[leeperry]

 
Quote:

it's definately bass heavy and 3D. [..]
 
Having had the normal STX in my Windows system for a long time I can already say that the brightness and ear piercing harsh treble is gone entirely on the E1. Soundstage is wider too, even on poor headphones.

Yep, the ST cannot compete against the ONE IME...even w/ rocking opamps such as OPA827 and OPA602BP in the former...we're talking about a whole different ballpark here.
 
And yes, the ONE sounds as 3D as it gets...a while ago, a friend of mine told me that in his opinion all those 3D/CMSS/DH DSP's available in internal soundcards drivers were essentially kludges to overcome for the poor quality of their output stage...I wholeheartedly agree. I'm an old school gamer but Q3 sounds truly eye popping on the ONE 

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Thanks, will try. Haven't read the manual yet The upsampling mode is pretty neat, makes everything sound a bit distant though. Going to leave the E1 on playing music through my gaming headset for the night, then tomorrow it's time to try it in my main speaker rig.

No problem, I have been testing this unit for quite some time so if I can offer some help, please let me know and I will offer whatever help I can.
I really enjoy the One on my 2.1 system testing rig.  If you want the bitperfect mode, ASIO over USB is the only way to get the indicator light to come on.  You may be sending a perfect stream, but unless you are using ASIO over USB,  you will just see whatever sampling rate is coming in.  Which is also cool when setting up your rig.
 

 

[GChiu]

Have you updated the firmware? Makes big difference.
 
Quote:

 
Haven't managed to get it working in Windows yet, I get a heavily distorted sound. Something messed up with the drivers, will need to check again. But I don't use it in Windows anyway, and in Linux it's a different story:
 

 

 

[AhhHoNG]

Since ST/STX are using quality DAC, capacitors,swappable opamps. Is it right to say that the extra quality sound that comes out from the essence one are mostly because of the power supply, circuit board and dual mono dacs?

 

[vrln]

 
Quote:

Have you updated the firmware? Makes big difference.

Which one is the newest? The main version number as reported by the Asus drivers seems to indicate my E1 has the latest ones already. I'll post the version numbers when I boot to Windows later today.
 
Also tried Foobar under ASIO, works perfectly. Still getting corrupted sound elsewhere in Windows though, so I can't watch Youtube or use it for gaming. Have tried various settings already, nothing seems to help. As a workaround I'm running optical right now, but it would be nice to use the high tech async receiver chip in Windows too. Zero problems under Linux.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

 

Which one is the newest? The main version number as reported by the Asus drivers seems to indicate my E1 has the latest ones already. I'll post the version numbers when I boot to Windows later today.
 
Also tried Foobar under ASIO, works perfectly. Still getting corrupted sound elsewhere in Windows though, so I can't watch Youtube or use it for gaming. Have tried various settings already, nothing seems to help. As a workaround I'm running optical right now, but it would be nice to use the high tech async receiver chip in Windows too. Zero problems under Linux.

The latest version IIRC is 1.08 revision.  The corruption is strange, check your settings in your windows audio control panel, what are they set to for bit depth and sampling frequency?

 

 

[trazom]

If you speak about the audio chip my version is 0109 .

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

If you speak about the audio chip my version is 0109 .

Maybe it is 1.09.  I was not 100% sure and not near the E1 to check.
Now I want to check it!
 
Edit,just checked,
Driver Version: 6.0.8.2158
F/W Version:  1.25
Audio Chip F/W: 1.09
 
Hope that helps.

 

[trazom]

same with me.

 

[vrln]

Got it fixed. Isolated the problem to the Etron USB 3.0 USB host controller and/or its drivers. They are used in ASRock motherboards at least. The "legacy" USB 2.0 ports work fine. Just thought I´d post it here in case someone stumbles here someday via Google. Everything working perfectly now.
 
