[Geir]

In the near future my current pc will be 3 years, and time for upgrade.

But for best sound to my headphones, should I go for a asus xonar essence st/stx (is there any difference?) as internal soundcard, or go optical out to a zero dac/amp on top of it?

Any ideas/suggestions most welcome
(and it will be a amd rig based on 785g chipset mobo and athlonII cpu of some kind)

 

[chinesekiwi]

Budget?
What inputs do you need (i.e. what are you going to plug into it?)

 

[Hybrys]

If you get a mobo with a coax or optical out, the Zero will offer slightly better performance.

 

[vinay]

Intreseted in the same query..
Quote:

Budget? What inputs do you need (i.e. what are you going to plug into it?)

budget -not yet decided on it.
will be using HD555/A700.
Exact diff between STX and ST. and also with Zero DAC.
If i use sound card will make any diff to my 2.1 altec lansing(might upgrade to A5 in future.)
Will be listening to music and watching movies also play CS1.6

 

[stang]

I would probably go for the sound card with your needs.

 

[MomijiTMO]

I really liked my STX and just can't fault it for the $$$.

 

[germanium]

Essense ST or STX. Very neutral sounding & very detailed out the headphone amp. Stock line out is somewat less detailed & less lively. Cap removal from the line out circuit solves that issue nicely. mMy guess though you would be using the headphone out jack mostly & that requires no mods.