[Saturn]

Hello, I am currently debating between what would be best for my Sennheiser HD 595's, the 50 ohms version, that is. I have narrowed it to these two solutions: the FiiO e7 and the Asus Xonar Essence STX. I have never used a DAC or have upgraded to an independent sound card, so I have no clue what kind of improvements I can expect.
 
My current motherboard, the Asus M4A785T-M uses the VIA VT1708S onboard audio chipset.
 
The FiiO e7 I can purchase at around $85.00 USD and I can buy a used Asus Xonar Essence STX for roughly $155.00 USD.
 
Can anyone please aid me in making a clear decision?

 

[spydur]

it depends on what you want to do with them? Do you want to use the E7 for portable usage as well? If your looking at the Xonar get the ST model if possible. There is a known jitter issue on the STX which was resolved on the ST. I have the ST and it sounded ok when i used it with my HD650's.. It should do fine running your cans. You have more room to play with the ST as you can change the op-amps to better match the sound you are looking for. First thing you should think about is if you would use the e7 outside of the PC. You can always add an E9 down the road to power a possible future purchase of a higher impedance set of cans...

 

[ShooTa]

also if you are soley looking to use it as a computer audio listening post then go for the Xonar St - as the onboard sound from any current pc is usually pretty dire,an independant soundcard will always improve the source - whereas a seperate amp will only increase the sources faults if it is bad to begin with.

 

[theeyealtering]

Quote:

also if you are soley looking to use it as a computer audio listening post then go for the Xonar St - as the onboard sound from any current pc is usually pretty dire,an independant soundcard will always improve the source - whereas a seperate amp will only increase the sources faults if it is bad to begin with.

The E7 is DAC/Amp so it doesn't use the onboard sound. Having said that, I agree that the Xonar ST/STX sounds much better than the E7. Portability is the only advantage the E7 has over the STX as far as I can tell.

 

[Piospi]

Quote:

it depends on what you want to do with them? Do you want to use the E7 for portable usage as well? If your looking at the Xonar get the ST model if possible. There is a known jitter issue on the STX which was resolved on the ST. I have the ST and it sounded ok when i used it with my HD650's.. It should do fine running your cans. You have more room to play with the ST as you can change the op-amps to better match the sound you are looking for. First thing you should think about is if you would use the e7 outside of the PC. You can always add an E9 down the road to power a possible future purchase of a higher impedance set of cans...
 

From what I know, there is no quality difference between the ST and STX. PCIe is the future

 

[PhiQuanTu]

PCI slot won't be around anymore in the near future. From my two weeks of research, before I bought the STX version, the two cards are almost identical except that the ST was created later with some improvements on jitter issue. But it's not like a major issue or something that you could identify from pure listening with the STX. Anyhow, you can get a brand new Xonar STX for ~$157 shipped from Superbizz.com (reg. $172 - Hello2011 coupon).