[audiofreak81]

Oh, I just found the brown dog adapters that involves no soldering what-so-ever. But they charge $33 for 2 of the op-amps. I'll just buy those seperately.

 

[derbigpr]

Is there anyone around here who prefers the sound from STX when the dolby headphone mode is turned one? (DH-2 setting, livelier room)
 
I know that such things are usually looked down upon by most audiophiles, but I want to hear the opinions of others on this matter.
I also used to listen to music with all modes turned off, in pure 2 channel stereo, but then I discovered that using a DH-2 setting (by accident, I left it on after playing a game) with dolby headphone box ticked and with 8 channel enabled actually just increases the soundstage and makes the music sound realistic and alive, at least to my ears. It makes it sound cleaner, more detailed, wider, bigger...bass especially sounds much better, punchier, crisper, but deeper and more textured. It seemed a bit un-natural at first when I listened to music, but I got used to it fast and I like it so much now that I simply can't listen to music without it, even if it is all artificial. When I turn the dolby headphone mode off, music just sounds very very wrong.   Sound is small, in-your-head, undefined, closed in, soundstage very narrow, instrument separation non-existent compared to dolby mode, bass is weak and has very little details, just booms and thumps, micro-details in high region are gone, feeling of distance from instruments and positioning are very bad, etc....and that's when using Sennheiser HD650's. I prefer the dolby mode with my other headphones as well, but I especially feel the difference with HD650's, its really a big difference, not like when switching between amps or DAC's, it truly is a night and day difference. Listening in dolby mode for 2 hours and then turning it off makes me feel like the headphone drivers have been damaged all of a sudden.

Give it a try for an hour or so, and then turn the dolby off.  It will feel weird at first and music might sound artificial (but not in a bad way, if that makes any sense) and like its coming from 2 huge speakers somewhere 10 meters away from you in a big room with proper acoustic treatment, but you will see how bad it will seem to sound after you turn the dolby off.   
 
NOTE: all my music is FLAC, mostly 24 bit 96 khz,  I also have binaural recordings, which make an even bigger difference.

 

[audiofreak81]

I have mine turned off, I think it makes it sound terrible. I have my settings on 8 channel, PCM 192 khz, effect is Padded Cell- S-Rock, Flex Bass is 150hz, HP Large. With these settings and upgraded op-amps on the 650's music sounds amazing.

 

[sabzingeur]

 
In the first post it is said that the Xonar STX supports GX 2.0, and ASUS states this on their website:
Quote:

3D Sound Engines/APIs:
Vista: DirectSound3D® GX 2.5, DirectSound® HW, DirectSound SW, A3D®1.0, OpenAL generic modes, 128 3D sounds processing capability 

However, with the latest driver, on Windows 7 x64, I got this:
 

 
Can somebody give some insight into this?
 

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

I have mine turned off, I think it makes it sound terrible. I have my settings on 8 channel, PCM 192 khz, effect is Padded Cell- S-Rock, Flex Bass is 150hz, HP Large. With these settings and upgraded op-amps on the 650's music sounds amazing.

 
LOL I didn't even know about the Flex Bass and small/large headphone settings.  Anyway, I tried it now, and makes it makes no difference between having the Flex Bass setting turned on or off in large HP setting, and changing the crossover freqency doesnt change a thing.  What should the crossover frequency changer do anyway? Isn't that only for speakers with 2 or more drivers?

 

[deusofhearts]

Quote:

Is there anyone around here who prefers the sound from STX when the dolby headphone mode is turned one? (DH-2 setting, livelier room)
 
I know that such things are usually looked down upon by most audiophiles, but I want to hear the opinions of others on this matter.
I also used to listen to music with all modes turned off, in pure 2 channel stereo, but then I discovered that using a DH-2 setting (by accident, I left it on after playing a game) with dolby headphone box ticked and with 8 channel enabled actually just increases the soundstage and makes the music sound realistic and alive, at least to my ears. It makes it sound cleaner, more detailed, wider, bigger...bass especially sounds much better, punchier, crisper, but deeper and more textured. It seemed a bit un-natural at first when I listened to music, but I got used to it fast and I like it so much now that I simply can't listen to music without it, even if it is all artificial. When I turn the dolby headphone mode off, music just sounds very very wrong.   Sound is small, in-your-head, undefined, closed in, soundstage very narrow, instrument separation non-existent compared to dolby mode, bass is weak and has very little details, just booms and thumps, micro-details in high region are gone, feeling of distance from instruments and positioning are very bad, etc....and that's when using Sennheiser HD650's. I prefer the dolby mode with my other headphones as well, but I especially feel the difference with HD650's, its really a big difference, not like when switching between amps or DAC's, it truly is a night and day difference. Listening in dolby mode for 2 hours and then turning it off makes me feel like the headphone drivers have been damaged all of a sudden.

