[zingaya]

Hello there,

I plan to buy a good sound card for my PC. I do use games, but the main purpose will be music. Upon researching, it seems that the Creative G5 and the Xonar Essence STX would be good choices. Would the STX be the superior product?

What's mind boggling, though, is the output impedance stuff. The STX is said to have a 10ohms impedance, while the G5 has a 2.2ohms output, but then there's all the stuff about how different types of headphones react differently, even when below the supposed ideal threshold (8x the output) . In your opinion should I go for the G5, when I possess a 32ohms DT770?

Many thanks!

 

[PurpleAngel]

What are the prices of the G5 and STX?

 

[Modo]

All other things being equal, the lower the output impedance of an amplifier, the better the sound quality. It literally means less distortion, regardless of your headphone or speakers impedance. In addition, the G5 wins by being an external solution. While the Essence ST/STX is a great DAC, its headphone output is a secondary feature, and it would mean fiddling with volume controls on your PC instead of having a simple volume knob. No idea how good the G5 DAC is, though. Unless you need some special gaming-related features (spoiler: you don't), I would look around for other external DAC+amp combos, and preferably listen before buying. You will find plenty of recommendations on this site.

 

[zingaya]

Thank you for the help, folks.

What are the prices of the G5 and STX?

I live in Brazil, where this kind of electronics can be outrageously expensive. Converting to US dollars, the G5 would be US$240 and the STX would be US$338. I'm taking the plunge, though

All other things being equal, the lower the output impedance of an amplifier, the better the sound quality. It literally means less distortion, regardless of your headphone or speakers impedance. In addition, the G5 wins by being an external solution. While the Essence ST/STX is a great DAC, its headphone output is a secondary feature, and it would mean fiddling with volume controls on your PC instead of having a simple volume knob. No idea how good the G5 DAC is, though. Unless you need some special gaming-related features (spoiler: you don't), I would look around for other external DAC+amp combos, and preferably listen before buying. You will find plenty of recommendations on this site.

I didn't think for one moment about how convenient a volume knob could be, since I'm so used to the keyboard volume control. Thanks for the heads up.

The problem is that living where I do means I'm severely limited on my options, specially when it comes to exotic DAC+amp combinations. Even the FiiO E10k is being hard to find, so I have to settle for a common setup. The musician and home theater equipment market are much less stunted than the computer sound equipment market, though, so it's possible I could make use of that. I don't really know even where to begin with this stuff, though.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Thank you for the help, folks.
I live in Brazil, where this kind of electronics can be outrageously expensive. Converting to US dollars, the G5 would be US$240 and the STX would be US$338. I'm taking the plunge, though
I didn't think for one moment about how convenient a volume knob could be, since I'm so used to the keyboard volume control. Thanks for the heads up.
The problem is that living where I do means I'm severely limited on my options, specially when it comes to exotic DAC+amp combinations. Even the FiiO E10k is being hard to find, so I have to settle for a common setup.
The musician and home theater equipment market are much less stunted than the computer sound equipment market, though, so it's possible I could make use of that. I don't really know even where to begin with this stuff, though.

I prefer Asus Xonar, over Creative cards, but the G5 looks like a better buy, then the STX.

Also, if you were to go for an STX, you might look at buying a used one off eBay ($120 USD ?) and have it shipped to Brazil, that would be a good value.
Also if your willing to go with an external DAC/amp, check out the Xduoo XD-05 (under $200), I bought one a month ago to try out and so for i'm liking it.