[Juusuhako]

Hi everyone,
I've had some threads about sound cards and its come down to these two and would love to ultimately hear what would be better.
 
Prices are where I live:
E10K: $125
Essence STX: $175
 
My headphones are Creative Aurvana Live 2 http://us.creative.com/p/headphones-headsets/creative-aurvana-live2 (in case this might have an impact on what is better). I strictly speaking just want the overall best audio experience. I never have used virtual surround so its not something to take into consideration. 
 
I like E10Ks volume knob and tiny bass-switch, but I dislike the fact it has no software so im gonna have to like what it outputs "out of the box" (unless I manually use equalizer).
I like STX because it comes with software to fiddle with (and probably pre-set equalizers too), but I dislike its higher price, and dont know if it might be overkill for my headphones (for all I know they both are???). Will I even be able to hear a difference between these two with my headphones?
 
Anyways, any feedback is appreciated.
 
Thanks in advance.

 

[billybob_jcv]

If you use one of the popular music playback software apps (VLC, Foobar, even WMP) there are many plug-ins to apply whatever effects you wish.

I'm not saying to buy the E10K, I'm just saying that if you are using this for music, then I wouldn't make the decision based on software.

 

[Juusuhako]

If you use one of the popular music playback software apps (VLC, Foobar, even WMP) there are many plug-ins to apply whatever effects you wish.

I'm not saying to buy the E10K, I'm just saying that if you are using this for music, then I wouldn't make the decision based on software.

I'm looking for the overall 'general' best audio experience (if I can say that), and not something that specializes one thing over the other.

Whatevers makes most sense of the two for my headphones I guess.

 

[Me x3]

Since your headphones have a pretty low impedance (37 Ohm), E10k is your best bet.
 
Asus Stx has an amp with pretty high output impedance (around 10 Ohm) then it's not that good for low impedance headphones (let's say under ~ 60 Ohm)
 
Using a high output impedance amp with a low impedance headphone, the frequency response of the headphone could be altered.
In other words, the amp is not completely neutral for certain loads.
 
That said, in your case (CAL 2 + STX) those differences in frequency response should be subtle (a very slight bass boost + slight 3Khz boost)
 
STX is more powerful than E10k, anyway both have tons of power for your headphones and both can drive much harder headphones with no problems at all.
 
Best Luck!

 

[paulguru]

as sound quality what si better ? i think essence should be much more better

 

[Me x3]

  as sound quality what si better ? i think essence should be much more better

 

[MrKommander]

as sound quality what si better ? i think essence should be much more better

I wouldn't say so Fiio is a well known Companie with good products for the small budget.the soundquality should be about the same

 

[Juusuhako]

  Since your headphones have a pretty low impedance (37 Ohm), E10k is your best bet.
 
Asus Stx has an amp with pretty high output impedance (around 10 Ohm) then it's not that good for low impedance headphones (let's say under ~ 60 Ohm)
 
Using a high output impedance amp with a low impedance headphone, the frequency response of the headphone could be altered.
In other words, the amp is not completely neutral for certain loads.
 
That said, in your case (CAL 2 + STX) those differences in frequency response should be subtle (a very slight bass boost + slight 3Khz boost)
 
STX is more powerful than E10k, anyway both have tons of power for your headphones and both can drive much harder headphones with no problems at all.
 
Best Luck!

Well the SB-Z had a 600ohm amp. and whilst the headphones were fine with it I just couldnt go too high with the volume, but other than that it seemed to work fine. 
 

  as sound quality what si better ? i think essence should be much more better

I wouldn't say so Fiio is a well known Companie with good products for the small budget.the soundquality should be about the same

Do either of you have experience with either product? o.o
Just curious, it would be nice to get feedback from owners.

 

[billybob_jcv]

Well the SB-Z had a 600ohm amp. and whilst the headphones were fine with it I just couldnt go too high with the volume, but other than that it seemed to work fine. 

Do either of you have experience with either product? o.o
Just curious, it would be nice to get feedback from owners.

There is no such thing as a "600ohm amp". The SB specs may have said the maximum impedance range went to 600 Ohms, but that just means some sound will come out when you attach 600 Ohm headphones. It doesn't mean it will be *good* sound. Soundcard mfrs are notorious for being VERY optimistic with their specs. If the specs do not actually provide a power output and THD at 600 Ohms, then it is a useless spec, just like when headphone mfrs say the freq range is "10-100K Hz". Useless marketing drivel!

 

[Juusuhako]

There is no such thing as a "600ohm amp". The SB specs may have said the maximum impedance range went to 600 Ohms, but that just means some sound will come out when you attach 600 Ohm headphones. It doesn't mean it will be *good* sound. Soundcard mfrs are notorious for being VERY optimistic with their specs. If the specs do not actually provide a power output and THD at 600 Ohms, then it is a useless spec, just like when headphone mfrs say the freq range is "10-100K Hz". Useless marketing drivel!

Ah, my bad. I dont have all the techy stuff in order.
 
