[ROBSCIX]

LOL! a 2132 over a 49720?

Not a chance. IMHO.

To note, your also using a Prodigy HD2 so it may be a good mix with your DAC and cans but I have tried it on the ST(X) -meaning both cards and it is a very bland, boring opamp...

If you like it great but there are much better opamps out there.

 

[chinesekiwi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's part of the reason why I thought 3xLME49720NA mated so well with the DT990. Their bass-light sound evens out the bloomy mid-bass of the cans. It also works well with the HD650, making them sound quite balanced. The DT880 are already bass-light headphones so I'm not surprised at your findings. Unfortunately, I haven't found any good opamps that increase bass. The bassiest opamp is the stock JRC2114D IME but it has several flaws in other aspects which make it incomparable to the LME49720NA.

The DT880/600 is the bassiest of all the DT880's and tbh, the best of all the DT880's SQ wise when properly amped.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/bey...thread-429371/

So currently, although I know the 3 x LME49720NA has better sound fidelity, currently using 2 x LME49720NA in I/V, and the default LM4562 in buffer as it fills that bass void while keeping the detail of the LME49720NA's.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif The DT880/600 is the bassiest of all the DT880's and tbh, the best of all the DT880's SQ wise when properly amped. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/bey...thread-429371/ So currently, although I know the 3 x LME49720NA has better sound fidelity, currently using 2 x LME49720NA in I/V, and the default LM4562 in buffer as it fills that bass void while keeping the detail of the LME49720NA's.

I never said the DT880/600 is bad. I personally think it's Beyerdynamic's top headphone (after the Tesla). I just think it's presentation errs on the side of neutrality and so it could use a bassy system behind it to sound best.

 

[chinesekiwi]

Anyway, I'm gonna take the nice and expensive testing plunge and buy 3 x AD797ANZ's and the Musiland 02 US. No point speculating.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyway, I'm gonna take the nice and expensive testing plunge and buy 3 x AD797ANZ's and the Musiland 02 US. No point speculating.

I'll be looking forward to your comparisons. I, OTOH, have decided to have a Gamma 2 DAC commissioned for me. I'll probably have that in a couple months time (likely less). I'll be sure to compare it to the STX.

 

[chinesekiwi]

Switched back to 3 x LME49720NA's for now as the LM4562 + 2 x LME49720NA combo started to sound funky in the bass, like a slightly badly ported subwoofer + I'm a detail freak.

 

[gurubhai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'll be looking forward to your comparisons. I, OTOH, have decided to have a Gamma 2 DAC commissioned for me. I'll probably have that in a couple months time (likely less). I'll be sure to compare it to the STX.

Looking forward for the comparison.

 

[Bmac]

I have a Neko D100 coming in a week or two, and a Music Hall DAC 25.2 coming in 6 or 8 weeks. I'll compare both with the STX and let you guys know the STX fares.

 

[potm]

Hi guys,
Hope you have some time to help a noob out. Tried searching around but couldn't find the answers.
I have this card and use it with just 2 speakers or headphones.
I was wondering what settings people usually used for music and games.
For music I use the Hifi dsp mode and for gaming I use the gaming one.
That is simple enough but what about the audio channels sample rate and 7.1 virtual speaker shifter.
I know sample rate should match the same one as your source, I think most music is 44.1 movies are 48 and some things are 96. Right now I've just got it on 96 because its too much trouble changing all the time. I can't notice any difference when I change between them anyway.
Audio channels I'm not sure on. I have it set to 2 because I only have 2 speakers. I've read that it should be 6 for movies and 8 for games. Would it be okai if I just left it at 8 or would this affect my music.
I really wished they allowed you to save your own custom profiles or have hotkeys to change quickly or even better change automatically based on the program running.
Thanks in advanced for any advice provided.

 

[ROBSCIX]

It is basically what suits you. Many aorund here would say to use the HI-FI mode for your music as it gets rid of extar effects etc. that you might not want on your music.

