How to set up Xonar STX in Ubuntu

[serious7]

Anyone have any experience on how to set it up in Ubuntu to achieve the best possible sound?

 

[Rizlaw]

Best possible sound for the STX alone (i.e., no external DAC), is setting the card for bit perfect output and connecting the analog output to a decent set of amplified speakers or a good stereo amp or receiver. Bit perfect will depend on what audio player you are using. For easy bit perfect output I would recommend any of the following players, since they provide you with the setting options needed to bypass Pulse Audio:
 
1. Gmusicbrowser
2. Quod Libet
3. Guayadeque
4. Deadbeef
5. Audacious
 
Bypassing Pulse Audio is necessary in order to eliminate the Linux mixer which down samples everything to 16/44.1K. Not good if you plan on listening to hi-rez audio. If not, then I wouldn't even worry about it.  All you need to know is whether your STX card is hw:0,1 or something else. If you have no onboard audio active in your BIOS, or other soundcards installed, your STX is probably hw:0,1. To find out for certain, open a terminal and type "aplay -l" (no quotes). Look for your STX card. 
 
Here's the link you need: http://www.head-fi.org/t/561961/bit-perfect-audio-from-linux#post_7596268

 

[serious7]

Quote:

Best possible sound for the STX alone (i.e., no external DAC), is setting the card for bit perfect output and connecting the analog output to a decent set of amplified speakers or a good stereo amp or receiver. Bit perfect will depend on what audio player you are using. For easy bit perfect output I would recommend any of the following players, since they provide you with the setting options needed to bypass Pulse Audio:
 
1. Gmusicbrowser
2. Quod Libet
3. Guayadeque
4. Deadbeef
5. Audacious
 
Bypassing Pulse Audio is necessary in order to eliminate the Linux mixer which down samples everything to 16/44.1K. Not good if you plan on listening to hi-rez audio. If not, then I wouldn't even worry about it.  All you need to know is whether your STX card is hw:0,1 or something else. If you have no onboard audio active in your BIOS, or other soundcards installed, your STX is probably hw:0,1. To find out for certain, open a terminal and type "aplay -l" (no quotes). Look for your STX card. 
 
Here's the link you need: http://www.head-fi.org/t/561961/bit-perfect-audio-from-linux#post_7596268

 
 
Thanks for the advice it worked!