[Ethereal Sound]

 
Feeding Emotiva or other amps directly from sound card output is never optimal when it comes to noise problem and good isolation.  That's why we use external DAC fed by optical.  Even USB DACs could be prone to carrying noise+other electrical interference from your computer to your amp.

 
What would be a DAC that surpasses the built in DAC of the Asus xonar essence stx in that case?

 

[Sonido]

If you're concerned about the noise, it's caused 95% by the fact it's integrated with the computer. Just get a Schiit Modi or ODAC for $100 and $150 respectively.

 

[john57]

Just wondering, what do you mean by cleanness of grounding and power?

Just good solid grounding and less noise on the AC power going into the equipment. Light dimmers in the house can case a problem like it happen to me before. Have you try turning off the microphone inputs by software control? There can be many sources for noise. You would have to use the process of elimination to find where the problems is at. Like you stated we know it is not the amp. Would need more details. Sound cards like my Juli@ or the ASUS Xonar Essence have good S/N providing everything else is good. Have you tried moving the sound card in another slot away from the graphics or fans if possible?

 

[Armaegis]

It's also worth asking that you're using the RCA outputs and not the headphone jack.

 

[Ethereal Sound]

  Just good solid grounding and less noise on the AC power going into the equipment. Light dimmers in the house can case a problem like it happen to me before. Have you try turning off the microphone inputs by software control? There can be many sources for noise. You would have to use the process of elimination to find where the problems is at. Like you stated we know it is not the amp. Would need more details. Sound cards like my Juli@ or the ASUS Xonar Essence have good S/N providing everything else is good. Have you tried moving the sound card in another slot away from the graphics or fans if possible?

 
Unfortunately, my motherboard will not allow for my soundcard being away from the fan of my graphics card. I'm going to try eliminating any sources of the noise. In case that doesn't work however, I may refund my sound card. Are there any DAC's that outperform or perform on the same level as the STX within a $200 range?

 

[john57]

You may find good used DAC on E-Bay. I am using Emotiva XDA-1 and it has been discontinued and replaced by XDA-2 which has a better volume control for use as a digital pre-amp. I use other means to control volume. There is nothing wrong using the FiiO D3 $28 on Amazon if you motherboard already have either digital coaxial or optical output. Just make sure you use PCM only and the FiiO D3 will work just fine. Also another important step is to uncheck the supported formats and that will tell windows only to output 2 channel digital stereo. Otherwise many outboard 2 channel DACs will go crazy and with the power of the Mini you stand a good chance to blow out the headphones if playing back a DVD or Blu-ray as a example. I would return the ASUS Xonar Essence since you are not getting anywhere near the 124dB S/N as claimed and that card even has a EMF shield but does not do any good in your case.
 

 

[Ethereal Sound]

  You may find good used DAC on E-Bay. I am using Emotiva XDA-1 and it has been discontinued and replaced by XDA-2 which has a better volume control for use as a digital pre-amp. I use other means to control volume. There is nothing wrong using the FiiO D3 $28 on Amazon if you motherboard already have either digital coaxial or optical output. Just make sure you use PCM only and the FiiO D3 will work just fine. Also another important step is to uncheck the supported formats and that will tell windows only to output 2 channel digital stereo. Otherwise many outboard 2 channel DACs will go crazy and with the power of the Mini you stand a good chance to blow out the headphones if playing back a DVD or Blu-ray as a example. I would return the ASUS Xonar Essence since you are not getting anywhere near the 124dB S/N as claimed and that card even has a EMF shield but does not do any good in your case.
 

Yeah, this noise is seriously annoying so I do plan on returning the STX. Do you think that the maverick D1 or the ODAC can perform on equal standing with the DAC built into the STX?

 

[148124]

feeding any amp from soundcard that is inside your pc is the worst idea ever in my opinion, buy some nice dac and forget about the problem

 

[fluidz]

So basically, I've tried listening to the he500 on my new emotiva and I've noticed a barely audible hiss. Also, I am hearing some sibilance. Is this normal or am I just extra sensitive to sibilance? If I were to use the o2 as a preamp would it reduce it?

 
Hi,
 
I've owned two Emotiva Mini amps, both have had a slight hiss so it is common with the He-500's. My previous a100 was connected to a pc internal soundcard and the one i'm using now is connected to an external Dac (via usb).  
 
Between the two, there has been no difference in hiss noise. One way to test if its the amp/headphone combo alone and not the computer (this is for those who claim they can't hear it without using any resistors) is to cup your hands over the headphones outer shell as to isolate them from any background noise, you should hear the already present hiss increase in volume and additionally may hear a slight hum, it won't be obvious with your computers fans / television running so turn off all sounds in the room.  This hissing/sibilance may be heard even though the amp is at zero volume. 