Give it a try for an hour or so, and then turn the dolby off.  It will feel weird at first and music might sound artificial (but not in a bad way, if that makes any sense) and like its coming from 2 huge speakers somewhere 10 meters away from you in a big room with proper acoustic treatment, but you will see how bad it will seem to sound after you turn the dolby off.   
 
NOTE: all my music is FLAC, mostly 24 bit 96 khz,  I also have binaural recordings, which make an even bigger difference.

 
DH-2 sounds very unnatural for music to me and probably many others on here, but I believe audio is purely subjective and understand that some people can only enjoy their music with unique EQ settings.  I use DH-2 strictly for games though... Can't play BF3 any other way.
 
Quote:

I have mine turned off, I think it makes it sound terrible. I have my settings on 8 channel, PCM 192 khz, effect is Padded Cell- S-Rock, Flex Bass is 150hz, HP Large. With these settings and upgraded op-amps on the 650's music sounds amazing.

Tried these settings and they're actually pretty fun.  Thanks for sharing.

 

[audiofreak81]

I also have an upgraded cable, that'll probably make a difference in the audio with these settings too.

 

[Psyside]

Hey guys, few questions from new STX owner.
 
Does the card autmaticly change the sample rate, with the latest drivers? or should i just switch depending on the record?
 
Also i heard STX is ASIO card, i use ASIO with it, with AIMP3, and it sound alot louder then WASAPI, i wonder if this is normal, and on top of that i cant control the volume trough the drivers when i use ASIO mode with AIMP3, but yet i can control it only with the player it self? (AIMP3) is this also normal?
 
And lastly is it normal to get stuttering noise when you try to watch youtube video but got the AIMP3 open, is this cause of the ASIO?
 
Thanks!

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

Hey guys, few questions from new STX owner.
 
Does the card autmaticly change the sample rate, with the latest drivers? or should i just switch depending on the record?
 
Also i heard STX is ASIO card, i use ASIO with it, with AIMP3, and it sound alot louder then WASAPI, i wonder if this is normal, and on top of that i cant control the volume trough the drivers when i use ASIO mode with AIMP3, but yet i can control it only with the player it self? (AIMP3) is this also normal?
 
And lastly is it normal to get stuttering noise when you try to watch youtube video but got the AIMP3 open, is this cause of the ASIO?
 
Thanks!

 
 
Don't know about the sample rate, I just keep mine at 192 all the time, in my asus xonar control and in window sound settings.   As far as WASAPI being louder, i think thats just because it automatically increases all your volume controls to maxiumum.  Those WASAPI and ASIO plug ins you get for different music players are not very good unless you run your card output to the headphone amplifier trough RCA.  If you use the headphone amp in the card itself, it won't allow you to change volume, it will just max it.
 

 

[Linkin]

Quote:

Quote:

Hey guys, few questions from new STX owner.
 
Does the card autmaticly change the sample rate, with the latest drivers? or should i just switch depending on the record?
 
Also i heard STX is ASIO card, i use ASIO with it, with AIMP3, and it sound alot louder then WASAPI, i wonder if this is normal, and on top of that i cant control the volume trough the drivers when i use ASIO mode with AIMP3, but yet i can control it only with the player it self? (AIMP3) is this also normal?
 
And lastly is it normal to get stuttering noise when you try to watch youtube video but got the AIMP3 open, is this cause of the ASIO?
 
Thanks!

 
 
Don't know about the sample rate, I just keep mine at 192 all the time, in my asus xonar control and in window sound settings.   As far as WASAPI being louder, i think thats just because it automatically increases all your volume controls to maxiumum.  Those WASAPI and ASIO plug ins you get for different music players are not very good unless you run your card output to the headphone amplifier trough RCA.  If you use the headphone amp in the card itself, it won't allow you to change volume, it will just max it.
 

I disagree with that. I'm using wasapi with my STX over headphones and can readily change the volume and the amplifier gain, with obvious volume changes through the cans.

 

[billakos]

Hi to every one. It took me almost 2 days to read all 195 pages and it was like following you to the past 2 years..
2 years of exploration and i have to say it was amazing. Thank you for sharing your tests, your results, your thoughts. It is very very usefull.
 
I would like to ask anyone who knows and would like to help a few things.
 
I have the Edifier s550 5.1 speakers with X-Fi Titanium. Tuesday i ordered the Asus Xonar Essence ST with the H6 multichannel extension card. Because they didn't have the H6 they saidt hey will ship me both of them on Thursday. So i am waiting for these babies to arrive.
 
So my questions are:
1. I know i can change the opamps in H6 card. I can understand that not all of us like the same combination. Does anyone tried this modification? What combination or combinations would suit better ?
 