Some more impressions with my Sennheiser 360 gaming headset: good PRAT. Been listening to a lot of upbeat rock, really nice stuff. Huge difference to the integrated "HD" soundcard, but then again I´ve never tried these headphones with anything else than it, STX and now E1. The first thing you notice is the much heavier and punchier bass, then the soundstage. The highs feel a bit rolled off, which I like a lot. I wonder how the E1 pairs with HD 650. It should be a real bass monster!
 
Then the real test, speaker rig. Going against the Hegel HD 20. I use Amphion speakers that are notoriously neutral and sound horrible with most gear that have even the slightest tendency to sound harsh. The STX out of these speakers for example would be pure pain. The E1 does suprisingly well. It´s not as warm, and doesn´t have the microdetail the HD20 has, but it offers a really open, 3D sound with good bass drive. That said, the Hegel HD20 is more of a party animal and wins on the PRAT/bass drive too. The 3D factor is about the same. Hegel doesn´t force you to notice the stereo effects, it´s a lot more organic. But the same detail and separation is there too. These two are actually quite similar voicing wise, both go for an "upbeat" sound I think. As expected the E1 loses against the almost 4 times the price dedicated DAC, but not as hard as I thought it would. It´s good enough that I could use it in my main system too. Both have a really dark background. 
 
Can´t wait to roll some opamps, very happy with this product. Good value for money.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Glad you got it figured out.  Seems an issue with the USB3 drivers working in 2.0 mode?
Yeah, once you start with the opamps you can dial in the sound really good with that unit.
 

 

[vrln]

Exactly, something wrong with the USB 2 legacy mode. Doesn´t seem to be the only USB 3.0 chipset with the same problem, as ASUS even offers a fixed driver one one on the E1 downloads page. So it´s better to use it in a "real" USB 2.0 port.
 
Time to start looking at Ebay/Digikey for some opamps. Would be nice to start with some stereo DIP8 ones, even though they aren´t perfect.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Exactly, something wrong with the USB 2 legacy mode. Doesn´t seem to be the only USB 3.0 chipset with the same problem, as ASUS even offers a fixed driver one one on the E1 downloads page. So it´s better to use it in a "real" USB 2.0 port.
 
Time to start looking at Ebay/Digikey for some opamps. Would be nice to start with some stereo DIP8 ones, even though they aren´t perfect.

Yeah, I was going to mention that fix on their site for a certain USB 3.0 chipset.  I neverhad any USB issues during testing, I am using a USB 2.0 port and a USB isolator.
 
No opamp is perfect for everybody or perfect for every circuit position.
What opamps are you looking for?

 

[leeperry]

Quote:

The first thing you notice is the much heavier and punchier bass, then the soundstage.

One thing's for sure, I've plugged my good share of vintage orthos on the ONE...if you don't get serious deep bass, you can only blame your phone....this thing will get you all the bass your phone could possibly provide. LME49600 floods them w/ current as it would appear 

Quote:

Would be nice to start with some stereo DIP8 ones, even though they aren´t perfect.

 
Waste of time and money, really. AD797B or LME49990 = done. I hated the latter in one of my previous DAC's but opamps are highly design dependent..maybe they'll give the goods off the ONE, the whole internet cannot be wrong. Some ppl are selling presoldered modules on ebay for a good price too if you're not really DIY savvy 

 

[Phos]

Performance-PCs (Mostly a PC modding retailer) is selling these for $209.99 for some reason.  I've dealt with them before.  
 
Quote:

 

Yep, the ST cannot compete against the ONE IME...even w/ rocking opamps such as OPA827 and OPA602BP in the former...we're talking about a whole different ballpark here.
 
And yes, the ONE sounds as 3D as it gets...a while ago, a friend of mine told me that in his opinion all those 3D/CMSS/DH DSP's available in internal soundcards drivers were essentially kludges to overcome for the poor quality of their output stage...I wholeheartedly agree. I'm an old school gamer but Q3 sounds truly eye popping on the ONE 

 
Game audio to headphones usually just does what amounts to hard panning for headphone audio.  It doesn't contain any directional cues.