"When I had been listening to the Auzen X-Fi Prelude, I had not expected any card to surpass it. Later on, the ASUS Xonar D2 showed the weak aspects of the Prelude. And now, the Xonar Essence STX sounds better than the Xonar D2 and Prelude, and better than the X-Fi Elite Pro, and perhaps even better than any audio card in the world"
Oh dear. Clearly the reviewer hasn't actually heard any decent soundcards...the Auzen X-Fi Prelude is based on a...wait for it...X-Fi chip! In terms of gaming cards I'm sure it spanks the X-fi into oblivion and beyond. That's almost a compliment but the bar's been set kinda low...
"And finally, this audio card can be used for high-quality sound recording as it offers solid ASIO support. It also offers two outputs with different connectors and significantly different sound and is based on the modern PCI Express interface."
Name me one professional engineer/producer who uses this card for pro recording? Lol, thought not...I tried to use my Xonar just for some simple stereo mastering and it couldn't even handle that (let alone multi-tracking) BUT I do appreciate it ain't aimed at this market.
"Thus, I just can’t think of a worthy opponent to this audio card in terms of functionality and sound quality"
Probably because the reviewer hasn't ever heard one. How many pro cards (budget or otherwise) have Xbit reviewed to base an objective comparison on? I'm sure if they were to review a M-Audio, TC, Presonus, E-Mu or ANY budget sound card for that matter (be it PCI, PCI-E, Firewire or USB) I'm sure they would quickly realise there's more to PC audio than Asus/Creative.
I do admitt however that I am essentially comparing apples and pears here. And we all know a review site like Xbit would never review such a calibre of product because let's face it - pro cards are meant for pros. However, the recent saturation of the budget recording market (thanks to the advent of computer DAWs over the last 10 years+) has meant the market is FLOODED with fantastic products for silly money. However, it still ain't really fair of me to compare these low grade gaming cards to their professional counterparts. But, in my defence, for the money you pay for 'premium', 'enthusiast' cards in the gaming segment - I peronsally think its a total joke compared to what the same amount would get you in the pro sector.
Go pro and don't look back!