Asus Essence One Headphone Amp/DAC (CeBIT 2011)
Jun 15, 2014 at 4:04 AM Post #3,001 of 3,573
It's summer already, LME49990s AD797BRZs are toooo hot in E1. So I decided to start rolling some opamps again. LPF: ADA4627-1brz, I/V: Muses8920D, Buffer: ADA4637-1brz (600Ohm headphone, seems stable for me),
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, wow, i just can not stop listening.
 
Jun 15, 2014 at 5:13 AM Post #3,002 of 3,573
1. Is it the only difference between standart and muses edition is 6 muses opamps?
2. Are standart E1 opamps is swapable?
 
Jun 15, 2014 at 8:12 AM Post #3,003 of 3,573
  difference between standart and muses edition

 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/asus-xonar-essence-one-muses-edition/reviews/8824
 
 Differences between the regular ONE and the Muses edtion go as follow: 1) opamps in positions 1 and 2 have been replaced by the market leading Muses01 opamp from NJR: http://semicon.njr.co.jp/eng/MUSES/MUSES01.html
2) the PCB has been revised  in order to provide a jumper to set the headamp gain in either LOW or HIGH position, as the regular ONE came with its headamp set to HIGH and this was a bit of a potential issue with low impedance/high sensitivity headphones for people who don't listen at loud volume.
3) the regular and Muses edition are using different pots(B10K>A10K) on the headamp: http://www.taiwanalpha.com.tw/english/p_e_70-1.htm

 
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Jul 6, 2014 at 12:04 PM Post #3,009 of 3,573
  Is the Essence One a worthy upgrade over an STX soundcard?
 
What's the output impedance on the One's headphone output?

I have the STX and wondered about the same thing.
Searched a lot of reviews, and finally bought the One.
 
There is no going back to the STX. The STX is so bright, it ends up fatiguing.
The One is more analytical and more natural, I really enjoy the music.
 
Jul 10, 2014 at 9:42 PM Post #3,010 of 3,573
Is anyone having problems playing back the latest MQN version 4 and 5 media player suites?
 
When using his latest creations which uses 256 period sizes it plays with a metallic sound and a lot of background noise, irrespective of if you use SSE, AVX or AVX2 instruction sets.
 
I am running the latest Windows 8.1 Professional with the 1st Driver release of 8.1.1.1, I was thinking this might not be a problem on Windows 7 or Windows 8 versions?
 
Would appreciate if anyone here who is a fan of MQN can shed some light on this issue?
 
Regards,

Dan
 
Jul 10, 2014 at 10:24 PM Post #3,011 of 3,573
  Is the Essence One a worthy upgrade over an STX soundcard?
 
What's the output impedance on the One's headphone output?


I have the ST and bought the E1 to compare. The E1 one is better as an amp, but as a DAC I couldnt tell much difference. I ended up selling the E1 and getting an UberFrost and separate amps for specific headphones.
 
Jul 24, 2014 at 2:07 PM Post #3,012 of 3,573
  I have the STX and wondered about the same thing.
Searched a lot of reviews, and finally bought the One.
 
There is no going back to the STX. The STX is so bright, it ends up fatiguing.
The One is more analytical and more natural, I really enjoy the music.

 
You mean more detailed and natural?, Cause I thought analytical and natural can be oposites.
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 12:39 PM Post #3,013 of 3,573
It sounds like there is more space between each instrument. 
Also it drives great high impedance headphones, like the AKG K601 I have, and couldn't bear with the STX.
keep in mind though, that the sound is kinda bassy, and it tends to create a problem with headphones that already have a strong bass.
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 1:35 PM Post #3,014 of 3,573
I guess it wouldn't mix well with a Audeze headphone. I already tried the LCD-2 with the STX and it didn't sound okay at all. With low gain you reach half the volume meter and it doesn't get any louder from there and starts to clip.  with medium and high gain there's no more clip, but the distorsion is unbearable.
 
Sep 8, 2014 at 9:30 AM Post #3,015 of 3,573
I'm a bit confused, I have been running my Asus Xonar Essence One using SPDIF from my Creative Titanum HD in order to get the CMSS:3D effects working while gaming, and I have always found the gain to feel quite weak / low..
 
So I got myself a Creative ZxR with its own built-in headphone amp to compare and they seem to feature much improved gain, but overall a bit lower audio quality. Might it be that the Asus Xonar Essence One is not running in High-Gain mode making it feel weak running my Sennheiser HD 650? There seems to be no way to verify or change the gain on the actual unit itself, I guess you might have some software options running the Xonar Essence One using USB, but like I said I'm running it through SPDIF in order to get the DSP from my Creative Titanium HD...
 
 
I'm not going to keep the Creative ZxR as I don't really like the sound signature, and the DSP feels very week compared to the Titanium HD, especially for gaming. CMSS:3D seems to do wonders compared to their new SBX Studio Pro which seems like a rebranded THX ThruStudio which I always have on my Titanium HD...
 
Going for Essence STX II is not an option either as I can't stand Dolby Headphones for gaming, that's why I got the Essence One a few months back in order to get the benefit of Creative's CMSS:3D DPS for gaming, while having the audio quality and amp from Essence One.. But like I said, the gain seems very thin..
 
 
Another things I'm really struggling with is the connection from my Titanium HD to the Essence One... Very often audio is simply not played back at all.. Especially notification sounds from Windows login, Skype notifications etc.. Is either not played at all, or I will hear the notification halfway through making it all sound fuzzy.. I can't seem to figure out what might be causing this, its not like the audio has any problems while playing back movies, games, during actual Skype voice chatting etc... But its almost like these notification sounds get lost while the computer is establishing communication with the DAC which is quite awkward and a little bit annoying.
 

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