[paulguru]

is it suitable for gaming ?

 

[Toube]

  is it suitable for gaming ?

In my own experience yes.
Here's from Guru 3D review
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_essence_stx_ii_7_1_sound_card_review,9.html 

 

[Gradius]

How is the soundstage?

Is superb, but I can't compare with other (more expensive) solutions as I didn't hear any of them.
 
However, I can tell you is something amazing, MUCH better than stock.  I tried a lot OPAs, LME, etc, they all SUCKED.
 
I used bursons and high precision clock.   Didn't changed all the caps, and I could put a better power line on it too, but since my PSU is good quality, I don't think it would expand that much.

 

[Gradius]

My next upgrade will be with no OPAMPs at all.
 
Too bad it will cost me $2k or more for it.  And no, isn't STX or STX II, it will be an external solution.
 
Why?  Because I can't imagine nothing better of what I already have here.

 

[MattyS54]

Heya peeps, considering the STX II to go into my new rig and replace the Soundblaster ZX i got for it. I really dislike the Z's sound signature, to my ears it is overly artificial and processed sounding. Coming from using a X-Fi Platinum for many years (I believe the platinum was the music model w/ front panel) it is a giant downgrade in SQ. The X-Fi seemed more neutral, it was certainly a lot brighter and had better all-round sound.

The price of the STX II isn't a big issue as I'll hopefully keep the card for many years. But bearing in mind the above what are the chances I'll like it? I do a lot of music listening and have a rubbish set-up atm, but will be upgrading speakers/headphones in the future. Nonetheless I can hear the difference between the SB X-Fi and Z as absolutely huge. Thanks!

 

[bcschmerker4]

Heya peeps, considering the STX II to go into my new rig and replace the Soundblaster ZX i got for it. I really dislike the Z's sound signature, to my ears it is overly artificial and processed sounding. Coming from using a X-Fi Platinum for many years (I believe the platinum was the music model w/ front panel) it is a giant downgrade in SQ. The X-Fi seemed more neutral, it was certainly a lot brighter and had better all-round sound.

The price of the STX II isn't a big issue as I'll hopefully keep the card for many years. But bearing in mind the above what are the chances I'll like it? I do a lot of music listening and have a rubbish set-up atm, but will be upgrading speakers/headphones in the future. Nonetheless I can hear the difference between the SB X-Fi and Z as absolutely huge. Thanks!

Cool beans!  I have an original XONAR® Essence™ STX™ myself, and the STX II uses the same Texas Instruments® TPA6120A2 headphone amp as my STX plus a better master oscillator and provision for 7.1 analog via a XONAR® H6™ daughtercard (included in the STX II 7.1 package, preloaded with MUSES dual amplifiers).  I've tried out Philips® and JVC® sports earsets and a Plantronics® GAMECOM® 380 on my STX; the 'phone amp is accurate enough with a low-Z load, but I'm on the hunt for a medium-Z headset for good enough performance from the cans for monitoring recordings and video uploads (see "Recommendable headphones and/or headsets for  Asus XONAR Essence series?").

 

[ko853]

delete...

 

[410107]

So ... last night, every 20~ seconds, my right ear kept 'popping', I took the headphones off and discovered it's actually the card doing its power switch click noise (usually heard when switching from headphone to speaker output in the software). Needless to say this scared the crap out of me because I was worried it might kill my headphones, so I uninstalled the drivers and tried the UNi xonar c-panel drivers, but they have no gain/ohm setting, so I tried their normal asus panel drivers... it seemed to work, but after maybe 10 minutes I did hear another pop during a song, said "F this" and went to bed.
 
I was out all day today so don't know if it's happened at all, currently sat here and all is well, but I was hoping I wasn't alone in ever having this happen?
 
Hopefully it isn't hardware related, and as the change of software seemed to stop it from happening as frequently I'm hoping that's the cause, but it doesn't explain how it started in the first place.
 
 
Should I be worried for the health of my headphones if it keeps doing this?
 
 
Edit: Was using speakers earlier, now using headphones ... all seems to be well. I've had a few graphics screw-ups and other spooky things happen. I suspect my PSU is starting to lose it.
 
Edit 2: Immediately after typing the above, had another pop and 2 of my hard drives just powered down. Gonna turn this sucker off and get a new PSU... last time I ever buy a corsair PSU if I can help it.
 
 
*sigh*
 
(at least it's not the card or headphones at fault, bullet dodged!)

 

[Toube]

  So ... last night, every 20~ seconds, my right ear kept 'popping', I took the headphones off and discovered it's actually the card doing its power switch click noise (usually heard when switching from headphone to speaker output in the software). Needless to say this scared the crap out of me because I was worried it might kill my headphones, so I uninstalled the drivers and tried the UNi xonar c-panel drivers, but they have no gain/ohm setting, so I tried their normal asus panel drivers... it seemed to work, but after maybe 10 minutes I did hear another pop during a song, said "F this" and went to bed.
 
I was out all day today so don't know if it's happened at all, currently sat here and all is well, but I was hoping I wasn't alone in ever having this happen?
 
