How to choose between Xonar Phoebus and Essence STX to go with my IE80 for gaming and mild music

[FlawlessWilson]

Hey Guys
 
I am new to the forum but i heard that if i have any questions about Music Equipment, this forum is my best solution.
 
I would like to ask for your advice on how to choose between Xonar Phoebus and Essence STX to go with my IE 80.
 
I am a mild gamer and mild music listener that have a bit of budget and would like to treat myself better with some high quality equipment.
 
Games i play currently are mainly crysis 3 and CS:GO and music are different but mostly acoustics and high range sounds like thepianoguys and sunghajung.
 
Which one should i choose?  
 
 
Xonar Phoebus OR Essence STX
 
Is Dolby 7.1 really matter to gaming ?
 
I used ie8 for gaming with on board sound for a long period of time and i am satisfied with the details it gave me so i went for the IE80 upgrade.
 
But then i heard that IE80 needs good quality sound card in order to unleash the beast, is that right?
 
Thank you all for your help and have a happy Easter

 

[bcschmerker4]

This is a very tough one - there's other potential winners besides the two Asus® products cited, depending on your software.  I'm plenty experienced with the XONAR® Essence™ STX, which I would normally recommend for its cleaner audio; but most of my interests are in live music and over-the-Web video production.
 
Several gamers have reported trouble with C-Media® DSP's in general, and the CMI-8788 and CMI-8888 in particular, with certain games, a situation which affects not only ibidiem (viz., the XONAR® Essence™ ST and STX and the ROG® XONAR® Phoebus™) but also the Auzentech® X-Meridian™ 7.1 (both generations).  Depending on your game software, you may actually be best served by the Auzentech® X-Fi® Home Theatre HD™, which is based on the Creative Technology CA20K2 DSP and packs similar 8-pin DIP dual op amps to those aboard the XONAR® Essence™.

 

[Amputate]

Your choice isn't a tough one at all.
Best way to go is the Asus Essence.
 
Having owned both I can tell you that the only benefit the Phoebus has is that it comes with a Dolby equaliser.
But the drivers for that card are absolute crap and it doesn't even sound that good anyway.
Personally I wouldn't recommend the Phoebus to anyone since I'm still having nightmares about that card.
Settings don't save, drivers crash, makes punkbuster bluescreen your computer (ye srsly, google it).
 
Horrible Horrible card.
Avoid like the plague...

 

[claviger]

I am in a similar dilema as the OP:
 
Asus STX vs Asus Xense vs XXXXXXXX (Phobeus is a non-option for me due to stability issues)
 
I am curious about other people's opinions on these cards as well. In my case they will be paired with a set of Vmoda LP2s.  
 
I have read about all the available asus/creative cards, and since creative is evil as hell, I am stuck with Asus for mainstream company cards.  
 
Are there any other 150-300 dollar cards NOT using creative processors that offer 3D positioning for headphone use, high quality music playback, and pair well with my LP2s or the OPs IE80s?

 

[bcschmerker4]

Quote:

I am in a similar dilema as the OP:
 
Asus STX vs Asus Xense vs XXXXXXXX (Phobeus is a non-option for me due to stability issues)
 
I am curious about other people's opinions on these cards as well. In my case they will be paired with a set of Vmoda LP2s.  
 
I have read about all the available asus/creative cards, and since creative is evil as hell, I am stuck with Asus for mainstream company cards.  
 
Are there any other 150-300 dollar cards NOT using creative processors that offer 3D positioning for headphone use, high quality music playback, and pair well with my LP2s or the OPs IE80s?

I'm plenty experienced with the XONAR® Essence™ STX, and the XONAR® Xense®, which comes prepackaged with a "special-flavor" Sennheiser® PC350 headset, is identical from a digital point of view (same Asus® AV-100 DSP with PCI-Express bridge), although packing different connections.  The Xense® has a single 1/4" headset jack, a 3.5mm Mic In/Line In jack, RCA coax/3.5mm Toslink digital output jack, plus a breakout cable for 7.1 external audio output; it can feed many home multichannel receiver/amplifiers directly via 3.5mm-to-dual-RCA insert cables.  For practical purposes, the Xense® is as close to the Auzentech® X-Meridian™ 7.1 (a PCI 2.0 product) as ASUSTeK Computer has approached, lacking mostly the XLR-ready microphone preamplifier.
 
The Unified XONAR® Software by Brainbit, Release 1.53 (C-Media® CMI-8788 Driver n.12.8.1796, dep. on your release of Microsoft® Windows® 6.x/7/8) supports the Xense® as well as it does the Essence™ ST and STX; both cards are also supported in LinUX by the Advanced LinUX Sound Architecture Driver snd-virtuoso.

 

[genclaymore]

I used to have a Xonar STX as well, it was a good sound card, Didn't give me any issues. As long you didn't use GX(DSGX) which caused issues.  Tho the first thing I did was change the default JRC op-amps, because I didn't like the way they sound on the STX.  I don't remember which op-amps I settle on, after I tried a dozen ones. Since I haven't did op-amp rolling a long while.  Uni-xonar drivers is what i would suggest to use as well.  Also when you are using the headphone out Both I/V op-amp sockets are used, when your using the RCA Out, All 3 op-amps are using. Meaning both JRC's in the I/V and THe LME49720 in the buffer op-amp is used.