This is not review per se. This is a short story...
Hi!
Been a happy owner of the Xonar SXT for some years now. Was really impressed from the first time since it gave life to my old crappy set of headphones, but I wanted more joy, so almost right after I got the card acquired a nice set of headphones that have been my main drivers since then (Sennheiser 650HD). I was all happy and rediscovering the music I love and such. One day while reading thoroughly this thread took I the plunge and ordered 3
DUAL SOIC LME49990 DIP8 opamps to upgrade my the STX. Once again I was impressed.
Settled up for long time and totally forgot about improving the sound, you know, work, travels, life and other everyday issues kept me busy. I still enjoyed the sound and had a lot of fun for sure. So after a while, life became more easy going, more steady (so did work), and had the need to invest into better sound gear. So yeah, I bought my first headphone amplifier and was mesmerized by the great improvement. Along acquiring a tube amp comes the urge to improve it with better tubes (some of you can relate) and so I did, got into rube rolling and once again, results were there!
One day I was thinking of getting a new DAC, was looking into some models, calculating budget, etc. Then I looked at my long time friend, the STX and thought of getting those weird looking op amps I once read about, the old Burson ones. So I emailed Burson and said I wanted them for my card, they answered and said they had a new, improved and more compact model that fits better into the STX.
Took me a day to decide whether to get them or not, I always had the option to buy an external DAC, but I am emotionally attached to the STX, then I said, let's upgrade this fella!
So I took the plunge and ordered 3 dual op amps for the STX, the reasons I did so were:
-Life time warranty.
-Same as above, whenever I feel it is time to replace the STX (not soon) and buy an external DAC that has the option to roll op amps I can move the Bursons there.
Hope you are not bored by the rant yet, so let's look at some pictures:
Picture 1: Location of the LME49990.
Picture 2: Burson Supreme Sound Opamp V5 in the case they came with. Banana for scale.
Picture 3: Another comparison picture.
Picture 4: After removing the Xonar STX from the case I knew of course, the shield from the card wont be needed anymore so I put it away in a safe location. Then I installed one V5.
Picture 5: So now we have the 3 op amps installed in the card. Easy stuff. Things looking good so far.
Picture 6: Top view. Double checked the op amps were installed in the right position. One concern before install... I was wondering if I had enough space inside the case, my STX in the far bottom slot... Even though the V5's are not that tall once installed in the card the whole thing is takes more vertical space than an average video card...so let's see what happens.
Picture 7: Wow, that was close. Had enough space to keep the STX in that slot! Of course you can always move your card to another slot, but in my case, I did not want to. So yeah, pretty good by now.
Overall Results:
-Music sounded clearer.
-Separation of instruments very much improved.
-Instruments seem to have better, more real mass (hard to explain) and of course an improved sound stage.
-More layers of sound?
-I don't recall that song having that instrument.
-More enjoyable experience.
-Going to keep the STX for a long time.
Final thoughts:
I am very happy with my purchase. Justified purchase buck by buck? Depends on how much you want to push the STX. But surely the Bursons do their job and help you take your card to a next level. But do not let your wife know how much these little things cost. LOL.
English is not my first language.
Cheers.