[jfrt]

I was reading some of the 694 post on stx and i just wanted to add my opinion.
First thing upgrading the op amps is a great choice for changing color texture And transparency.
Unfortunately the headphone amp bypasses those expensive op amps. Those upgraded op amps only work with the RCA pre-amp outs. If you have a headphone jack on your Receiver, integrated amp or amp you should plug your headphones directly to the headphone jack on stereo receiver not the sound-card to take advantage of the op amps.
I love the sound of Vinyl and i find 2 muses 8820 and a 1 dexa op amp for buffering does the trick for my ears.
Music source mainly Flac some mp3 and ogg

 

[PurpleAngel]

The two I/V op-amps work with the headphone jack.
All three op-amps work with the line-output (RCA) jacks.

 

[jfrt]

I did a simple test by removing the dexa op amp and basically came to a conclusion op amps are bypassed .
Maybe you could help me out i recently have been using my headphone amp on my sound card and found the highs and mids really harsh compared to headphone output on my integrated amp. In 2016 i re-caped my Arcam alpha 8 int amp with silmic II and Mundorf power caps, maybe that could be the reason why i'm getting a smother sound. Looking for a usb input to a headphone output dac do you have any suggestions. My headphones are not as High end as your collection. Ive just started listening cans a year ago i purchased HD 598 se on sale on amazon. My budget is Dragonfly Black will that sound better than stx headphone amp? or should i upgrade I/V op-amps?

 

[PurpleAngel]

I did a simple test by removing the dexa op amp and basically came to a conclusion op amps are bypassed .
Maybe you could help me out i recently have been using my headphone amp on my sound card and found the highs and mids really harsh compared to headphone output on my integrated amp. In 2016 i re-caped my Arcam alpha 8 int amp with silmic II and Mundorf power caps, maybe that could be the reason why i'm getting a smother sound. Looking for a usb input to a headphone output dac do you have any suggestions. My headphones are not as High end as your collection. Ive just started listening cans a year ago i purchased HD 598 se on sale on amazon. My budget is Dragonfly Black will that sound better than stx headphone amp? or should i upgrade I/V op-amps?

I would say it's common knowledge the I/V op-amps work with the headphone output on the Essence STX II, your the first I've heard say otherwise.
(not sure what else to say on the subject)

Can we assume you connect the STX II Front speaker jacks (RCA) to the line-input (RCA) on the Arcam Alpha 8?
So the audio signal is running thru all the op-amps, before going to the Arcam Alpha 8?

 

[jfrt]

No i only removed the buffering stage (dexa) did not remove the I/V (pair of muses8820)and came to that conclusion.
My sound card is connected to my amp(alpha8) with rca cables utilizing all three opamps

. When listening HD598se pluged in my integrated amplifier

It sounds really smooth texture color transparency way better than stx headphone amp.

 

[PurpleAngel]

No i only removed the buffering stage (dexa) did not remove the I/V (pair of muses8820)and came to that conclusion.
My sound card is connected to my amp(alpha8) with rca cables utilizing all three opamps

. When listening HD598se pluged in my integrated amplifier

It sounds really smooth texture color transparency way better than stx headphone amp.

So maybe that Dexa op-amp is what improves the audio, to your liking, cool

 

[jfrt]

Any advice on a decent usb to headphone output device?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Any advice on a decent usb to headphone output device?

Budget?
I replaced my Essence STX with Audio-GD DAC/amps, currently using the NFB-11.28 ($400)

 

[jfrt]

NFB-11.28 is more like my budget. Looking at the Audio-GD DAC/amps is nice and well built but double the price. I'm assuming Audio-GD DAC sounds warmer? dual Burr Brown vs Saber

 

[PurpleAngel]

NFB-11.28 is more like my budget. Looking at the Audio-GD DAC/amps is nice and well built but double the price. I'm assuming Audio-GD DAC sounds warmer? dual Burr Brown vs Saber

The Sabre DAC chips (to me) are more about clarity, then warmth (normally)
The R2R11 is more about warmth.
http://www.audio-gd.com/R2R/R2R11/R2R11EN.htm

With your current STX setup.
Did you disable the motherboard's on-board audio, in the BIOS?
Have you tried the Unifed Xonar Drivers.
http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/

 

[jfrt]

Wow that r2r 11 for $350 US plus paypal fees really looks impressive. With currency exchange and duties possibly over $600 CAD . Ordering one seems a little complicated & Warranty as well.
Thanks for the info will try to save up for one of those jewels. Currently going through a Divorce financially strapped for cash if you know what i mean.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Wow that r2r 11 for $350 US plus paypal fees really looks impressive. With currency exchange and duties possibly over $600 CAD . Ordering one seems a little complicated & Warranty as well.
Thanks for the info will try to save up for one of those jewels. Currently going through a Divorce financially strapped for cash if you know what i mean.

When Audio-GD ships out the NFB-11.28 or R2R11, they will claim under $100 value, with the shipping company, so any import tax will be very low

 

[jfrt]

Thanks again for the advice on the bios, i disable motherboard sound through the bios, uninstalled nvidia audio drivers, basically disabled everything except for stx speaker out on the card .
It has made a difference in sound quality through the headphone amp, but not as good with alpha 8 amp and dexa opamp combo. I guess i was getting a lot of crosstalk distortion when everything was turned on. The thing is with cans the speaker is right next to your ears and reveals unwanted nuances which ca make the sound harsh, when using the monitor speaker and alpha 8 amp it's hard to detect those nuances. I'm still curious & interested in purchasing r2r 11 maybe if i quit drinking for 4 months ill have enough money to buy one LOL.
Thanks again for your advice

 

[PurpleAngel]

Thanks again for the advice on the bios, i disable motherboard sound through the bios, uninstalled nvidia audio drivers, basically disabled everything except for stx speaker out on the card .
It has made a difference in sound quality through the headphone amp, but not as good with alpha 8 amp and dexa opamp combo. I guess i was getting a lot of crosstalk distortion when everything was turned on. The thing is with cans the speaker is right next to your ears and reveals unwanted nuances which ca make the sound harsh, when using the monitor speaker and alpha 8 amp it's hard to detect those nuances. I'm still curious & interested in purchasing r2r 11 maybe if i quit drinking for 4 months ill have enough money to buy one LOL.
Thanks again for your advice

Try the free program Foobar2000, with WASAPI installed, see how your music sounds then.

 

[jfrt]

Already using foobar2000 with wasapi. I find wasapi doesn't work on foobar.maybe i didn't install it properly, example when listening to music on foobar and a youtube video in the browser somehow starts to play on it's own both sources play at he same time.
I usually use powerdvd 17 wasapi for critical listening but the UI not as good as foobar. Foobar is awesome for converting cd's to 24bit flac files as well