[germanium]

As I said before most people would not hear the difference with the audio gear they have as most computer speakers are not up to the task not to mention are very colored in & of themselves. My setup on the other hand is capable & sufficiently low in coloration of it's own to reveal that difference. My mod however does nothing to the headphone amps sound so if you don't like that then look at changing opamp & the like. My mod only effects the line out though I have compared the modded lineout via headphones through my modded preamp compared to the built in headphone amp & the sound matches very well. I have also compared other sources recorded though the STX card & compared both outputs & they match so the sound is not colored in any way with the modded lineout. This was done both through headphones & high quality speakers.

 

[germanium]

 




Quote:

 
 
....& here the difference is real as far as sound improvement.
 
Cut it out with the need for underhanded digs as the changes I've made to the system are real and have made an improvement in sound quality.  You guys need to lay off your BS of using flawed DBT result evaluations as your smoking gun.  When you anti-cable guys include evaluation parameters which includes the analogue nature of humanity's sensory system, you might get my attention.  Until then, you're just beating a dead horse with an out of tune digital trumpet.
 

There are a few others on here that have tried my mod & have agreed with my assessment of the sound improvement right down to the specific areas of improvement so it is not just my ears that say its better.
 
 

 

[beeman458]

My mod however does nothing to the headphone amps sound so if you don't like that then look at changing opamp & the like.
 
I might be confusing you in my comments.  Sorry, don't mean to.  Overall, after changing out the PSU, I'm happy with the STX sound, hence the recommendation to the OP.  I would like a larger stage and for more of the Sennheiser veil to be lifted.  And with high hopes, I await the arrival of the incoming custom headphone cables as the custom power cord ordered, failed me miserably.  I have been able to clean things up a bit with the computer generated EQ which ASUS so thoughtfully supplies with the STX.  The only problem there is, I need many saved custom EQ settings to cover the deficiencies in the sound quality of various recordings.
 
I have a few OpAmps (a pair of LME 49720NA's and a pair of OPA2111AM's) but the STX board was new when they came in, so my opinion, there's no point in trying to roll amps until the STX has a couple hundred hours on it.  That and based upon my situation, switching out and sampling OpAmps is a royal pain in the ol patootie.
 
There are a few others on here that have tried my mod & have agreed with my assessment of the sound improvement right down to the specific areas of improvement so it is not just my ears that say its better.
 
Not intimating that there's not noticeable change in your system.  And my apologies if that's what you thought.  Your use of the word "real" makes me think that you're taking an unnecessary underhanded swing at my comments about the PSU making a difference as if there wasn't a difference to be heard.  I have no reason to believe that your mods don't make a noticeable difference to the good.
 

 

[germanium]

 
Quote:

 
Not intimating that there's not noticeable change in your system.  And my apologies if that's what you thought.  Your use of the word "real" makes me think that you're taking an unnecessary underhanded swing at my comments about the PSU making a difference as if there wasn't a difference to be heard.  I have no reason to believe that your mods don't make a noticeable difference to the good.
 

I'm not saying that power supply mods don't make a difference. I have modded power supplies myself in the past & have completely altered the sound in that way but not all power mods I did were kept due to what I found in the end were obvious deviations from nuetral especially when modding the power supplies to the DAC itself. It brightened the sound excessively. There may have been something wrong with the first powersupply for your computer such as excessive noise or excessively high ESR due to drying of the electrolyte in the filter caps or just plain poor caps to begin with. I personally have noticed no sound difference with the computer power supplies I've had but I'm not discounting that there could be.
 
 Even though I quoted you, not all my comments are in fact directed toward you as there are others that are posting here that are more vociferous than you about proving everything through DBT,  I'm niether for or against such testing as I see flaws both ways & benefits both ways. I have heard differences in cable & have narrowed down what most likely is causing these differences & know because of this how tests might be setup to minimize those differences in a test situation that would in fact make the differences inaudible. One could in fact set the same test up in a way to make the difference obvious as well.

 

[beeman458]

There may have been something wrong with the first powersupply for your computer such as excessive noise or excessively high ESR due to drying of the electrolyte in the filter caps or just plain poor caps to begin with.
 
I'll go with the old unit being a run-of-the-mill, mooch, cheap azzzzz power supply that was intended to power a computer and didn't have powering sound cards in mind.  The PSU that I had installed, was a much better unit which allowed one to custom the cable installation, reducing EMI in the process, had no cable ponytail hanging out of the PSU and being a more powerful power supply, the unit had less draw percentage wise, of rated capacity on the unit as well as much better overall ripple statistics regarding load capability.

