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Is the STX better for gaming or not as good as Titanium HD? It's about $50 more but maybe it's better, better drivers ect? I'll be using this for about 90% gaming with the other 10% being Music and movies. The bad drivers is what scares me a little. I know Roller you say if you install them properly there wont be any issues, but than I read so many bad reviews about the bad drivers from people that have bought this. Are they just using the old outdated drivers that come on the disc or what? Am I being too paranoid here about this?
Even the lowest Creative X-Fi Titanium refurbished is a better deal than the most expensive Asus card, simply due to the fact that gaming has always been an afterthought on such cards. The Asus Xonar Essence STX performs very much on the same level of a $5 onboard audio chip, simply due to the fact that most gaming audio features are exclusive to Creative, and for those to be available on other manufacturers, there are licensing costs that need to be paid.
The reason why brands like Auzentech have soundcards available with the full gaming audio feature set is because they have licensed the X-Fi DSP chip from Creative, which is what provides hardware acceleration for game audio renderers, improved positional cue processing due to the chip doing a rather heavy computational load in realtime, and having their proprietary algorithms that allow for a better sense of sound in the 3D space you're in when gaming.
Basically, you can get a $5000 card that will still perform poorly in games if it lacks the X-Fi DSP, that's just how things are.
Most opinions on drivers are more often than not outdated, going many years back. The Titanium HD drivers are up to date, as well as their several updates.
You're in no way being paranoid, that is a legitimate reason for concern, but in the specific product being discussed (along many others, but speaking of this for the sake of coherence) has very stable drivers, moreso than recent ones from previous generation hardware.
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The T-HD (Titanium HD) has better support for gaming, but I really do not see a lot of Essence STX & ST owners complaining about gaming problems.
The T-HD has better support for EAX audio, but I do not believe it is used as much anymore in newer games.
I prefer using the Essence STX myself, I have used about 4 or 5 Creative cards in my past.
In general I've had better luck with non Creative sound card/drivers/software.
Audio quality wise the T-HD & Essence are about equal.
The Essence has better support for high Ohm headphones (250-Ohm to 600-Ohm range).
At 150-Ohms or less, I would guess they are about equal.
Roller is very Pro Creative Labs.
His opinion of non-creative cards can sometimes be very negative.
Asus cards have little to no gaming audio features, that's a fact, not an opinion. You might want to read about what you want to talk before actually talking, as that won't make you look like a fool. No one buys Asus cards for gaming and for good reason, since they have the bare minimum features that are present on single digit entry chips.
And contrary to what some might think, EAX isn't tied to DirectSound3D (a very common misconception), and can be used through several general purpose audio renderers.
If you lack basic logic understanding (like deliberately trolling other threads in a flaming way, which was grounds for reporting), please remove yourself from the conversation. I've used enough cards from enough manufacturers to know what areas they excel in.
But feel free to continue to bash with unfounded opinions.
EDIT: At least you posted headphone driving info that's correct.
