[BigTerminator]

Switch your opamps and you have 99% of a STX II. Get something external if you want an upgrade. Spending more than $50 to "upgrade" to an STX II is a waste of money. STX had jitter problems not the ST. 

 

[PeterMac]

yes right STX has jitter problems not ST, but did they reduce jitter in STX II to ST level ?

 

[Wamoto]

I got the STX II 7.1 now for a few days and I really like it. I had an Asus Xonar Xense with a  Headphone port that got unsuable. It only outputs sound on one side and the other one is really really quite. Anyone maybe got an idea what should be damaged here? I guess it is the headphone amp. The Xense is said to be nearly identical to the first STX and I only noticed a little bit of improvements on the highs and clarity. I'm a bit happy that they released the STX II with the daughterboard header because I'm using a 5.1 speaker set for blu-rays and such. That was the only reason I got the Xense and not the STX until it died. Can't wait to try out a few op-amps on booth boards.

 

[I-Siamak-I]

hey guys my Essence STX II just arrived yesterday and I was blown away by the quality of this sound card but then I noticed a small issue. I have my 2.1 speakers hooked up to the Red/White jack and my Sennheiser HD598 hooked up to the big headphone jack.

1. If I have the Headphone output selected in the Xonar Control Panel and I shut down the computer I hear a audio thump/or surge in the headphone right before the system shuts down.

2. If I switched from Speaker to Headphone output on the Asus Control Panel again I hear a surge/thump coming from the speaker and vise versa if I switch from Headphone to Speaker again a Surge/Thump comes from Headphones.


I have the latest Drivers installed from Asus. I also tried the latest Uni Driver and the same issue was there. I also tried switching the slots that the card was installed and same behavior. BTW none of this is refering to the Clicking noise on Xonar sound cards as I know that is normal.

so for those of u who have or used STX or STX II, can you please tell me if this is normal or not?
 
Again this is mostly happening when switching between Speaker and Headphone output and have both Speaker and Headphone plugged in and are turn on with volume up.

 

[552388]

ASUS makes some very cool soundcard, super cool. But I have to say. The HIFI quality of them still has a long way to go, even compare to Creative

 

[Voidrunner]

I disagree. Every experience I've had so far with the two brands has shown me otherwise. I haven't tried the Titanium HD, but over the years, I have been rather consistently underwhelmed by Creative. Only reason I have a Creative card in my rig right now is because of issues with the S/PDIF output and the Xonar drivers for the DS. If I can find another, more stable solution without going into 3-400 dollar territory? That X-Fi Titanium is gone. 

 

[abvolt]

Is this available in north america yet ? asus stated about 5 or 6 months ago on their forums board that no new audio gear like this card and the essence one muse edition would be released in the area I live in. so I got the woo wa7d+wa7tp instead.  far better for music but no good for gaming. have any of you guys heard any more on this. thanks

 

[Ultracer]

[COLOR=181818]hey guys my Essence STX II just arrived yesterday and I was blown away by the quality of this sound card but then I noticed a small issue. I have my 2.1 speakers hooked up to the Red/White jack and my Sennheiser HD598 hooked up to the big headphone jack.[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]
[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]
[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]1. If I have the Headphone output selected in the Xonar Control Panel and I shut down the computer I hear a audio thump/or surge in the headphone right before the system shuts down.[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]
[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]
[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]2. If I switched from Speaker to Headphone output on the Asus Control Panel again I hear a surge/thump coming from the speaker and vise versa if I switch from Headphone to Speaker again a Surge/Thump comes from Headphones.[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]
[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]
[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]
[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]I have the latest Drivers installed from Asus. I also tried the latest Uni Driver and the same issue was there. I also tried switching the slots that the card was installed and same behavior. [/COLOR][COLOR=181818]BTW none of this is refering to the Clicking noise on Xonar sound cards as I know that is normal.[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]
[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]
[/COLOR][COLOR=181818]so for those of u who have or used STX or STX II, can you please tell me if this is normal or not?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=181818]Again this is mostly happening when switching between Speaker and Headphone output and have both Speaker and Headphone plugged in and are turn on with volume up.[/COLOR]

That's completely normal. Its just the sound card turning on and off the relay before the pc shutting down.

 

[icsi]

A got the XONAR STX II, and i can't take out the opamps with the tool. Is somebody having this problem to?

 

[Renfield1217]

  A got the XONAR STX II, and i can't take out the opamps with the tool. Is somebody having this problem to?

Yes, those are basically needle nose pliers. Go to an Radio Shack or electronics store and pick up an IC puller. They are very cheap. You might want to take along the spare op amps to show them what you want to pull.
Be very careful pulling those Muses op amps  their legs are very weak.
 
Hope this helps...

 

[Renfield1217]

Yes, the STX II is available in the US now
 
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1087539-REG/asus_essencestxii_essence_stx_ii_sound.html
 
Hope this helps

 

[Renfield1217]

  yes right STX has jitter problems not ST, but did they reduce jitter in STX II to ST level ?
 
yes, actually the STX II has a better clock than the ST.
 

 

[echineko]

Hi there,

I've been using this card for a while now, and I'm very happy so far (mostly use my existing Klipsch M40 when gaming/listening to music as I haven't upgraded my speaker setup yet). I've seen lots of discussion on swapping out the opamps in various threads, but before going down that route, I'd like to know from people here who have done it, does it make a noticeable difference?

I guess the logical follow up to that would be would I even notice, given my less than stellar setup right now? I don't mind spending the cash (I've been eyeing the Muses01/02 and even the Burson audios) but don't really want to be stuck with something that doesn't do anything for me.

Cheers

 

[BigTerminator]

Op Amps do not do much. I have done various swaps and listening through a speaker system where the differences would be more apparent, the differences were negligible. Op amps solely will give the sound a different color kind of like how an eq would. I chose LM49860's for all 3 slots because they are bright and detailed. I have a sub so bass performance is not that important. It was not night and day and for your headphones I doubt you would have heard much difference. I would rather spend that money on getting a better DAC. But the truth is if you swapped DAC's entirely you will probably not hear much of a difference. I used a TEAC-UDH01 for a couple days and the bass was better but I lost the detailed highs from my Xonar with LME49860's. I preferred my Xonar. 
 
If you have the STX II with muses op amps than you are set. If you have the ST or STX than I would advise on trying some $3-5 op amps but that's is it. You would be better off getting a better DAC than spending $50 on an op amp. 

 

[echineko]

This is the sort of feedback I was looking for, thanks for your time. I guess I might try a relatively low cost op amp just to see for myself, but I won't be going too far with the cost. I figured it might be the case, to be honest, just wanted to hear from someone who's been there.

Cheers