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Discussion on Article:
Two in One: Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card Review

Started by: gwolfman | Date 06/05/09 08:47:29 AM
Comments: 26 | Last Comment:  08/10/09 09:39:15 AM

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1. 
Hopefully the author reads these:

Thanks for the great review!

So I have the X-Fi Prelude and the Elite Pro, which do you recommend I use? I couldn't quite pull that out of this review or your Prelude review.
[Posted by: gwolfman  | Date: 06/05/09 08:47:29 AM]
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2. 
Yeah, but you forgot 2 things. The X-Fi render all the sounds HARDWARE, while the rest of the world still uses Software buffers. And another thing, The X-Fi supports EAX3 and EAX4-HD which are better than OpenAL.
[Posted by: TAViX  | Date: 06/05/09 10:47:05 AM]
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3. 
I read that the reviewer has made a lot of references to the old Auzentech Prelude. Well, they have since released X-FI Forte 7.1 which uses PCIE. I would like to know how would Xonar Essence fare against Auzentech X-FI Forte.
[Posted by: michael_d  | Date: 06/05/09 05:54:46 PM]
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4. 
This is what i call Kickass review Thanks Gwolfman.
[Posted by: 3Dkiller  | Date: 06/06/09 02:48:26 AM]
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5. 
great review...

while the word 'abysmal' can be used to describe endless depth, in audiophile terms a better word would be 'wide'.
Because the word 'abysmal' (for me that is) usually means very bad.
[Posted by: queuetrip  | Date: 06/09/09 06:14:27 PM]
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6. 
Wow, very interesting and helpful. Now I really cant wait for the Forte review.

But wait a minute.. Xonar does not support 5.1 or 7.1 speakers? Is it a 2-channel-only audio card aimed towards headphone aficionados (with support for Dolby headphone but not for REAL 5.1/7.1 line-out channels)?

Is that why you had another sound card in the same rig, for enjoying surround speakers? Xonar does not need another sound card to function, right?

Sorry for many questions--just wanted to clear a few things up about this mysterious sound card that I still do not fully understand yet.. Thanks
[Posted by: Bo_Fox  | Date: 06/09/09 07:04:10 PM]
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7. 
I too am looking forward to the Forte review
[Posted by: alpha0ne  | Date: 06/10/09 12:29:21 AM]
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8. 
This Is a great piece of hardware with some really bad drivers and support. The Essence also does not support Dolby Headphone. However It does support Dolby Digital Live for 5.1 sound.
[Posted by: Brightstar  | Date: 06/13/09 11:19:44 PM]
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9. 
very nice review, thanks!

but why do you say "the Xonar Essence STX is the best choice for a person who wants to enjoy excellent-quality music, especially in 250-300Ohm headphones" ? I've got 600Ohm headphones, is it bad? some ppl say that the STX can only output 140 mW at max when a real amp can output 1W, true?

and another guy says that it can only output 2Vrms, so it'd be a disgrace for high impedance headphones ?! see : http://www.head-fi.org/forums/5716008-post75.html

and you mentioned in your D2 review that the metal shield case was useless, do you still agree?

you also mentioned that the soundcard would not automatically switch the hardware samplerate in ASIO/KS in your D2 review, it still isn't the case
[Posted by: leeperry  | Date: 06/16/09 05:43:29 AM]
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10. 
hehe ok cool, so you check head-fi.org too

so when ppl say that STX can output 140 mW/2Vrms max, they're basically right? apparently some killer external amp can output 1W/3Vrms...or are you saying that 1W would only be useful for <32Ohm headphones?

I understand the Forte runs discrete op-amps, but the JRC4580 looks odd in the middle, this has terrible specs...a far cry from the LME49720!

well MME/DS are resampled by K-Mixer AFAIK, reason why I use KS in Reclock & foobar...but then the drivers don't have an "unlocked samplerate" mode, which is freakin' annoying
[Posted by: leeperry  | Date: 06/17/09 11:42:01 AM]
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11. 
well a simple test is to play a 44.1KHz file in DS, then simultaneously a 96KHz in ASIO....my previous M-Audio would give an error msg in foobar "cannot set samplerate". on the STX, ASIO will be resampled to 44.1KHz in that case. MME/DS are definitely resampled by KMixer on XP, this is by design...on Vista they create the WASAPI exclusive mode for that reason, it replaces KS.
but well, no biggy if we don't agree
I didn't like the STX w/ the stock op-amps, it started to sing w/ the LME49720HA
[Posted by: leeperry  | Date: 06/17/09 01:01:23 PM]
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12. 
oh yes, there's some theory that if you keep the volume mixer at max it won't resample...but you can't really check that, and KS/ASIO bypass all that nonsense anyway....and I wonder why you're saying that the C-Media drivers will resample KS/ASIO to the fixed samplerate in the drivers, but not DS? you were clear in your D2 review that the drivers were NOT bit-matched(unlike the X-Fi).

anyway, I've told Asus about it....but they don't really seem to care, I'm gonna have a go at the Claro Halo, put 4x LME49720HA on it and maybe it'll be bit-matched

and it's got the "magic DAC"(AK4396) and the same headphone amp as the STX, w/ some 49720 it should give
[Posted by: leeperry  | Date: 06/17/09 03:41:59 PM]
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13. 
hi again, I was wondering if you ever gonna release your Forte 7.1 review?! you said it was ready..

thanks!
[Posted by: leeperry  | Date: 08/10/09 09:39:15 AM]
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