[giedrys]

Quote:

I use 3 lme49720na's in both my ST and STX and harsh treble is not a problem. They totally transformed the standard sound. My stereo is reasonably high end and the ST sounds impressive as a source. I have never run anything other than IEMs out of it headphone wise.
 
Regards
 
Macrog

Well, since you think they make that much difference and cost is something like $7, I might as well try it. So you need 3 in total for ST. How easy is to swap them? I assume no soldering is involved?

 

[macrog]

No solder required just a good set of screwdrivers. I have zero regrets re the opamps. With the opamp upgrade the ST compared pretty well to the Dacmagic I had at the time. My stereo gear has moved along way but my ST remains in my computer.
 
The ST is much better than the STX by the way. each both with the same opamps.
 
Regards
 
Macrog

 

[ancientz]

Following up my post here
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/414322/xonar-essence-st-sneak-peek/1725#post_7161925
 
would like to add that I've placed the ST at the last PCI slot so hopefully EMI will not be that terrible - fingers crossed.

 
Also decided not to buy the Logitech speakers cause from what I gather reading here - they're far from quality speakers anyway.
 
So, I'd love to get quality headphones for my Essence ST; good thing I've registered here otherwise I would have bought expensive Sennheisers without knowing that they actually need decent amplification as well.

 
It all gets down to this - what would you recommend as far as headphones without amps/dac etc?

 
Cheers 

 

[Piospi]

ST / STX. Which to choose? I have ST. Apparently the ST has a better sound than STX - I can see it at Sennheiser HD555? ST has a PCI, which has already died (Intel P67, EVGA Classified and Asus Maximus Extreme).
 
 
I'm not an audiophile, play games and listen to music. Do you as a normal user I can see the difference?
 
 
Excuse me, but I do not know much about audio.

 

[pompon]

What driver use for winxp finally ?
 
I tried ASIO and sound is worse than kernel steaming.
 
I try the beta
c:\Nouveau dossier\PCI-ST-100423-5.12.8.17731(XP-ER-03)_ForASIO2.2\PCI_ST_100423_5_12_8_17731_XPForASIO2_2.rar
 
and the latest
 
PCI_ST_5_12_8_1792_XP.zip
 
The beta said 88.1 and 176 was supported but I only see 44.1, 48, 96 and 192 in Audio Center.
 
Any of these driver is bitperfect ?
 
TY!

 

[subtle]

Quote:

No solder required just a good set of screwdrivers. I have zero regrets re the opamps. With the opamp upgrade the ST compared pretty well to the Dacmagic I had at the time. My stereo gear has moved along way but my ST remains in my computer.
 
The ST is much better than the STX by the way. each both with the same opamps.
 
Regards
 
Macrog

 
Hi Macrog.  When you say the ST is much better than the STX would you please describe in what way?  Assuming they are stock vs stock.
 
I have the STX and I'm tempted to get the ST but have not heard it yet.
 

 

[ancientz]

Not certain if ST is better than STX just...

- however it's sure as hell miles away from the Creative X-Fi / Logitech speakers system I had.
 
My buys which I recommend to anyone (I ain't Hi-Fi mind you - average computer user here

)
 
- Asus Xonar Essense ST
- Edifier S530
- Audio Technica ATH-M50
 
Far as my headphones the bass is a bit gloomy at the moment - maybe need to give them a few hours, eh? That said, they're like Barcelona compared to the crappy headset I had like for ever.

 
All props to Head-Fi.org

for clueing me in.
 
Cheers
 

 

[ROBSCIX]

 
Quote:

What driver use for winxp finally ?
 
I tried ASIO and sound is worse than kernel steaming.
 
I try the beta
c:\Nouveau dossier\PCI-ST-100423-5.12.8.17731(XP-ER-03)_ForASIO2.2\PCI_ST_100423_5_12_8_17731_XPForASIO2_2.rar
 
and the latest
 
PCI_ST_5_12_8_1792_XP.zip
 
The beta said 88.1 and 176 was supported but I only see 44.1, 48, 96 and 192 in Audio Center.
 
Any of these driver is bitperfect ?
 
TY!

The stock drivers are bit perfect...however they will not adjust the sampling rate.  The drivers you listed will adjust the sampling rate automatically for ASIO.  The sampling rate would still adjust automatically when using ASIO to 88.1 or 176..just they aren't listed in the manual sample rate selection.

 

[LukaLux4]

I have a question for you...
 
I've decided to invest in some audio equipment... I mainly listen to music on my PC... I've just ordered Ath-M50s, which will probably not sound as good on my PC's integrated sound card as It should...
So I'm planning to buy Xonar Essence sound card, mainly because the review on your site is very good and it fits my budget limit...
 
But now I'm confused, cuz there is a lot of different Xonar Essence sound cards on the web... How do I know which one to buy, which one is most appropriate for my use, for my headphones...
 
For example, if I will buy from German Amazon stre, since I'm from Europe, what is the difference between these cards? Which one should I get? http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_7_22?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=asus+xonar+essence+stx&x=0&y=0&sprefix=asus+xonar+essence+stx
 
 

 

[pompon]

A couple of days ago I notice INFERIOR sound in my system.
 
I am using an old computer with Essence ST using coax digital to my dac. When I got my ST, I was using my big computer.
I am running WinXP and using the unified driver with asio,.
 
