[AlfBaxter]

I'm looking to upgrade my Auzen Prelude - I've finally had enough of Creative drivers, and won't ever go back to any card that uses them. I'm considering either the Asus Xonar D2 or the Essence STX. I already have a dedicated headphone amp (Matrix M-Stage) so won't be amping my HD650 using the soundcard. I also use only stereo output. Is there any real difference in SQ between these two cards, factoring out the headphone amp on the STX?
 
Reason I ask is that the D2 is around £50 cheaper. The DACs seem comparable (I'm not convinced I can hear the difference between -118 and -124db SNR!), as do the stock opamps. Has anyone used both, and if so do you have an opinion on whether the difference in line-out quality (unamped), if there is any, is sufficient to justify the price difference?

 

[Thunderbolt]

if you are fed up with driver BS, the essence might not be the right card for you
 
but if you use stereo only and dont game or need surround stuff, you could be fine.

 

[leeperry]

if you are fed up with driver BS, the essence might not be the right card for you.

+1000: http://brainbit.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/
 

 

[Maleficus]

God I hope this works out, I just RMA'd my ESI Juli@ for a D2 because of the issues I was having with the Juli@.