[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

If  my experience is anything to go by it's not the card but the OS - specifically W7 64 bit. There are so many stories out there about sound issues with this OS when using either a USB DAC or soundcard running direct digital streaming such as Kernel Streaming. From what I can gather (and backed up by two of the posts here (#8 and #10) it can be generated by somrthing as simple as a mouse click). My experience again tells me that this is possibly caused by the way that the OS handle its power issues and something that MS has included in the 64 bit version of W7 to give a more 'greener' power consumption can cause these issues. However, nobody has directly identified what the specific cause is. With that in mind you might want to try this.
 
Go to the "Power Options' on your control panel and turn off any power saving settings whatsoever. You can find this in the guide below
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/downloads/Windows_7_Optimization_Guide.pdf
 
It might make all the difference.
 
Good luck

 
Yeah, I  use 64 bit version of win 7, but I  don't have a problem with power  saving.
The last time I  got the awful screeching, it was while enabling / disabling some dsp inside foobar, in order to compare the difference.
The good news  is,  if I  become deaf, my wallet would feel  better.

 

[Fakeyfakerson]

I've had this problem too. Windows 7 x64. I sent it in to asus for repairs and they sent it back after a few days, but according to their site they didn't actually repair anything, I don't think. Hasn't happened in the month or two I've been using it since. The only thing I did differently was not screw in the metal rear panel connector to my case. I noticed that in order to fit the screw in and secure the card in place that I had to press it down which made the card move slightly in the pci-e slot. This time I just put it right in the pci-e slot without screwing it in, not sure if that has what stopped the issue or not, time will tell if it happens again. I do know that if it keeps happening I will sell it in a heartbeat and make do with an external DAC/amp combo. Not going to risk permanent damage to my headphones or ears.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

I've had this problem too. Windows 7 x64. I sent it in to asus for repairs and they sent it back after a few days, but according to their site they didn't actually repair anything, I don't think. Hasn't happened in the month or two I've been using it since. The only thing I did differently was not screw in the metal rear panel connector to my case. I noticed that in order to fit the screw in and secure the card in place that I had to press it down which made the card move slightly in the pci-e slot. This time I just put it right in the pci-e slot without screwing it in, not sure if that has what stopped the issue or not, time will tell if it happens again. I do know that if it keeps happening I will sell it in a heartbeat and make do with an external DAC/amp combo. Not going to risk permanent damage to my headphones or ears.

Do you use wasapi or asio ? I  highly doubt  this story of screw will change anything.
 

 

[Fakeyfakerson]

I use neither asio or wasapi. Yea I'm not sure about the screw either but we'll see.

 

[fufula]

I don't think it's got anything to do with ASIO or WASAPI. It never happened when an application held exclusive access to the card, either through ASIO or WASAPI, at least in my case. holden4th might be onto something here. I'm pretty sure that the problems started when I switched from Windows XP to Windows 7 x64.
 
I've recently rolled back to an older driver version and haven't experienced any noises in a while now (crosses fingers). I'm using the UNi Xonar 1793 v1.31 one.

 

[fufula]

And again. I was just browsing the web using Opera, clicked some button on an HTML5 website, no sounds were being played by anything on the computer... I had uLilith (ASIO) idling in the background, the noise went away as soon as I clicked play.

 

[Fakeyfakerson]

Maybe try what reply #24 suggests?
 
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&id=20090222084608127&board_id=21&model=Xonar%20Essence%20STX&page=3&count=49
 
 
Out of curiosity, is the cable from your PSU hooked up only to your STX and nothing else or is there are stuff along the same cable that's plugged in?

 

[fufula]

Nothing else is powered by the cable attached to my ST. I just modded and installed the Auzentech drivers, so far so good.
 
edit:
 
Some of you might find it interesting that the newest driver version available from Auzentech is 7.12.8.1796; the one from ASUS is 7.12.8.1794. ASIO seems to be the same version (2.0.0.7).
 
The driver comes with the default C-Media Oxygen HD Audio control panel which seems to offer the same kind of options the one from ASUS does. The only thing that I've noticed is different is that you won't be able to change the gain setting if you're using the headphone out with higher impedance headphones.
 
Modding the driver is pretty straightforward. Just follow the instructions in the aforementioned post. In case of ST the hardware ID is 835D1043.

 

[veebz]

Has anyone found a resolution to this that does not involve custom drivers?  Just happened to me for the first time today after a month of ownership, and my heart is still pounding.

 

[fufula]

From what I've read, it seems like this is a W7 issue, so going back to Windows XP would probably fix the problem as well. Other than that and (possibly) custom drivers, I don't think that there is a solution.
 
I haven't had it happen since I installed the Auzentech drivers I modded myself (UNi Xonar ones don't help unfortunately,) so almost a month without any ringing noise and heart palpitations. I hope it stays this way...

 

[fufula]

Left the PC unattended for a while and it happened again just now. Looks like I'll be getting a new DAC for Christmas this year...

 

[Axonn]

And it seems like you guys just saved me some money. I was just about to buy this junk. I won't. Not until Asus comes up with a decent W7 x64 driver. Thanks God for this Forum.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

I think the problem of screeching might be related to a defective Ram.
Recently I removed a stick of RAM because random problem occurred, recently my computer even refused to start.
I think there's a bug when using two sticks of 2Gb, or it come from my motherboard, because memtest couldn't in the past detect anything.
The ram I  use is from G-SKILL  (F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK).

 

[knusperriegel]

its not the ram is a bug in w7 driver of the card
a guy in the asus forum talked to the customer service...
 
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&id=20090222084608127&board_id=21&model=Xonar%20Essence%20STX&page=7&count=72
 
 
 
ANSWER FROM ASUS

so after some mails i got an answer from asus about the problem

1st there is no solution and
2nd it is not a general problem, if it would be one many users would have reported this bug and send there card back but nobody did this


REPORT THIS BUG TO ASUS WITH THE CONTACT FORM

asus thinks only a few people have this problem
and won't fix it
they just say disable onboard sound (and if u already have)  try older drivers....

so there is no help and no fix from asus
and there will be no fix for it !!!!!!!!!!
unless ALL people here will report the bug
but i know that nobody will so live with the bug and risc your headphones

the only thing u can do is use another soundcard or go back to xp

 

[raja]

I am looping this to HQ. Can you please try the following:
 
 
[size=10pt]Disable "SPDIF Passthrough Device" in the control panel[/size]

[size=10pt]Disable GX[/size]

 
 
Let me know if that helps. If it does not, then will likely need full config details including all relevant driver and software info.
 
-Raja