Xonar Essence STX - Settings

Narj

Narj

Narj

Soldato
Joined
19 Feb 2010
Posts
13,254
Location
London
Hi all,

I got this in and working yesterday but the control panel software seems a bit pants in all honesty. I can't seem to find a way to save presets (ie: virtual speaker setups and the like) to profiles. It looks like whenever I want to switch between gaming setup with 8 speaker/Dolby Headphone and normal Hi-Fi, I have to change all the settings manually rather than open up presets.

Am I just missing something? I can't believe the software would be that limiting on such an expensive card....

Also, are there any skins available for the control centre? It looks awful! :eek:

On the plus side, music/games sound amazing. The Mic seems pretty clear too, a slight bit of hiss in the background but I think that's because my mic is cheap.
 
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Must say the more I listen to this setup the more I like it, despite the pants interface. :D

I've just been listening to some Ian Bostridge/Schubert Schwanengesang and it is pure audio bliss... The SNR of the card and the headphones really shine here. My ears are wondering wth is going on.
 
Hicks said:
No idea about the software but what cans are you using? :)
Click to expand...

Sennheiser HD588s (after a lot of agonising!).

Really happy with them... I wouldn't wear them on a train but they are awesome for music at home and gaming. You get a real sense of spatial dimension with them - just tried my old cans and they make me feel claustrophobic in comparison (they're some ~£30 Sonys).
 
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Narj said:
Am I just missing something? I can't believe the software would be that limiting on such an expensive card....
Click to expand...

The better the card, the less settings it needs. The card outputs a very true reflection of the sound why change what the original indented. For example Creative cards have the Sound Blaster Crystalizer, features like these are little more than to compensate for inadequacies in hardware.

Another way to look at it: In a recording studio a good setup is the sound directly from recording room, sound proofed monitor room, and active speakers. Providing the room is soundproofed correctly and all equipment is working correctly, there should be no single change to any audio.
 
I appreciate that; however, for gaming I'd like to adjust the rear virtual speakers to be a bit closer so it's a bit more apparent if something/someone has crept up on me. I don't understand why there is the capability to change these things when there's no way of saving presets. They let you save a custom equaliser preset but not speaker positions which I find odd. :confused:

It's a pain switching between gaming/hifi listening at the moment. Perhaps there's some sort of hack (passing options to the control centre .exe perhaps?). I'll have to do some digging... Might mail Asus actually.
 
Well one negative I've found from new SC+Phones is that a lot of my stuff compressed at less than 320kpbs sounds like utter turd now.

Should I re-encode everything as FLAC? How do I do this efficiently as I have hundreds of CDs. :(
 
Don't know whether you can do it efficiently, as you have to keep swapping CDs. FLAC or a similar lossless codec is best way to go. With such large HDDs now, space isn't an issue. Lossless is best for archiving and easy to convert to MP3 if you so wish for any portable media players, etc.

Exact Audio Copy is one of the best programs for ripping. Takes a bit of setting up, but once it's configured, there isn't a lot that is better.
 
multiple optical drives is a must for a large collection. 4x instances of EAC, whilst being a little clunky, will simultaneously encode 4x cds whilst ripping the next 4x at the same time on a quad core cpu. Given the average read time for a cd at 32x+ is what, 3 minutes, that's 4 cd's in 3 minutes but call it 4x cd's in 4x minutes..... in other words, a CD a minute. 60x cd's an hour? You can chew through it in no time.

....the only downside is all that cd-changing to keep the drives fed lol.
 
Narj said:
Sennheiser HD588s (after a lot of agonising!).

Really happy with them... I wouldn't wear them on a train but they are awesome for music at home and gaming. You get a real sense of spatial dimension with them - just tried my old cans and they make me feel claustrophobic in comparison (they're some ~£30 Sonys).
Click to expand...

558, 518 or 598?

I've had the 595 for years and I'm still in love :)
 
Narj said:
Well one negative I've found from new SC+Phones is that a lot of my stuff compressed at less than 320kpbs sounds like utter turd now.
Click to expand...

Really? On my HD650 + Essence ST I can't tell any difference between a properly encoded LAME VBR V0 preset mp3 and lossless, let alone 320kbps and lossless. Any differences I hear when switching back and forth are almost certainly down to placebo. I can just about tell the difference between 160kbps and lossless using double blind testing, but thats about it and only when listening for certain bits of a particular track, where I've simply trained myself to spot these particular minute differences. Even then, its sure doesnt sound like turd! For just 160kbps, it sounds pretty damn good I'd say. Also, my ears are in good condition (as far as I know).

Not saying that encoding your music in FLAC is a bad idea, but I very much doubt you'll hear any difference. I only encode my music in FLAC for piece of mind and futureproofing, Try running a double blind test using Foobar2000, you'll be suprised just how powerful placebo can be. When you know what file you're listening to, your brain will actively reshape the sound you actually hear to what you expect to hear.
 
Typo... I have 558s.

As for mp3, I can definitely hear the tinny clashing type effect with higher frequency sounds like cymbals. I always thought 192 was OK but not now. :/
 
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