel familiar enough with the sound that I wanted to mix things up. Instead of having to buy a completely new dac I’m able to simply switch out the op-amps and I’ve got an entirely new sound to discover.
 
I could see some thinking “why didn’t they just put these op-amps in there to start with if it’s better?”. The stock setup is very good. I could see them picking that over this based on the tonal quality of it. But for now I prefer the sound it’s producing at the moment. Both my speakers and headphones sound better than they’ve ever done before. I wonder how it stacks up to other high end dacs like this, because I’m finding the results very impressive.

 

[Mach3]

I wonder what it would be like to completely roll to MUSES01 or MUSES02 on the Essence III. A very expensive exercise
 
Such a shame that 10 month since TheManko got his E3. It still not available to most part of the world including Australia.

 

[TheManko]

It has some of the worst distribution of any device ever! Who knows how many people I've seen now who have showed interest in it, but can't get it because they live in the wrong part of the world.

 

[leeperry]

I think you may wanna try OPA827, this is one of the very best chips for I/V based on the feedback of senior diyaudio.com members and I can certainly confirm that this chip provides stunning SQ.

IIRC I read that opening the E3 voided the warranty and I'm still very happy with the stock setup myself.

 

[wigglepuff]

  It has some of the worst distribution of any device ever! Who knows how many people I've seen now who have showed interest in it, but can't get it because they live in the wrong part of the world.

yeah T_T the wrong part of the world.

 

[wigglepuff]

  I wonder what it would be like to completely roll to MUSES01 or MUSES02 on the Essence III. A very expensive exercise
 
Such a shame that 10 month since TheManko got his E3. It still not available to most part of the world including Australia.

01 - bright, 02 - a bit warm, coming from the opamp thread. lol

 

[TheManko]

I think you may wanna try OPA827, this is one of the very best chips for I/V based on the feedback of senior diyaudio.com members and I can certainly confirm that this chip provides stunning SQ.
 

I'll get a couple OPA827 for I/V and try them out! I've got a feeling the number of Muses01 in my Essence III now is too much. Switching the I/V to OPA827 just might hit the sweet spot.
 
EDIT: I've switched back the I/V to the stock AD827SQ, as using Muses01 as I/V maybe isn't ideal? I'm sure if I had even more op-amps sitting around I'd go nuts trying to balance the sound. 
 
The default was 2x AD827SQ as XLR Buffer, 2x AD827SQ I/V and 2x AD827SQ as SE LPF. I'm now running 2x Muses01 XLR Buffer, 2x AD827SQ I/V and 2x Muses01 SE LPF. I'll live with this for a few days and see how it works out. First impression are positive! But I'll need some time to get a handle on how the sound character has changed.

 

[TheManko]

I have now spent enough time comparing the stock AD827SQ and Muses01 as I/V to know the difference. The AD827SQ add more bass, at the cost of soundstage depth and detail. The Muses01 has more detail in the upper registers, and a marked increase in soundstage. Going back to the AD827SQ afterwards the sound definitely doesn’t extend as far out from the speakers and headphones as it did with the Muses01. The good thing about the AD827SQ though is that it adds body and weight to voices and instruments.
 
A common complaint with the HD 800 is that they can sound a bit thin in the wrong system. With the Muses01 you get that effect. Like you’re listening to the direct feed of a microphone, and not the voice of a person. You get a hyper detailed analytic presentation, but one a bit lacking in physicality. The AD827SQ changes this. I’m frankly surprised by how much it does. To someone who hasn't spent so much time listening to the HD 800 the difference might seem miniscule. But adding or reducing emphasis here and there can have a profound effect on the credibility of what you hear. If the HD 800 themselves had a warmer sound character the Muses01 might be a no brainer. Even now I think I might prefer them because they add to their strength, even if it's at the cost of exposing their weakness. When the HD 800 sound their best they make all my other headphones look like under engineered jokes. All those years Sennheiser spent working on them make more and more sense as other high end headphones come out and fail to beat them.

 

[dynamics]

Where can one buy this?
 
I have been interested in this for a long time, but I can't seem to find it anywhere here in the US.