 

[fluidz]

Question for those using a computer/laptop with Jriver/Foobar software outputting to a Dac to power their A100, do you prefer to leave the volume of your player at 100% as to send a perfect signal to the Dac or reduce the volume slightly so the Amp can run at a higher volume?
 
I use Jriver 19, and disable the volume so it sends a bit perfect signal, this means the dial of my A100 only needs to be at 8pm and it's very loud, 9pm can be very uncomfortable unless I lower the volume of Jriver. 
 
Is the A100 running optimally at 7 - 8pm? 

 

[Ethereal Sound]

Mk, well I've pretty much decided to return my Essence STX because I've determined that it is the source of the hiss which I cannot stand. So now I'm stuck on which DAC to buy. I'm thinking between the audio GD NFB 12.1, Maverick D1 or the ODAC. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? My budget is ~$200 but I can stretch it a tiny bit.

 

[Nimzerz]

  Mk, well I've pretty much decided to return my Essence STX because I've determined that it is the source of the hiss which I cannot stand. So now I'm stuck on which DAC to buy. I'm thinking between the audio GD NFB 12.1, Maverick D1 or the ODAC. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? My budget is ~$200 but I can stretch it a tiny bit.

I vote no for the ODAC.

 

[psychon]

  Mk, well I've pretty much decided to return my Essence STX because I've determined that it is the source of the hiss which I cannot stand. So now I'm stuck on which DAC to buy. I'm thinking between the audio GD NFB 12.1, Maverick D1 or the ODAC. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? My budget is ~$200 but I can stretch it a tiny bit.

Have you considered a matching Emotiva XDA-2 (USB DAC/Digital Preamp/Headphone Amp)?
 
On sale now for $299 free shipping (CONUS) http://shop.emotiva.com/products/xda2
 
It has good reviews:
 
http://www.audioholics.com/av-preamp-processor-reviews/emotiva-xda-2-pre
http://www.tonepublications.com/macro/emotiva-xda-1-review/
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/emotiva-xda-2-usb-dacdigital-preampheadphone-amp
http://www.audiostream.com/content/emotiva-xda-2-usb-dacdigital-preampheadphone-amp
http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2013/04/emotiva-xda-2-dac-review/
 
Me and my HE-500 are actually waiting on delivery for this DAC and the mini-x amp

 

[john57]

Ethereal Sound has stated that, when he disconnected the RCA cable on the amp, most of the hiss disappeared indicating that the hiss he is hearing was coming from the source. To cup your hands behind your ears is a good trick and for me also amplifies the residual noise in the room for some reason. Some audio hardware will mute the outputs when signal levels are low enough, fooling the users into believing that the equipment has a better S/N that actually has. I use J. River internal volume not the system volume with the ASIO or the WASAPI driver. Using my CM6631 USB to SPDIF Convertor with Direct Sound output produces so much hiss that I can hear easily until I switch to the WASAPI driver. I use ASIO anytime when I am doing MIDI work. I use the A100 volume control more like a limiter. 8:30am is as far as I've gone with the A100. The advantage of using J. River internal volume control is that it has 64 bit digital audio processing resolution, far better than my Emotiva XDA-1 volume control which will degrade the sound when the volume is turned too low. That why Emotiva was getting rid of the XDA-1 and went to the XDA-2 which used a digitally controlled resistor network. This means I got a good price on my XDA-1 and it works fine as long the volume is maxed out. I have a total of three audio hardware devices in my PC especially made for MIDI and Video work.

 

[Ethereal Sound]

 
Have you considered a matching Emotiva XDA-2 (USB DAC/Digital Preamp/Headphone Amp)?
 
On sale now for $299 free shipping (CONUS) http://shop.emotiva.com/products/xda2
 
It has good reviews:
 
http://www.audioholics.com/av-preamp-processor-reviews/emotiva-xda-2-pre
http://www.tonepublications.com/macro/emotiva-xda-1-review/
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/emotiva-xda-2-usb-dacdigital-preampheadphone-amp
http://www.audiostream.com/content/emotiva-xda-2-usb-dacdigital-preampheadphone-amp
http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2013/04/emotiva-xda-2-dac-review/
 
Me and my HE-500 are actually waiting on delivery for this DAC and the mini-x amp

$300 is kind of stretching it though...I want the price of the DAC to be a bit closer to the price of the STX as I don't have that much cash to spare atm. Also, I think that when it's simply a DAC and not a DAC/Preamp/Amp, it's cheaper in price. After all, I'll be using it as a DAC only. I saw that some people had trouble with the ODAC+Emotiva so I guess that's out. Apart from the ones I listed, any suggestions within a $200 price range is appreciated.
Oh, how do the audio engine D1 work with this by the way?