 

[leeperry]

I also noticed a drastic SQ improvement w/ internal soundcards when moving from a BeQuiet Straight Power 500W to a Corsair CX400...which I bought based on this test: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.canardpc.com%2Fdossier-36-450-Corsair_CX_400_Watts.html&sl=fr&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
 
the guy says that the ripple on the 12V rail is even lower than on the high grade Corsair that use a solid cap. PSU ripple DOES matter, that's the very reason why ppl use linear regulated PSU's...where you can reach 0.00x mV instead of 7/20mV.

 

[gwillys]

i'm no expert, but it seems to me that a more effective way to influence the power supply is through the voltage regulators on the card itself. read up on the smt 7805 & 7812, then look at audio specific discrete solutions. this has much more tangible results. you all like spec's - read the spec's.
here's the factory chips:
 
 
 
from dexa: "  100 times better ripple rejection, 10 times lower noise, and no line and load regulation error. It is discretely made on a circuit board, of roughly the same size as the 78XX / 79XX regulator. This way a regulator can be constructed with better performance than any known IC regulator on the market."
 
from burson: " Voltage regulators are an important part of a power supply system. The function of a standard 3-pin regulator is to stabilise supply voltage, but all regulators generate noise from their own operation. The noise will then feed into the rest of the circuitry"
 " Not only does our Super Regulator provide the basic function of a standard regulator (with a much lower noise level)  it also incorporates a noise filtration network that will screen out a wide bandwidth of unwanted noise from upstream. This will leave the output power stable and noise free. When clean power is supplied to the rest of the circuit, your equipment will perform to their full potential.  You will have overall improvement that is not limited to any particular section of the sound spectrum.
 For example if you apply our Super Regulator to a typical CD player you will be able to hear a lot more micro detail that was once muddied by white noise. You will also find bass improvement with better control and definition because now the regulator can recover faster from large current draws. You can also expect to hear a more open sound stage as many of the hidden details will now appear, along with the rest of the information to form a more three dimensional sound stage."
 
power-wise, unless you address the voltage regulator issue, you are largely spinning your wheels.
hate to burst anyone's bubble, but thats the reality of it.
 
 "The best solution is a well-designed power supply in the audio gear itself." This is Ed Simon's conclusion of a 5 part article on cleaning up AC power lines in AudioXpress, Aug - Dec 2008.
 
i'm using the dexa 7805, and the burson for the 7812 @ 16v output.
 
there are other sources besides burson & dexa.
 
 http://www.dp-audio.net/dp-audio/modules-MiniPRM.html 
http://www.tentlabs.com/Components/Shuntcomp/index.html
http://www.belleson.com/index.php
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/diy/PSU09/PSU09EN.htm
etc.

 

[beeman458]

There's the world of the ideal and then there's the world where reality meets the road.
 
Not all of us have time to work on our EE in order to get better sound as we're dependent on what we can affordably dig out of the trash heap for under a couple hundred USD.
 
It might help to reread the OP as what you're suggesting is outside the OP's question.

 

[gwillys]

me re-read? your a trip
due to your limitations, please consider my posts as not relating to you.

 

[gwillys]

Quote:

There are a few others on here that have tried my mod & have agreed with my assessment of the sound improvement right down to the specific areas of improvement so it is not just my ears that say its better.
 
 

hi  germanium, ok you got me
exactly what is your mod?

 

[beeman458]

your a trip
 
Oh, heck, you might want to reread your above.
 

 
due to your limitations,
 
Not having an EE is an advantage, not a limitation.  I stand by my comment regarding rereading the OP as your mod discussion is a hijack of the thread and gives the OP no guidance as to his original question and what the original poster wrote in his second post.
 
I just wanted opinions on a soundcard replacement that sounds great.
 
I'd say the STX is the big dog on the porch in regard to the above comment.  Maybe another thread where you can let your genius shine would be a good thing.
 

 

[germanium]

Quote:

hi  germanium, ok you got me
exactly what is your mod?

Very Very simple. It is removing the output coupling caps (CE8 & CE14) & soldering  wire in thier place. This is all that is needed to raise the performance level of this card substantially however you need good speakers & amps to take advantage of the improvement as your typical multimedia speaker/amp will not do it.
 
Amps that connect to this card when modded should have either no caps in the signal path or metalized film caps at worst. Electrolytic coupling caps are a big no no anywhere in the audio path except power supply as these will nullify most of the advantage that this mod offers. All my amps fit this charachteristic & are completely neutral not to mention very very revealling. 
 

 

[gwillys]

ok, thanks.  that was the first thing i did. and it did make a difference.mostly cleared up hf. however, after recapping the card, i can't tell the difference. i left the legs on those caps long so i could easily bypass them, and for the life of me tried to hear a difference. nada.
 
the burson xo arrived yesterday. very easy install. now, theres a upgrade. still in shock.
i'll post pic's when it looks presentable.