Hopefully it isn't hardware related, and as the change of software seemed to stop it from happening as frequently I'm hoping that's the cause, but it doesn't explain how it started in the first place.
 
 
Should I be worried for the health of my headphones if it keeps doing this?
 
 
Edit: Was using speakers earlier, now using headphones ... all seems to be well. I've had a few graphics screw-ups and other spooky things happen. I suspect my PSU is starting to lose it.
 
Edit 2: Immediately after typing the above, had another pop and 2 of my hard drives just powered down. Gonna turn this sucker off and get a new PSU... last time I ever buy a corsair PSU if I can help it.
 
 
*sigh*
 
(at least it's not the card or headphones at fault, bullet dodged!)

Hi Tilaron,
 
what model of Corsairs PSU are you using?
I'm using the AX1200i series PSU and no problems with no components so far. Corsair PSU are getting overall very good reviews.

 

[BigTerminator]

If it was your power supply that went out than go get an EVGA Supernova G2. It is amazing, made my Xonar sound a little bit better coming from an old Corsair TX750. Corsair do make good PSU's as mine lasted 5 years and I sold it off. Love my new PSU so much though, lowest ripple out there, fan has never has turned on once, great cabling and no coil whine. Only paid $90 for 850 watts. 10 year warranty on that sucker. 

 

[bcschmerker4]

  So ... last night, every 20~ seconds, my right ear kept 'popping', I took the headphones off and discovered it's actually the card doing its power switch click noise (usually heard when switching from headphone to speaker output in the software). Needless to say this scared the crap out of me because I was worried it might kill my headphones, so I uninstalled the drivers and tried the UNi xonar c-panel drivers, but they have no gain/ohm setting, so I tried their normal asus panel drivers... it seemed to work, but after maybe 10 minutes I did hear another pop during a song, said "F this" and went to bed.
 
I was out all day today so don't know if it's happened at all, currently sat here and all is well, but I was hoping I wasn't alone in ever having this happen?
 
Hopefully it isn't hardware related, and as the change of software seemed to stop it from happening as frequently I'm hoping that's the cause, but it doesn't explain how it started in the first place.
 
 
Should I be worried for the health of my headphones if it keeps doing this?
 
 
Edit: Was using speakers earlier, now using headphones ... all seems to be well. I've had a few graphics screw-ups and other spooky things happen. I suspect my PSU is starting to lose it.
 
Edit 2: Immediately after typing the above, had another pop and 2 of my hard drives just powered down. Gonna turn this sucker off and get a new PSU... last time I ever buy a corsair PSU if I can help it.
 
 
*sigh*
 
(at least it's not the card or headphones at fault, bullet dodged!)

I'm an Antec®-all-the-way guy myself; loaded a TruePower® New™ 750 Blue™ into each of my two 'puters, and, notwithstanding a driver installation issue for the XONAR® Essence™ STX™ in the CM1630-06 (running Microsoft® Windows® 7.0.8001 (Kernel 6.1.7601) as of April 2015; the C-Media® CMI-8788 and Asus® AV-100 have a hardware bug that tends to force Safe Mode for installation of the Maxed Tech® UNi XONAR® Audio Software™ and/or the Asus® XONAR® Audio Center™), neither system has any power issues, and the noise issues are limited to the audio cards' microphone preamplifiers with boost engaged.  The High Current Pro™ 750 and 1000 Platinum™ should both be clean as a whistle, in terms of output on all rails; the 750 packs one +12VDC rail for video, the 1000 two (both have a dedicated +12VDC rail for CPU power and one common to secondary storage, the balance of the motherboard circuits, and accessories).

 

[410107]

It was a CX500, currently using my old no-label dodgy thing with my graphics cards unplugged. I've had bad experiences with corsair PSUs in the past, which explains why they've been so cheap. I think I'll avoid them from now on.

  If it was your power supply that went out than go get an EVGA Supernova G2.

 
Funny, I was looking at that after a friend recommended it, it's on its way now

 

[ko853]

How does the STX II's HP amp and its own DAC compare to the Schiit Magni/Modi stack?

same question but I intend to buy Magni 2 Uber amp to replace STX II amp. Should I?

 

[ko853]

I replaced my HDAV 1.3 deluxe by STX II 7.1. It has better sound for music and movie. Now, I am curious about stock & spare opamps. There are some cases as below:
 

buffer + I/V	Result
muses 8820 + 2x muses 8920
muses 8820 + 2x LME 49720
LME 49720 + 2x muses 8820
LME 49720 + 2x muses 8920
muses 8920 + 2X muses 8820
muses 8920 + 2X LME 49720

 
Anyone has tried and got result of those cases could share experience? As  I'm a newbie. Your share will be highly appreciate.

 

[Renfield1217]

lol that is a thread killer. As I posted before I didn't like the Muses they made everything sound good but did not have the definition or exactness to know the quality of the sound files played. Running the two LME 49720 in the I/V and two Opa 637's stacked in the buffer  and sounds great. Much better than the Muses at least to me. The Muses are great for crappy sound files but quality files loose their reason for being. Best other setup I had was the two LME 49720's in the I/V and a LM 4562 in the buffer.
Hope this helps.