ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card

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ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card

Industry-leading quality for Audiophiles , Industry-leading 124dB SNR, Headphone amp with <0.001% distortion, Nichicon ?Fine Gold? professional audio capacitors adopted, Perfectly shielded analog output path , Swappable OPAmp socket.

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card Accessories

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card Reviews

Upgraded from the M-audio Audiophile card to this. I would put this up against ANY digital solid state souce. The DAC on this card is awesome and produces great results when played through analog out. My setup is an integra receiver and EPOS m22i speakers with all high end wires. I also have an OPPO blue ray player. I would consider my system an entry level audiophile setup compared to others but definitely higher end than anything you can get at big box stores. Anyway lossless files, cds, 24/96 files and anything else you put through this card sound great. I have heard digital media players such as the blacknote which costs $3000 and would put this up against it any day. Also, you are able to change the op amps if you want a different sound so I will be experimenting with that as well. All in all this is the best card out there for listening to 2 channel music

Coupled with good headphones this thing absolutely blows me away. Right now I am running ATH-AD700's on this thing using level 2 amp gain and the combination is absolutely amazing.

Those that know about these cans know how they shine in every way but are lacking in the lower end. Even coupled with an aftermarket "decent" soundcard the sound did not even hold a candle 10% of the way to the way they sound hooked up to this Xonar Essence STX card. This card provides RICH, STRONG, POWERFUL, VIRBRANT, DEEP, SHEER, TASTEFUL, CLEAR, CRISP sound. Even the low end lacking ath-ad700's pump out some VERY GOOD STRONG ACCURATE BASS hooked up to this card.

I will write more later but wanted to at least say a little for now.

XONAR is the music and movies crown holder in terms of the best sound from an internal consumer sound card.
Forte if you want a lead in games because of the EAX.

I got this card today, and I am still listening to music at 2:30 in the morning. Previously, I used a Creative SupremeFX-Fi card that came with my motherboard (Asus Maximus Formula). The Creative card was good, but I was unaware of what I was missing.

Everything (sound related) is better with this card. I have a Klipsch ProMedia 4.1 system (I only use 2 satellites, in a 2.1 setting because of the room size). The speakers can play louder, and the sound is richer, more spacious, better defined...

I was never into cans, however I have recently purchased a Sennheiser PC 350 gaming set for a VOIP application and language training. The headset was working fine with the Creative card, but it truly shines with this new one (I am listening through the headset right now). I love the sound so much that I am thinking of buying a dedicated headphone set for music (Sennheiser 600?)... do I need say that this is all because of the card?

Also, I noticed that it's much easier to pass the "Pronunciation" section in language training, so it looks like the card is good with the microphone as well (the Senn PC 350 has a very good microphone to start with).

When I first put the headset on and started to listen to the music, the sound was so good I thought that I actually listen to the speakers (on the SupremeFx-Fi the difference was quite clear, with the speakers easily outperforming the headset). After I removed the headset (and noticed the silence in the room) I said to myself: Wow! - make no mistake, this is a mean sound card. The dedicated Dolby Headphone amp is very impressive. Please don't forget that my headset, while good, is not an "audiophile" product.

Back to the card: I was a little concerned about the card working with my Windows 7 64 bit system. I got a little more confident when I saw the drivers being available on Asus' web site. I had no problem whatsoever (once I downloaded the drivers from Asus' website - the drivers that came on the CD were for XP/Vista). The whole set-up (mechanical + software install) lasted at most 30 minutes - and that was because I took my time.

To be fair to Creative, the FX-Fi was likely a much cheaper card. The price difference notwithstanding, given the dramatic improvement I noticed in so many areas - in such a finicky space as audio - I think this card is a great value.

I bought the card from Electronica Direct - one of Amazon's Marketplace partners, and everything went very well (the card arrived in 2 days, as promised).

Seems likw ASUS had a nice product, however their sales department is terrible and technical support is mixed depending on who you talk to. For a $175 card I would expect to receieve the correct drivers and the card to run effectively with minimum issues. This was not the case with this card. One tech support person hung up on me for no reason. Bottom line this card is not worth $175 and luckily Amazon let me return the card.

I was looking for a sound Card that could support output to two different zones. Two zones would allow me to connect to multiple receivers so I can play music in multiple rooms in my house while playing movies on my home theater system. I called ASUS and asked if they could recomend a sound card that could support two zones. Sales insisted this was the card for me. After recieving the card I spent two days playing with it only to finally determine that it is not capable of supporting two zones. ASUS tech support said 2 zones is impossible and they did not understand why sales would give sa false impression of the card capability.

As far as installation goes this was a nightmare. I specified Windows 7 as an operating system. The card came with Windows Vista drivers. So after playing with it for several hours I finally called tech support only to be informed the wrong drivers were provided with the installation disk. I spent another hour with tech support finding the correct drivers to get the card working. After the drivers were installed I could not get the card to work and called tech support again. The tech support guy insisted this was a motherboard issue and hung up on me. It's funny because my motherboard is manufactured by ASUS. After calling back again they told me i needed an update to my chipset to get this to work. Still no sound...... It turned out the adapter they provided for SPDIF connection to optical cable does not work. When I finally got sound I tried configuring for two zones. Called tech support again only to be informed the card was not designed for two zones.

Some tech support guys were excellent and helped a great deal.... Others did not care to resolve issues and one hung up..... Depends on who you get.....

I bought this card after first considering the another brand for a similar price. I chose the Essence STX mainly on the strength of the quality of the Line-In components. All of the reviews of this card I have seen are focused on playback performance and, by inference, the DAC section of the card, which is excellent. Since I do a lot of 2-channel recording, mainly vinyl conversion and other analog sources, I wanted a card with top notch analog/digital converters. This card fits the bill. The sound quality on the recordings is even better than I expected--great depth, clarity, dynamics and very quiet. Note: I do not record live with this card.

If you are looking for a sound card to mate with either a good pair of headphones, or a high-end stereo system, this one is just the ticket. Or if you want to transfer your lp collection to digital format and you have a good front end setup, this is a great tool for the job. You can also use the wave input to record material streamed off the internet.

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