You cannot notice any difference because the card uses a high quality interpolation filter. Generally the idea is to keep the sample rate set for the music but you cannot do that all the time if you have music with mixed bitrates. So many just do what you do set it to the highest rate and let it upsample. ASUS is said to be working on new drivers for "auto smaple rate adjust".

For EAX/openAL games use the GX gaming mode. This will give you emulation of the effects. It can be a bit hit or miss depending on the game. Mostgames are 5.1 or 7.1 so you can set the input for that number of channels when gaming and many will use Dolby Heapdhoens for gaming as it give you virtual surround.

The auto mode adjust has been suggested a few times..but we will have to wait and see how the newer drivers turn out when released.
All these are just suggestions. Peoples opinions will vary..
Hope this helps.

 

[Duperman]

Is it a female molex connector or male that goes into the card?

Because my computer doesn't have any molex plug at all...but it does have an unused 6 pin pci express cable, maybe I can buy an adapter??

Ex. in picture below is it that left plug that goes into the card?

NCIX.com - Buy Male Molex Power 4PIN to PCI Express 6PIN Female Adapter Cable for ATX Power Supply - PCIe-6F-4M In Canada.

 

[gurubhai]

@potm : I would advise you to keep the channel setting at 6/8 so that the downmixing is done by Xonar drivers & not by windows.
Also configure your media player to not do any downmixing with multichannel streams.

 

[potm]

Thanks for the replies guys. I would assume that by default, media players wouldn't downmix multi channels. I'm using winamp right now and can't seem to find any option for it.
Is there one in foobar, I'm considering changing to that since everyone recommends it but will have to be when I have the time to play around with it.

@Duperman

It's a male molex connector that you need to go into the female slot of your card.

DealExtreme: $3.72 1-to-4 Molex Power Cable Splitter
One of those should suit you fine. Molex connectors usually plug into fans which don't take much power so you can piggyback them on. The STX also requires minimum power. Since you have a spare pci connector your PSU will be a pretty decent one. That or you have no GPU

Usually people are trying to change molex to pci pin, not the other way around so it might be hard to find a female pci to male molex.

 

[Ardent]

I got my card and PC up, and put a LME49720HA in the buffer. Still waiting for the 627s and brown dogs to arrive, though.

Not tried out the line out, via headphone only - I'm pretty unimpressed with the stock output, especially compared to how good my old prelude with the 637SMs was. Hope the 627Bs comes soon so I can try this out better.

 

[digitor]

Hi Guys

Just got a brand new system 3 days ago with the following specs:
Intel i7 860
ASUS P7P55D-LE
Gigabyte GTS 250 1 GB PCIE
Windows 7 PRO 32 Bit
Kingston 4GB DDR 1333
Logitech Z 2300 2.1 Speakers (carried on from the old system)

Initially, the sound was through the motherboard which I found not that great (It was good but a bit brassy and dull). On reading extensive reviews, I got impressed by what Essence STX had to offer. Did the purchase and got the soundcard installed by the initial dealers (they forgot to plug in the STX with an internal 4 Pin Molex power supply, which I had to do myself). Downloaded the new drivers through the website and got the software installed. The PROBLEM now is that I cant seem to playback any music. Ive tried several players such as iTunes, Real, Windows etc but music seems to be playing without any sound (nothing happening in the Xonar Essence Sound Centre). Also, I tried doing a Test (for L & R speakers) through the Xonar Essence Sound Centre using my Logitech Z 2300's (which are working fine with my Ipod). In the test, sound is played-back but only through the Left speaker (It says "Left" and "Right" but both times sound comes from only the Left speaker). I connected the 3.5 to RCA cable with my speaker system. Can anyone please help me, I feel like I've just wasted $230 (AU)? Thanks in anticipation.

(p.s. - ASUS tech support is living upto its reputation)