[PurpleAngel]

LME49990NA, anyone try these in their Essence STX or ST?

 

[audioAl]

I use Foobar w/ sox resampler to my Asus Xonar DS toslinked to my Yamaha HT 465 amp which has burr brown dac's for all channels. Asus rocks!

 

[redrumy3]

So my X-Fi Forte died and I had it over 2 years so warranty is up and I would have to pay to get it fixed so not even going to bother with that. And I was looking for sound card to get and lots of people recommend this card. I do a lot of gaming and watching movies on my pc and was wondering how this card is with gaming and movies.
 
I use HD-555 with Zalman Mic for ventrilo etc, anyone have any problems at all while gaming, I mostly play Skyrim, BF3, Saints Row 3 etc basically all newer games and TF2 and CSS.
 
I also saw Creative came out with new sound cards as well so I am not sure what to do. Going to continue reading through this thread.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

So my X-Fi Forte died and I had it over 2 years so warranty is up and I would have to pay to get it fixed so not even going to bother with that. And I was looking for sound card to get and lots of people recommend this card. I do a lot of gaming and watching movies on my pc and was wondering how this card is with gaming and movies.
I use HD-555 with Zalman Mic for ventrilo etc, anyone have any problems at all while gaming, I mostly play Skyrim, BF3, Saints Row 3 etc basically all newer games and TF2 and CSS.
I also saw Creative came out with new sound cards as well so I am not sure what to do. Going to continue reading through this thread.

It appears the Titanium HD is a better sound card then the new Recon3D (PCI-Express).
But gaming wise?
Still to early to tell if the new Recon3D is a better gaming card, wish there were more reviews on it.
 
 
 

 

[redrumy3]

Yeah basically no reviews really on that card. So it's either this Asus card or Creative card but all I hear is creative drivers suck lol.
 
Quote:

It appears the Titanium HD is a better sound card then the new Recon3D (PCI-Express).
But gaming wise?
Still to early to tell if the new Recon3D is a better gaming card, wish there were more reviews on it.
 
 
 

 

 

[Head Injury]

The HD555 is very sensitive to output impedance compared to other full-sized headphones. The Essence STX wouldn't be ideal for it. And it's easy to drive, so the Titanium HD should handle it. Plus the Titanium is better built for gaming.
 
A general rule for computer equipment: All drivers suck. Some people have problems with ASUS drivers, some have problems with Creative drivers. Everyone complained about ATI drivers, but I only ever had problems with Nvidia drivers. Don't avoid a card just because some people say the drivers suck. It all depends on the computer and luck.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Yeah basically no reviews really on that card. So it's either this Asus card or Creative card but all I hear is creative drivers suck lol.

I'm a fan of the Xonar's, but the Creative cards are the better gaming cards (positional audio),
I've heard that Creative Labs has a big influence on OpenAL.
The Xonar drivers are very simple.
I really do not see many Xonar owner complaining about gaming.
 
 
 

 

[redrumy3]

I know creative card would be better buy but I went from Xtremegamer to X-Fi Forte cause my xtremegamer would snap crackle and pop all the time. Forte was working amazing until it died. And I will be getting better headphones soon so I would most likely need an amp so I just don't know what to do lol :X
 
Titanium HD is $150 and Asus would be $170 ugh not sure what to do

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I know creative card would be better buy but I went from Xtremegamer to X-Fi Forte cause my xtremegamer would snap crackle and pop all the time. Forte was working amazing until it died. And I will be getting better headphones soon so I would most likely need an amp so I just don't know what to do lol :X
Titanium HD is $150 and Asus would be $170 ugh not sure what to do

The Titanium HD does not come with a dedicated headphone amplifier, but seems to do a good job powering headphones with out one.
Also you can hook up an external headphone amplifier and still use all the surround sound stuff.
What headphones were you looking at?
 
Sometimes the Titanium HD goes on sale with a mail in rebate, final price gets down to $100.
 

 

[redrumy3]

I was looking at HD 650 or HD 598 250-350 range for headphones.
 
Quote:

The Titanium HD does not come with a dedicated headphone amplifier, but seems to do a good job powering headphones with out one.
Also you can hook up an external headphone amplifier and still use all the surround sound stuff.
What headphones were you looking at?
 
Sometimes the Titanium HD goes on sale with a mail in rebate, final price gets down to $100.
 

 

 

[Head Injury]

Essence STX for the HD650, Titanium HD for the HD598, provided the Titanium HD has low output impedance.
 
If you don't know which headphone you want next, you may want to play it safe and get the Essence STX. It will drive any headphone you're looking at with ease, and while its output impedance is objectionable, it will only be a problem with very low impedance headphones or ones with wild impedance curves like the HD598/HD555.
 
I wish I knew exactly how powerful the Titanium HD is, and what its specs really looked like.

 

[redrumy3]

Yeah I think I will get the Essence STX and if anything I could always return it for Titanium HD. Thanks going to order it now
 
Ordered from Newegg should come Wednesday
Quote:

Essence STX for the HD650, Titanium HD for the HD598, provided the Titanium HD has low output impedance.
 
If you don't know which headphone you want next, you may want to play it safe and get the Essence STX. It will drive any headphone you're looking at with ease, and while its output impedance is objectionable, it will only be a problem with very low impedance headphones or ones with wild impedance curves like the HD598/HD555.
 
I wish I knew exactly how powerful the Titanium HD is, and what its specs really looked like.

 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Yeah I think I will get the Essence STX and if anything I could always return it for Titanium HD. Thanks going to order it now
Ordered from Newegg should come Wednesday

A third party (BrainBit) makes the "Unified Xonar Drivers", I use it and it does not cause me any problems.
 
 
 

 

[verde57]

I've got rid of the 2 output caps and...
Why should I put resistors instead of living  the ST without anything in there place??

 

[aleex]

Think this was brought up in this or another thread, but if my DT990 Pro 250 Ohm have a decent volume at Normal Gain, there's no real reason to select a higher gain? I've experimented a bit with both (different Windows volumes, different volume in foobar/spotify etc), but I can't really say either one is better. Also, I often feel I listen at way too high volumes with High Gain, even if I have 50% in Windows or very low volume in foobar/spotify.
Also, the noise is pretty much inaudible at 100% (windows) normal gain, and not so audible at 50% (windows) high gain.