Tonight I took my big computer and bring back in my stereo system and put the ST inside. I am running Win7
 
Surprise ... my soundquality is back ... MUCH BETTER !
 
Now I am to figure if XP + driver is responsable to this inferior sound or if it's the power supply inside my computer.
 
For sure, when I put a "better" powercord, I notice improvement even if I am using digital coax to my dac.
 
With Win7 with latest official driver, Kernel Streaming offer MUCH better SQ than Asio. I not tried on that computer the unified driver yet ...
I am using KS: Asus Xonar Essence ST Digital (I don't have this option on XP).

 

[ancientz]

The ST is the newer of the batch with STX being the older PCI Express version. I got the ST cause basically I wanted to avoid the EMI from the adjacent GTX 460 card.
 
Far as which version, it really depends on your needs. If you have a 7.1 setup, then in order for it to work with the ST you have to buy the H6 expansion board as well. Therefore, you need a spare PCIe at hand also.
 
The ST/STX do share the best specs (124db etc) - however if surround sound is essential, you may be better off getting the DX/D1/D2 instead.
 
Quote:

But now I'm confused, cuz there is a lot of different Xonar Essence sound cards on the web... How do I know which one to buy, which one is most appropriate for my use, for my headphones...  
For example, if I will buy from German Amazon stre, since I'm from Europe, what is the difference between these cards? Which one should I get? http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_7_22?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=asus+xonar+essence+stx&x=0&y=0&sprefix=asus+xonar+essence+stx
 
 

 

[LukaLux4]

Ok... Thank you Ancientz for your answer... I think I'm going to buy ST version too, becaus the price is the same, and I'm reading on the forum that it is slightly better...
 
I have a 2.1 setup for now, maybe will go to 7.1 sometimes, but not any time soon... I'm getting a sound card, that would be as good and effective as possible for my headphones (Ath-M50), and also a card, that is good enough to run a good 5.1, 7.1 setup in the future ... Which one do you think I should buy for my needs?
 
And also I don't quite understand something, is a sound card also a good amp, or it is only a beter source?

 
Quote:

The ST is the newer of the batch with STX being the older PCI Express version. I got the ST cause basically I wanted to avoid the EMI from the adjacent GTX 460 card.
 
Far as which version, it really depends on your needs. If you have a 7.1 setup, then in order for it to work with the ST you have to buy the H6 expansion board as well. Therefore, you need a spare PCIe at hand also.
 
The ST/STX do share the best specs (124db etc) - however if surround sound is essential, you may be better off getting the DX/D1/D2 instead.

 

[ancientz]

Well, if you get the ST - why don't you also get the expansion board for it then? Besides, it's not good having 2 different audio cards in your system anyway.
 
Far as the 2nd question - an amp is not crucial for the ATH-M50 and quite frankly it's one of the reasons I've decided to buy them. Other than the very good reviews that is.
 
Having said that, for all Hi-Fi expensive headphones an amp seems to be a necessity from what I gather so far. Especially the high impedance ones if I am not mistaken.
 
Hope that helps.

 

[sagatman]

Quote:

...
Tonight I took my big computer and bring back in my stereo system and put the ST inside. I am running Win7
 Surprise ... my soundquality is back ... MUCH BETTER !
...

 I found computer power has great influence on sound. When I upgraded the power supply from Enhance 400W to 500W, my ST sound became more dynamic, forward and aggressive.
I guess that is because the new power supply provides faster transient response. It is not a disturbing problem because I can use  clamp filter to shape the aggressive sound.

 

[auger66]

[size=small][size=small]I’ve gotten some great information on this forum, like my Essence ST, that I love. But I have some headphones on the way, and that has me caused to look at the settings again. I found several references in the threads, but not anything that I could take to put it all together so I’m asking for suggestions for my newby-self.[/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]Windows 7 64-bit, Xonar Essence ST (latest driver), I use Windows Media Center for everything, My Movies 3 and Total Media Theatre 5 for blu-ray playback from within WMC. The ST is connected straight to a stereo amp with RCA analog interconnects. Everything works great together. Mostly I listen to 44.1 music and recorded TV, but watch blu-rays occasionally. The headphones will be plugged directly into the HP jack on the ST.[/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]What should I set in Windows Conrol Panel? It is set to 2 channel, 24/44.1 now. Should I set it to 6 channels and 24/192 to watch movies? Or 6 ch, 24/192 all the time? There is an option checked to "allow applications to take exclusive control of this device." Does that mean it really doesn’t matter what I do here because the ASUS control panel will override it? My preference would be to set it once for the BEST setting for all; but if the ASUS panel doesn’t override the Windows panel, I’m guessing it would be a compromise. [/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]The ASUS panel is set to hi-fi, 2 channels, 44.1, and the mixer is at 76. Windows controls the system volume. I was planning to use the new headphones for late night movie watching. Other than "headphone" and "Dolby headphone," should I change the number of audio channels to 6? Or change it to 6 in Windows and 2 in ASUS? Bit/sample rate in Windows and/or ASUS? [/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]On top of all that, Windows Media Center and TMT5 have their own channels settings. [/size][/size]
[size=small][size=small]Is there an easier way?[/size][/size]
 
[size=small][size=small]I realize there are a lot of questions here, but they are all related to each other. Thanks for any insights. [/size][/size]