Asus support is crap yeah but it's not like you are buying a graphic card to need new drivers all the time. :) Just get the latest stable and you don't need to upgrade them ever again. Asio and dolby headphone works perfect, you don't need anything else. The titanium Hd as far as i know does NOT...

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-XONAR_HDAV_H6-A-Multi-ch-Extension/dp/B003LD94SM/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1295197985&sr=8-6 Was on newegg for many months as well but i can't find it anymore.

Check this card http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/508775/asus-xonar-dg

For that price look no further than the superlux hd668B. http://www.headfonia.com/superlux-hd668b/ http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/485039/superlux-hd668b-are-they-really-that-good-or-just-a-cheap-copycat I ordered them from thomann.de since i'm from europe as well. Also got the akg240 velour...

Wow. i'm in love with the looks of hd 598. This is the first time i/m so impressed with a look of a headphone.

Already made a thread one scroll below. :P http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/508775/asus-xonar-dg

A new sound card is being launched soon by Asus and this time is trying to sell itself as a gaming card. So why is this card more suited to gamers than the other solutions? 2 points: GX2.5 aka EAX emulation = totally useless. And second, an integrated headphone amp with 3 gain levels (VOIP...

Let us know if you notice any change in quality as well. (besides the difference in volume) :)

The setting on the asus control panel. I'm sure you know it but i'll attach a picture to make sure. You have to set this on the highest setting for high impedance headphones.  

You don't get enough volume even with "extra high gain" on the 600ohm cans? Ouch. I guess you can try adding replay-gain info on your song tags. From what i know it doesn't degrade the quality but you have to search a bit on how to do it. I never used it.

Also make sure to have the sliders on mixer-playback tab (asus control panel) at the default value (76) to avoid any sound limiter kicking in.

Even my asus xonar d1 could drive the hd650 to higher than needed volume. Volume does not mean anything at all. Sound was flat, uninteresting, no character and overall a "blob of sound".   With the essence ST the dynamics were much improved. Every time a drum "hits you" you want to bang...

What problems exactly? Cause i own that setup (ST & HD650) and i'm using extra high gain with absolutely no problems. It's a very nice combo and i never heard a bad thing about it on all the months i read the forums. And from some measures that have been done, highest gain (with high...

Link for the drivers i talked few posts earlier: http://www.mediafire.com/?i6wz3y8cfnhusn2   It's easier to switch from ASIO to direct sound without problems. For example let's have you have a VOIP program open like ventrilo. Now you can't start foobar with asio cause you get "can't open...

A guy on asus forums released a modded driver for ST based from the xense one. When running with the new asio  you don't get the looping sound "bug" when you open a direct sound stream like a youtube video or games.   Also i tested the mic monitor and it seems to me that there is almost no...