[RushNerd]

Quote:

The ST has a low-jitter clock and the Claro Halo does not.  They otherwise perform identically.

That's pretty much what I thought. So what is your guys take on this:
 
 

 
Well, the Claro Halo sounds pretty shrill
 

I suppose he might be right, but I don't see how.

 

[PelPix]

Quote:

That's pretty much what I thought. So what is your guys take on this:
 
 
I suppose he might be right, but I don't see how.

 
I hear jitter problems can do that, so it's likely the jitter.

 

[RushNerd]

Quote:

 
I hear jitter problems can do that, so it's likely the jitter.

The whole "jitter" thing is new to me so I guess i'll have to take your word on it. Do you think the HT Omega card not having this "Low-Jitter Clock" would really effect the sound that much??
 
I would hate to think I have to cut my losses and buy the Asus card just because of something so simple.

 

[PelPix]

Quote:

The whole "jitter" thing is new to me so I guess i'll have to take your word on it. Do you think the HT Omega card not having this "Low-Jitter Clock" would really effect the sound that much??
 
I would hate to think I have to cut my losses and buy the Asus card just because of something so simple.

Why is buying the asus card cutting your losses? It's only $4 more.
Oh, you already bought the Halo.

 

[RushNerd]

Quote:

Why is buying the asus card cutting your losses? It's only $4 more.
Oh, you already bought the Halo.

No need to be rude.
 
Anyway this is going to drive me absolutely bonkers so I RMA'd the HT Omega card back to Newegg ($30 restocking fee ouch+shipping). Luckly I was able to find a "Like New" Essence ST on Amazon $150 shipped so it pretty much breaks even.
 
If anyone is interested, i'll do my best to compare the HT Omega card and the Asus before I send the Omega back for A/B comparison.

 

[PelPix]

Quote:

No need to be rude.
 
Anyway this is going to drive me absolutely bonkers so I RMA'd the HT Omega card back to Newegg ($30 restocking fee ouch+shipping). Luckly I was able to find a "Like New" Essence ST on Amazon $150 shipped so it pretty much breaks even.
 
If anyone is interested, i'll do my best to compare the HT Omega card and the Asus before I send the Omega back for A/B comparison.

Didn't intend to be rude.  I honestly forgot that you had bought it.

 

[RushNerd]

It's all good. When it gets here i'll probably make a thread on the DT990+Xonar ST since this thread doesn't seem to be moving much. Hopefully some other people have that combo.

 

[WiR3D]

Quote:

There are a lot of reasons I like the ST more than external DACs.  The biggest is no-hassle, properly-clocked, bit-perfect transport without upsampling.

I wouldn't say no-hassle... to get the most from it you need Uni-drivers, and some fiddling.... Hi-Fi mode, ASIO, a proper music player (MusicBee in my case) in total its a fair amount of fiddling
 
Quote:

Thanks for trying to help but it still don't work
E17 has no clarity of STX or D1 so it's going back, but there is noticeable improvement difference on D1 over STX but i hope optical to start working

I really Don't think the E17 will keep up with the STX, especially not in the DAC section. like I said your avoiding the output impedance issue... but dropping a level to do it... which won't help. 

 

[PelPix]

Quote:

I wouldn't say no-hassle... to get the most from it you need Uni-drivers, and some fiddling.... Hi-Fi mode, ASIO, a proper music player (MusicBee in my case) in total its a fair amount of fiddling
 
I really Don't think the E17 will keep up with the STX, especially not in the DAC section. like I said your avoiding the output impedance issue... but dropping a level to do it... which won't help. 

It comes with its own bit-perfect ASIO driver out of the box.

 

[WiR3D]

Quote:

It comes with its own bit-perfect ASIO driver out of the box.

Check out the Uni Drivers at brainbit to see what I am talking about. The biggest issue is not the bit perfect, but the latency

 

[RushNerd]

Quote:

The ST has a low-jitter clock and the Claro Halo does not.  They otherwise perform identically.

 
 

They both use the TPA6120A2 headphone amplifier
They both use the C-Media CMI8788 audio processor.
 

That's why I didn't feel bad getting the Claro Halo...I should have. 
 
I just got my Xonar Essence today and carefully listened to my Halo before swaping/installing the Asus card. I don't know if the Halo card's high impedence mode was ramped down for cans of 60ohms and up or what, but..
The Essence ST is at least X2 louder than the Halo's headphone amp. At least for my 600ohm phones with the settings set for it.
 
I figured when I saw that a molex power cable plugs into the card, this thing was the real deal, amazing. This will hold me over until a better amp for sometime, very loud and powerful.

 

[harryyeo]

Urgh. The dual LME49990s that I bought off Ebay are touching the component right next to top I/V slot when installed into it. 
Will it cause any problems in the short/long run if I let it remain touching?
 
In case you're all wondering, I bought them from hifiic.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/320863640326?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_1489wt_1163
 
If there's gonna be problems, I guess I'll just install the LME49860 that I ordered from another seller.

 

[WiR3D]

Quote:

Urgh. The dual LME49990s that I bought off Ebay are touching the component right next to top I/V slot when installed into it. 
Will it cause any problems in the short/long run if I let it remain touching?
 
In case you're all wondering, I bought them from hifiic.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/320863640326?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_1489wt_1163
 
If there's gonna be problems, I guess I'll just install the LME49860 that I ordered from another seller.

Nah, should have seen the tower i had while testing, was crazy skew and offset so that i could get 2x (2x LME49710HA) in the IV section. that was scary. My THS4032 also touch the caps, no issues.

 

[meeklo062704]

I'm about to pull the trigger on an essence, and wanted some advice from those that already have it. Aside from the jitter issue, is there any major reason that would sway to one or the other between the st and the stx?  My natural thought is to go stx since it's pci-e, and I don't plan on using it for surround later so the add-on for 7.1 wouldn't factor in. I just got a pair of hd650's a few days ago, and have been on an amp hunt ever since. The asus cards are obviously good, but would anyone recommend other hardware to go along with it?
 

 

[stv014]

What motherboard do you use or plan to buy in the near future ? If you have no free slots of one type, then there is obviously only one choice. Also, the STX requires a 4-pin molex connector (missing from some newer PSU's, but this can be worked around with a cheap adapter). I do not think the jitter is much of an issue in practice, but maybe the ST is not as noisy at 44.1 kHz; then again, with the HD650, the noise is inaudible anyway.