Dibster
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2010
- Posts
- 74
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- 10
What's been bothering me lately is the fact my current soundcard, the Asus Xonar STX, boasts incredibly good measurements for something that costs a fraction of the price of external devices that have a hard time matching it. I have extensively compared it to a Musical Fidelity V-DAC and a Heed Canamp. Subjectively, the STX offers a very dry and often shrill representation of the recording. The former duo is very smooth and lush in comparison, however - again subjectively speaking - the STX does seem to be more resolving.
Now, we all have our preferences of how our albums should sound. Some like tubes, some solid state. Some like "warm", some "analytical" etc. However, if we're speaking purely of how close to the original recording we can get, do you feel these measurements are a reliable way to see it? Would the Xonar STX truly beat a 1300€ DAC/AMP combo geared towards accuracy in being true to what is on the CD as measurements would suggest?
Now, we all have our preferences of how our albums should sound. Some like tubes, some solid state. Some like "warm", some "analytical" etc. However, if we're speaking purely of how close to the original recording we can get, do you feel these measurements are a reliable way to see it? Would the Xonar STX truly beat a 1300€ DAC/AMP combo geared towards accuracy in being true to what is on the CD as measurements would suggest?