Mic Recording Quality on the Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card?

[Stuarts]

Hi Guys,

Thinking about getting one of trhese:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-005-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=

Has nice reviews. But not much has been said about the quality of the recording with the microphone socket on it.

The only review I found that mentionned the recording quality said thia (which has me a bit worried)

To the left of the AV100, you can see the Cirrus Logic CS5381 ADC used for the analog inputs. The DJ100 is apparently an AC'97 codec DAC (C-Media CMI9780), and therefore the microphone section of the AC'97 feature set is used as a pre-amp for the microphone (and front panel microphone). AC'97 is not synonymous with the highest quality, but as this soundcard is tailored toward high-end audio playback, it's not really an issue. You could always get a proper microphone pre-amp if you wanted to do some production-level recording from a microphone. The microphone input cannot be configured as balanced anyway.

I am planning on using my Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-091-CL

And Dragon Naturally Speaking 10, to dictate some articles I need to write.

Anyone who has this sound card. How are you finding it? And what is the recording quality like?

Thanks.

 

[Stuarts]

PS Will be using Windows 7 64 Bit RC Build 7100.

I understand that there are no Windows 7 drivers as such for this. But that Vista 64 Bit drivers work fine.

Is that correct?

 

[zzzJonny]

PS Will be using Windows 7 64 Bit RC Build 7100.

I understand that there are no Windows 7 drivers as such for this. But that Vista 64 Bit drivers work fine.

Is that correct?

That is correct, should work fine. (Don't know about the recording quality though.)

 

[Maccy]

What sort of things are you going to be recording?

 

[Stuarts]

Voice mainly. Not singing.

Courses, articles, screen videos with commentary, podcasts.

That kind of thing.

Just need really clear sound. I used to use a condenser mic with an edirol ua-25. But its kinda bulky and I would prefer to just plug a mic into the front panel on my pc (as long as the sound is reasonably good)

Just reading a thread about the new Essence ST card.

(Sneak peak here - http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-xonar-essence-st-sneak-preview--test/)

the move to pci is probably due to timing.

pcie + pci bridge = massive latency which means the stx is useless along with every pcie sound card for extremely tight timing/recording.

Its is now the 4th July. But this still doesn't seem to be available. Might be tempted to wait if it was out within the next month, and could be had for under £150. (Any ETA overclockers?)

Anyone used the mic on the Xonar Essence?

 

[D D Danneh]

I'd imagine the quality will almost always be limited by the mic, and not the sound card. I'm sure if the sound card was the limiting factor, you'd hear a lot more about recording quality of the card than you do know.