[ROBSCIX]

The OPA2107's are very detailed so they may be a good mix with the OPA2228.
Aloowing the bass impact of the 2228 but still giving you more detail then is available on the JRC2114SD's. Good luck with your testing.

 

[8-bit thief]

You were right Robo, the 2228 isn't that great in the buffer slot, this morning I put the stock LM4562 back in the STX buffer and swapped out the stock opamp in my little dot I+ with the 2228, I gained at least 3 times the bass with the 2228 in my little dot than when I had it in the STX's buffer, it's not sloppy and uncontrolled sounding either and it's extremely impactful, the highs are toned down like last time but not to the point where I lose detail and the vocals retained that pleasant distant sound from before.

The soundstage has been compromised quite a bit however, replacing the 2 JRCs with 2107's like I had originally planned will hopefully fix that though.


I can actually listen to house music with my AD900's now

 

[ROBSCIX]

Enjoy.

 

[nivlek]

I tried 3x49720NA, its sounds bass heavy but loosing other details. Then I tried 2x49720NA with the stock JRC2114 to buffer. sounds alot better, with good bass but still keeping other details, more balance. Any other combination worth to try for my setup?

 

[XpanD]

Alright guys... I bought and received an Essence STX. The sound quality so far is amazing, but... Every time I play a game, and it crashes, the last-second sound keeps on looping infinitely. This can even stack, looping a multitude of sounds. Also, for some reason GTA: San Andreas seems to be crashing almost every 5 minutes.

What could be the cause of this? I really hate having to reboot every time, and the device manager trick doesn't work because it forces me to restart.

 

[Shizdan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nivlek /img/forum/go_quote.gif I tried 3x49720NA, its sounds bass heavy but loosing other details. Then I tried 2x49720NA with the stock JRC2114 to buffer. sounds alot better, with good bass but still keeping other details, more balance. Any other combination worth to try for my setup?

We have basically identical setups. I found the 3x 49720 to be bass heavy and killed everything as well.

 

[dL.]

Hello,

I just picked up the Essence STX. When I switch mode between 2 channel to headphone (Analog out), theres this clicking noise inside my case. Is this normal? If not, what is the problem? I have already connected external power to the sound card.

dL

 

[ROBSCIX]

Just answered this in another thread, so to repeat:

That is normal. You are hearing the relays re-routing the circuit.
You can test it by going into the recording panel and swicthing betweem mic or line in.
Again, you will hear a click. When you boot the card you shoudl also hear it clicking.
As the card is setting the I/O as you have configured in the drivers.
Perfectly normal and it gets asked every so often. Common on Xonar cards.

 

[jalyst]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8-bit thief /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can actually listen to house music with my AD900's now

You own ATH-AD900's?
I've been thinking about getting them.
Are you mostly happy with them?

 

[wali]

After two weeks of struggling with Xonar and trying to enjoy it with headphones, I give up. I think no matter what, connecting a high-end headphone to the headphone out of Xonar is not going to sound as good as it should, because the highly sensitive headphone is connected to a PC which is noisy. Most high-end headphones are for monitoring purpose so connecting one to a PC will always entail monitoring whats happening inside the PC, even though the noise might not be audible, but it is still there (noise floor?).

Anyway, speakers are the way to go with Xonar and its with speakers that the full potential of this card becomes apparent, and its jaw dropping... a high quality monitors or even full towers, give it a try and you won't connect your headphones to the card again, even with audio out and a headphone amp... For headphone listening get a DAC, something like Musiland US2, which hopefully my replacement should arrive soon.

Anyway, I repeat myself that no modding is going to change the headphone listening quality of this headphone, keep it stock and connect it to a set of high quality speakers.

anyway, i'm happy to got that off my chest. had it not been for speakers i would have sold the xonar.

xonar XTS
HD580/ HD600 grills HD650 cable

 

[ROBSCIX]

Noise is always there in ANY audio circuit. If you can hear it or not is another question.
There are many using this card for headphones and many use it with speakers. Many around use it connected to their own amplifiers. Actually modding the card can change quite a bit about it...considering well your changing the components. It has been posted a few times and commonly known among owners that the line output is higher quality then the headphones output. The headphones output is not going to compete with some high end headphones amplifier. You have to consider the price of the unit and keep things in perspective.

 

[8-bit thief]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jalyst /img/forum/go_quote.gif You own ATH-AD900's? I've been thinking about getting them. Are you mostly happy with them?

Yeah I'm pretty happy with them, they go well with the genres I listen to, Rock sounds amazing due to the emphasized highs and upper mids it really makes electric guitars and cymbals shine, the lower mids also stand out a little bit which gives drums a nice kick (not nearly as much as the highs and upper mids), classical music is another genre I listen to a lot which also sounds amazing due to the wide soundstage, I'm a huge metal head too and I find it does the genre decently though I think most people wouldn't like it because the lack of bass really sucks out a lot of the aggressiveness, it doesn't really bother me that much though because I've always found the sharp crash of a cymbal much more exciting than thump thump, but I wouldn't mind a little more oomph either.

The AD900 is bass light, but I rarely listen to hip-hop, dance or anything bass heavy, if I did I wouldn't have bought these phones in the first place however I find that there's enough bass to get me by on the rare occasions where I do listen to these genres.

 

[dL.]

Will it be higher quality if I plug my Audioengine A2 to the STX via RCA cable directly versus plugging it through 3.5mm and using the supplied RCA/3.5 adapter?

dL

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XpanD /img/forum/go_quote.gif Alright guys... I bought and received an Essence STX. The sound quality so far is amazing, but... Every time I play a game, and it crashes, the last-second sound keeps on looping infinitely. This can even stack, looping a multitude of sounds. Also, for some reason GTA: San Andreas seems to be crashing almost every 5 minutes. What could be the cause of this? I really hate having to reboot every time, and the device manager trick doesn't work because it forces me to restart.

Are you using the latest drivers off the ASUS site?

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dL. /img/forum/go_quote.gif Will it be higher quality if I plug my Audioengine A2 to the STX via RCA cable directly versus plugging it through 3.5mm and using the supplied RCA/3.5 adapter? dL

Connect your speakers to the RCA's (line outs). If you have the RCA cables to your speakers just use those. If you don't have the add an adapter then avoid using it.