Asustek Xonar Essence STX 2 > Onboard?

SteQ · 8 Oct 2023 at 21:21

Back in 2012 I bought a Asustek Xonar Essence STX 2 Channel PCI Express Audio Card. I've been using it ever since.

How good is on board sound nowadays? Is my sound card still worth using on my next build or has on board surpassed this card?

Will it even work on Windows 11?

Appreaciate any thoughts, cheers.

Nasher · 9 Oct 2023 at 10:03

I have the original STX and it still way better than any onboard audio I've tried. They are still considered some of the best before you get to more expensive external DACs.

Onboard always sounds quite flat and muffled. They use cheap components and software emulation for it so it's never going to sound great.

SteQ · 9 Oct 2023 at 10:14

Thanks for the input, ive not even tried on board sound since I tested way back when. Although i have a USB wireless headset I tend to use speakers most of the time so Im still getting the benefit from the sound card.

mickyflinn · 9 Oct 2023 at 10:18

Totally agree with @Nasher if you have quality speakers a decent dedicated sound card will sound miles better than an onboard solution.

JasonM · 12 Oct 2023 at 14:47

I own both the original Asus ST, and later Asus STX II. Both are vasty superior to on-board audio.

I'm running the STX II with Asus Win 10 64 drivers on Windows 11, I have had issues using the card on Gigabyte X370 namely stuttering that would suddenly appear, I have updated latest motherboard BIOS and it's gone away for time being.

SteQ · 12 Oct 2023 at 15:40

The Win10 drivers work on 11? Perfect!

JasonM · 12 Oct 2023 at 15:48

SteQ said:
The Win10 drivers work on 11? Perfect!

Yes those drivers work on Win 11. The stuttering issue I had was something to do with AMD chipsets!

JollyJamma · 13 Oct 2023 at 09:53

JasonM said:
Yes those drivers work on Win 11. The stuttering issue I had was something to do with AMD chipsets!

I have had the same issue with other sound cards - the AMD chipset just went happy with the sound card so it wouldn’t work.

JasonM · 13 Oct 2023 at 14:54

JollyJamma said:
I have had the same issue with other sound cards - the AMD chipset just went happy with the sound card so it wouldn’t work.

I've never 100% worked the true cause, but the latest Gigabyte BIOS issue appears to have fixed it, saying this I have thought this before with BIOS update and stuttering eventually came back!