I have been reading this thread and the STX thread casually for months, I have an STX, and I am very happy with it. Having said that, I must say that at times ASUS is an absolutely outstanding company with great innovations especially with their new commanding role in sound cards. They have done some really great things to further the emphasis of sound quality. Unfortunately, sometimes I really have no idea what goes through the minds of the engineers and marketing people. Why in the world would they release the ST (supposedly a superior card with the new clocking circuit) on an obviously dying slot technology (PCI) right after releasing the STX (was supposed to be their flagship stereo card) on the future slot technology (PCI Express)? All new cards are trending toward PCI Express, why the step back? That's like Lynx or RME releasing a new flagship card compatible with ISA slots back when PCI was king. In addition to this the ST is expandable to 7.1, whereas the STX is not. ASUS, what in the hell were you thinking?