ASUS DX V Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF

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Hi currently using the asus dx with seinheisser hd 555, just wondering if I upgrade to the xonar essence if I would notice any difference in sound quality when listening to music.
 
I upgraded from the D2x to Essence STX and there was a noticeable gain in sound warmth but then again I was expecting this as I knew what the card was all about before upgrading.

If you connect your HD555 to the soundcard directly then the gains are even more so because the headphone out on the Essence is a proper headphones amp and you get the best out of it this way.
 
I notice the subtle difference on my setup (amp+speakers and headphones connected to amp) - you may not notice the difference connecting PC speakers but direct headphones connections are certainly better.
 
Going from an X-Fi to a Xonar D2X was to me a downgrade in terms of sonic quality. I cannot say either way on the Essence as I have only heard it round a friends and a lot of things factor into a good sound:

1) Quality of original sound source
2) Conversion
3) Samplerate / bit-depth
4) Speakers
5) Position of speakers
6) Decoupling of speakers from surfaces via stands or Mopads
7) Amplifier
8) Standing waves in room ie acoustics of the environment you are listening in

To my ears, the Xonar lacks the frequency response (specifically on the high range from about 12kHz+) which the X-Fis have. Having said that I would never buy another gaming card again as they all sound 'flappy' to my ears, but I am used to pro systems costing a lot more so I am extremely biased :P :P

Go for the Essence STX most people seem to dig it!!
 
The thing is - there is a very wide range of X-Fis.

My old Xonar D2 gave the X-Fi Xtreme Music (SB0460) a darn good thrashing in terms of SQ - however it wasn't as good for driving headphones directly. If you plugged hard-to-drive headphones into them both you'd think the Xtreme Music was better. Add a headphone amp and the D2 was well ahead - certainly for high frequency response.

I'm now running an X-Fi Prelude and that was very close to the D2 for SQ.

You weren't throwing Dolby Headphone, CMSS-3D headphone or the infamous X-Fi Crystalliser (ewww) into the equation were you? All those things have an effect on frequency response, soundstaging etc.
 
The reason why many Xfis seem to sound better in the highs than a Xonar is because by default the Xfis use Crystaliser which amplifies them and yes it does sound good but it is not pure to the original recording.

Xonar will output without any such "features" enabled and you get what was intended to be heard so the output totally relies on your end-equipment really.

With a well matched setup there should be absolutely no need to enable any enhancement features with a Xonar card, just adjust bass/treble on your amp if needed (eg: to match the bass on your speakers to the bass on your headphones etc so they sound closely matched).
 
Nope thats not it.

I disable ALL dsp effects at the driver level and make sure the sample rates are matched from the soundcard to windows.

You are talking to a sound engineer here bro...staying accurate to the source is my OBSSESSION!

There is no doubt in my mind that the X-Fi Audio PCI card I had produced a more pronounced high end and a tighter low end and I can say this faithfully as I had both the X-Fi and the Xonar installed in my computer at the same time. All I was doing was switching between them in Winamp and playing back the same FLAC file. What I find so amusing is the fact that the X-Fi I had was the budget X-Fi card which uses the old Audigy soundchip - and I still thought it sounded better than the Xonar!!!!!

To my ears, the X-Fi had a wider frequency response but we are talking about harmonics here and not every pair of ears is attuned to these psychoacoustics like mine.

At the end of the day sound is so personal and subjective its almost impossible to recommend soundcards based solely on sound quality becuase we all have different ideas of what high fidelity sound is! I would never buy another gamer card again though having heard the difference in sonic quality between the budget pro cards you can buy for less money than you would spend on a spangly gaming card. No match.
 
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Hmm - that's interesting. Bear in mind you're not talking about the same X-Fi as the rest of us - as it has more in common with an Audigy SE. Different chipset but quite decent analogue components IIRC.

I normally advise gamers away from the Xtreme Audio but for everyone else it should do the job pretty well.
 
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Only thing you can do is up the gain. Next to headphones in the Xonar control panel is an icon, selecting it will allow you to choose a choice of 3 gain settings. Normal will be default, 0db gain in other words. Try the middle one 64db - 300db gain. This will provide more juice to your phones. They will be a lot louder, so you might want to lower the volume a bit before you do that. If that doesn't make any difference to the overall sound quality, then I don't think I would try the 300db - 600gb gain, you might damage something with that setting, as it is far higher than the HD555 ohm rating.
 
Marsman said:
Only thing you can do is up the gain. Next to headphones in the Xonar control panel is an icon, selecting it will allow you to choose a choice of 3 gain settings. Normal will be default, 0db gain in other words. Try the middle one 64db - 300db gain. This will provide more juice to your phones. They will be a lot louder, so you might want to lower the volume a bit before you do that. If that doesn't make any difference to the overall sound quality, then I don't think I would try the 300db - 600gb gain, you might damage something with that setting, as it is far higher than the HD555 ohm rating.
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Hi thanks for the input what do you mean by ohm, and if I dont notice any difference what would be the best headphones i can get for around £200?

thanks
 
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