 

[Wage]

Also interested in purchasing one of these, but no sellers found within US. For its price, I would prefer to have a warranty instead of purchasing overseas without warranty

 

[WillB]

  I have now spent enough time comparing the stock AD827SQ and Muses01 as I/V to know the difference. The AD827SQ add more bass, at the cost of soundstage depth and detail. The Muses01 has more detail in the upper registers, and a marked increase in soundstage. Going back to the AD827SQ afterwards the sound definitely doesn’t extend as far out from the speakers and headphones as it did with the Muses01. The good thing about the AD827SQ though is that it adds body and weight to voices and instruments.
 
A common complaint with the HD 800 is that they can sound a bit thin in the wrong system. With the Muses01 you get that effect. Like you’re listening to the direct feed of a microphone, and not the voice of a person. You get a hyper detailed analytic presentation, but one a bit lacking in physicality. The AD827SQ changes this. I’m frankly surprised by how much it does. To someone who hasn't spent so much time listening to the HD 800 the difference might seem miniscule. But adding or reducing emphasis here and there can have a profound effect on the credibility of what you hear. If the HD 800 themselves had a warmer sound character the Muses01 might be a no brainer. Even now I think I might prefer them because they add to their strength, even if it's at the cost of exposing their weakness. When the HD 800 sound their best they make all my other headphones look like under engineered jokes. All those years Sennheiser spent working on them make more and more sense as other high end headphones come out and fail to beat them.

 

  I have now spent enough time comparing the stock AD827SQ and Muses01 as I/V to know the difference. The AD827SQ add more bass, at the cost of soundstage depth and detail. The Muses01 has more detail in the upper registers, and a marked increase in soundstage. Going back to the AD827SQ afterwards the sound definitely doesn’t extend as far out from the speakers and headphones as it did with the Muses01. The good thing about the AD827SQ though is that it adds body and weight to voices and instruments.
 
A common complaint with the HD 800 is that they can sound a bit thin in the wrong system. With the Muses01 you get that effect. Like you’re listening to the direct feed of a microphone, and not the voice of a person. You get a hyper detailed analytic presentation, but one a bit lacking in physicality. The AD827SQ changes this. I’m frankly surprised by how much it does. To someone who hasn't spent so much time listening to the HD 800 the difference might seem miniscule. But adding or reducing emphasis here and there can have a profound effect on the credibility of what you hear. If the HD 800 themselves had a warmer sound character the Muses01 might be a no brainer. Even now I think I might prefer them because they add to their strength, even if it's at the cost of exposing their weakness. When the HD 800 sound their best they make all my other headphones look like under engineered jokes. All those years Sennheiser spent working on them make more and more sense as other high end headphones come out and fail to beat them.

I'm looking to improve my Essence III. It's been a while since you published this post so what's the current status of your EIII? What replacement hardware are you currently running? I own HD800's but don't use them with this amp. I use a heavily modded Fostex TH900 which unto it's self has massive and deep bass but are also a bit dark when I compare to HD800 and NAD Viso HP50. So maybe a mod to the EIII would give me some more detail and brightness considering the primary headphone I use.

 

[TheManko]

   
I'm looking to improve my Essence III. It's been a while since you published this post so what's the current status of your EIII? What replacement hardware are you currently running? I own HD800's but don't use them with this amp. I use a heavily modded Fostex TH900 which unto it's self has massive and deep bass but are also a bit dark when I compare to HD800 and NAD Viso HP50. So maybe a mod to the EIII would give me some more detail and brightness considering the primary headphone I use.

I haven't replaced the Essence III yet. I'm using it as a pre-amp for my Nad C 375BEE that's powering my stereo speakers, and it's connected to my HDVD 800 that I'm using as the amp for my HD 800. Just the other day in fact I was experimenting with op-amps again, and I've concluded that for now using Muses01 op-amps in the I/V, SE LPF and XLR Buffer slots give me the highest fidelity sound. The stock op-amps have a bit thicker midbass punch, but are noticeably less transparent than using the Muses01. I've also experimented using Muses02, and they are a bit too smooth sounding for my liking with this dac. They do their job well driving the single ended amp output on the front. But for the rear outputs they aren't suitable. It's absolutely worth changing the op-amps if you want to tweak the sound signature. As long as you have a good plier to pull them out easily, it's a relatively quick thing to change them. On Asus support site there's a manual for op-amp switching that goes through how to disassemble the dac, and which slots do what.