Asus Xonar essence STX upgrade?

BlowMeOneKenobi

BlowMeOneKenobi

BlowMeOneKenobi

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I'm thinking of upgrading my sound card to the Asus Xonar essence STX as I've read some great things about it.

I've had the X-fi music extreme up until now which has served me well, coupled with the superb logitech z-5500 5.1 THX system which is still going strong. I've had them both a good while and fancy upgrading.

I rarely use heaphones and my main concern is would I tell the difference in sound quality with my current Z-5500 system if I upgraded to the ASUS. Is there anyone else with the same setup?

It's mainly for gaming but I also listen to music a lot too.


Thanks.
 
BlowMeOneKenobi said:
It would have to be the Digital S/PDIF Output.

Wouldn't it?
Click to expand...

I think there would be little point in upgrading to a Xonar Essence STX for you. The focus of the Xonar Essence STX is on the analogue outputs: the stereo analogue outputs and the amplified headphone output. The only advantage the Xonar Essence STX's digital output will have over the Xi-Fi Music Extreme is Dolby Digital Live encoding, but the Xonar DX will also give you Dolby Digital Live for much less money.
 
As dewi said, no point in getting an Essence, or a Titanium HD, as the sound quality of the cards is all about analogue speakers, or headphones. Both cards offer only stereo analogue connections.

Using SPDIF from any of those sound cards, would no different from the card you have now, as far as sound quality goes. SPDIF just passes on digital data to be decoded by whatever is connected to the sound card, and is then converted into analogue sound on the speaker end.

X-Fi Xtreme Music, can make use of Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect, but you have to purchase the software pack from Creative's US store.

For a sound quality upgrade. A Xonar D1/X or D2/X, and using the analogue connections, would make the most sense.

There are a few people who have a set of Z5500's, and a D2/X, and have found using the analogue connection is better, as the card is handling the conversion from digital into analogue sound, and not the speakers.
 
Thanks for the reply guys. I understand a lot more now about the card's abilities.
I might go for the D2X or wait until theres been a bit more feedback and reviews of Creative's Recon3D line up.
 
I currently own a recon3d pcie card and I will try to give you alittle insight about it.
I have compared it to my motherboard onboard sound (Realtek ALC889 ) and have found that the recon3d is slightly better and has a deeper sound quality in music and movies, in games however it performs way better than the onboard especially in eax enabled games, the positioning and the surround sound is amazing even when using headphones, you can easily spot your enemies and know exactly the directions their shooting from and where their coming to attack you, yesterday I have spotted a enemy right above me, so I shot him before he spotted me, just by hearing his footsteps upward, so its pretty neat when it comes to positioning.
there are a lot of mixed reviews about the recon3d, I my self have been thinking of getting a asus xonar essense st but worried despite its great postive feedback might not perform as well as the recon3d in games and that it has been 2 years old comparing to the recon3d which is only few months old, asus is about to launch a new gaming sound, so I recommend not going out and buying a recon3d until the asus launch its new card and see them head to head.
I hope this was helpful.
 
I have an xi-fi extreme music with a cable going into a pair of chepa creative speakers (i-trigue 2200) and then my sennheiser headphones goign in to the speakers.

I use 90% for games, and then remove the headphone cable for the occasional music/video.

Will I notice any difference 'upgrading' to the Xonar range? Do I really need to be putting my headphones directly into the sound card?!
 
You really should use headphones direct to the sound card. Headphone sockets on majority of PC speakers, are there for convenience. The components used to get the sound to that socket, are cheap as you can get. I've not had any PC speakers, where the headphone socket gives any real sound quality. There has always been a noticeable drop, between that and direct connection to the sound card.

Of course though, by plugging the headphones and speakers directly into the card, this is not possible without a splitter or a switcher. Splitters are better than plugging the headphones into the speakers, but are not ideal. It will alter the impedance, which will degrade sound quality. Really depends on the headphones used, and the users hearing, as to how much of a difference that person can hear.

I have got the same X-Fi as you. It's still a great card. If you do consider a Xonar, then you'd want nothing less than a D1/X. A few people have gone from an X-Fi to a D1/X, and found the Xonar sounds better, but a lot of it is down to personal taste. Some people still prefer the X-Fi.

It's impossible to say which you will prefer, as what one person may like, somebody else may dislike. You might find a Xonar D1/X better, but then again, you may find little to no difference.

Then of course, there is the question of which is the better sound card for games. I'd have to say the X-Fi. If 90% use is going to be games, then it's probably best to stick with that you have.
 
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Great reply, thank you.

The issue for me then is convenience (re:headphone connection) - the idea of having to unplug my headphones under my desk, at the back of the machine, just so I can listen to some tunes is a bit grating - how annoying!
 
It's a shame the older X-Fi's do not have a front audio header. Newer X-Fi's and majority of Xonar's do.

Plantronics and Konig make 3.5mm headset/speaker switchers. Choice is almost non existent apart from those two.
 
the reality is after 10+ years of ignorance (i.e. connecting headphones to speakers to soundcard) I am not going to connect the headphones direct to the sound - what's the option to get the best sound quality, mainly for games - how does the splitter work?

My case is a lian li armorsuit which has a front panel "HD and AC97" connection - can I do something there?
 
Splitters are just cables that split one 3.5mm jack into two 3.5mm sockets, so headphones and speakers can be connected to the same socket on the sound card.

You'd need a front audio header on the sound card, in order to make use of PC case audio sockets. Older X-Fi's do not have them. Newer ones, such as the Titanium, do.
 
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