I read some more about the E10K and from what I read it has a very "flat" sound, it basically just "cleans up" the signal which enhances the overall sound quality. It just seems quite expensive to simply get a signal cleaned. (if what im saying is actually true/makes sense)

 

[cel4145]

Well the SB-Z had a 600ohm amp. and whilst the headphones were fine with it I just couldnt go too high with the volume, but other than that it seemed to work fine. 

So is that what you are looking for? Similar sound quality, but more volume capability than the Soundblaster Z?

 

[Juusuhako]

So is that what you are looking for? Similar sound quality, but more volume capability than the Soundblaster Z?

Nono, sorry I wrote that wrong.
 
Basically due to the whole 600ohm-amp-thing in the SB-Z I could barely stand 20% volume before it became way to loud (SB-Z doesnt let you change amp. gain). And so when the sound card had a fit it output an extremely loud constant beeping at 100% which pretty much wrecked my headphones, which is why im skeptical about trying another SB-Z.
 
The sound quality however were quite pleasing using a pre-set EQ and Creatives "Crystalizer", but I guess in theory that makes the sound output "software based" rather than "hardware based", which is from what I understand not something audophiles "approve" of.
 
So yea, thats why im looking for something else than the SB-Z.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Ah, my bad. I don't have all the techy stuff in order.
 
I read some more about the E10K and from what I read it has a very "flat" sound, it basically just "cleans up" the signal which enhances the overall sound quality. It just seems quite expensive to simply get a signal cleaned. (if what I'm saying is actually true/makes sense)

 
Technically the Essence STX comes with a better DAC chip, then the E10K.
But the E10K's headphone amplifier comes with a lower output impedance, which is a benefit for lower Ohm headphones, like the CALs.
And as the E10K is external, it would not be effected by any electrical noise, that might be generated inside the computer case.
And the Essence STX just seems a little overkill, for use with the CALs.
So getting the E10K seems to make more sense.
 
Get a free program like Foobar2000, for playing audio files on your PC.
 
What country do you live in?
Normal price for the E10K is around $75, but it's costing you $125.

 

[Juusuhako]

   
Technically the Essence STX comes with a better DAC chip, then the E10K.
But the E10K's headphone amplifier comes with a lower output impedance, which is a benefit for lower Ohm headphones, like the CALs.
And as the E10K is external, it would not be effected by any electrical noise, that might be generated inside the computer case.
And the Essence STX just seems a little overkill, for use with the CALs.
So getting the E10K seems to make more sense.
 
Get a free program like Foobar2000, for playing audio files on your PC.
 
What country do you live in?
Normal price for the E10K is around $75, but it's costing you $125.

The whole "impendance" thing is ohm, right? Cause ST lets you change the amp. gain, if thats what decides the impendance output? http://www.guru3d.com/miraserver/images/2009/stx/mainhp.jpg
And doesnt the STs "shield" block electrical noise?
 
I do use Foobar2k with .flac files, although some of them has some static jitter, I guess whoever did them didnt do it properly, heh.
 
I live in Denmark, only one retailer has E10K. The ST price however is as low as it gets.

 

[Me x3]

  Asus Stx has an amp with pretty high output impedance (around 10 Ohm) then it's not that good for low impedance headphones (let's say under ~ 60 Ohm)
 
Using a high output impedance amp with a low impedance headphone, the frequency response of the headphone could be altered.
In other words, the amp is not completely neutral for certain loads.
 
That said, in your case (CAL 2 + STX) those differences in frequency response should be subtle (a very slight bass boost + slight 3Khz boost)
 
STX is more powerful than E10k, anyway both have tons of power for your headphones and both can drive much harder headphones with no problems at all.
 
Best Luck!

 
This is not a subjective opinion based on what I've felt when using STX. What I've said is what careful measurements and some basic applied physics yield.
 
(Damping factor: The ratio of the load's impedance to the amp's output impedance)
 
Basically, when the damping factor is low, the amp interacts with the headphone in an unwanted manner. The more the headphone impedance varies, the more the resulting frequency response differ from the intended.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/CreativeAurvanaLive2.pdf
If you take a close look at the impedance plot of your headphone, you'll see that it goes up to 40 Ohm in the bass and up to 42-3 Ohms around 3Khz. When paired with an amp with high output impedance, the frequencies of those peaks in the impedance plot are driven with more voltage than the rest of the spectrum. The amp colours the sound of the headphone.
 
If you want to read more about the topic this article can enlight some concepts
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/meridian-explorer-case-study-effects-output-impedance
 
That's why STX is good for higher impedance headphones but not that great with low impedance ones.
 
SoundBlaster Z has an output impedance well over 20 Ohm (then its worse than STX from a strict 'damping factor' point of view). I think SoundBlaster ZXR should be similar to Xonar STX.
 
As billybob_jcv stated, the '600 Ohm amp' thing is just a marketing technique, nothing more. Real life is significantly more complex, if you want to know if a certain amp is capable of driving certain 600 Ohm headphone the only way is by doing some math.
 
Fiio E10k has a very low output impedance (1 Ohm ) so it will remain completely neutral/flat for all loads.
 
Unless you have a pretty noisy sound card right now, you won't get a whole new experience adding one of these devices.
The safer way of improving the experience significantly at this point is spending your money in high quality recordings and/or saving for better headphones.
 
Best Luck!