2. Can i change the opamp of center/sub seperately and how? From the I/V section? Any combination recommended for this?
 
3.A change of the opamps in the ST card affect the H6 output?
 
and finally
4. Do the Burson HD's worth this great great money difference? And do i need 9 of them or just the 3 in the ST would be ok? (small continuity from the 3d question..)
 
I would like to thank you in advance  all who had the patience to read all this and and all who both have the patience to read and reply!
Bill.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Hi to every one. It took me almost 2 days to read all 195 pages and it was like following you to the past 2 years..
2 years of exploration and i have to say it was amazing. Thank you for sharing your tests, your results, your thoughts. It is very very usefull.
I would like to ask anyone who knows and would like to help a few things.
I have the Edifier s550 5.1 speakers with X-Fi Titanium. Tuesday i ordered the Asus Xonar Essence ST with the H6 multichannel extension card. Because they didn't have the H6 they saidt hey will ship me both of them on Thursday. So i am waiting for these babies to arrive.
So my questions are:
1. I know i can change the opamps in H6 card. I can understand that not all of us like the same combination. Does anyone tried this modification? What combination or combinations would suit better ?
2. Can i change the opamp of center/sub seperately and how? From the I/V section? Any combination recommended for this?
3.A change of the opamps in the ST card affect the H6 output?
and finally
4. Do the Burson HD's worth this great great money difference? And do i need 9 of them or just the 3 in the ST would be ok? (small continuity from the 3d question..)
I would like to thank you in advance  all who had the patience to read all this and and all who both have the patience to read and reply!
Bill.

 
I believe the stock op-amps (LM4652 & JRC2114D) are very neutral in sound.
 
Wow, I'm guessing not too many people use the Asus H6 and do op-amps swaps with the H6.
you might have to be the first one to try swapping the op-amps on it and then post the results.
On my Essence STX I swapped out all 3 op-amps and used three LME49860NAs.
you can get 10 LME49860NAs off eBay for $45.
The LME49860NA is the same op-amp as the LM4652, but the LME49860NA has a better voltage range.
 
I believe the AD797 have one of the better reputations for improving sound quality, but they are SOIC and single channel, so two have to be soldered to a SOIC to DIP-8 adapter before installation, so if you wanted to replace all 12 op-amps, you would need to buy 24 AD797 and 12 SOIC to DIP-8 adapters total price around $120, plus soldering iron and solder.
you can buy pre-soldered dual AD797 chip adapters on eBay, around $65 for 10 pieces, but you are buying from China/Hong Kong.
 
With my next upgrade, I'm going to be soldering 6 LME49990NA (single channel) to 3 SOIC to DIP-8 adapters for the three slots on my STX.
 
 

 

[billakos]

Thank you PurpleAngel for your very nice and quick answer .
 
3 LME49860NAs is one of the combinations i wanted to try after reading all previous pages.
Imagine though that changing 9 of them cost is $45 as you said. The 24 AR797s with adapters $120 just to get and try.
And some few other good combinations as mentioned before would go the cost to about $350-$400 which is almost double to the card's price.
 
That's why i would like to know if changing the 3 on the ST card would have impact to the H6 also. Furthermore 3 Burson HD will cost about $230 which is considerably lot but very good if they are so great as they are supposed to be.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Thank you PurpleAngel for your very nice and quick answer .
3 LME49860NAs is one of the combinations i wanted to try after reading all previous pages.
Imagine though that changing 9 of them cost is $45 as you said. The 24 AR797s with adapters $120 just to get and try.
And some few other good combinations as mentioned before would go the cost to about $350-$400 which is almost double to the card's price.
That's why i would like to know if changing the 3 on the ST card would have impact to the H6 also. Furthermore 3 Burson HD will cost about $230 which is considerably lot but very good if they are so great as they are supposed to be.

I'm going to guess(?) that an analog 7.1 (8 channel total) speaker set uses all 12 op-amps, one LM4652 with two JRC2114 per 2 channels.
So for analog sound, the 9 op-amps on the H6 handles 6 channels and the 3 op-amps ST's handle 2 channels.
The 3 op-amps on the STcould used to power the 2 channels on the STX, but are also used to power 2 channels on the H6.
If all you used on the H6 is analog 5.1, then the op-amps on the ST would not be used/needed.
This is my theory (guess).
 
Find out if anyone else has used the Burson on the H6 or ST.
Some op-amps do not like working on some PCBs
Some op-amps do not work well with other (different) op-amps on the same PCB.
 
 
 

 

[billakos]

Thank you again for replying!
 
Yes the 3 op-amps in the ST/STX card handles the front 2 channels. The H6 handles rear, sub/center and sides.
And absolutely correct that
Some op-amps do not like working on some PCBs
Some op-amps do not work well with other (different) op-amps on the same PCB.
 
If i don't find an answer for the Burson HDs i will definately try the 4986NAs (3 of them).