The ASUS Essence 1 is easily one of the most anticipated products to come along in the PC audio community in quite some time as many seen it as ASUS moving out of the general audio market and taking a shot at entry into the true high end audio marketplace. Can this new product offer excellent sound quality, features demanded by the external audio market and all for a reasonable price?

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We test and review the Xonar Essence ST Deluxe 7.1 soundcard. Yes, you read it right, the full deluxe model! ASUS has been relentless with its R&D and soundcard releases, putting out one high end card after another. The Essence models are considered the current undisputed kings of the Xonar series of soundcards. We are quite excited to see what the Essence ST offers over the STX and in general. So, let’s pull out the Xonar Essence ST Deluxe 7.1 and have a look and a listen.
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The PC audio market has been churning out some great new high fidelity soundcards lately. A good example here is the recent release of the new Essence STX headphone card, which stirred up the audio community and caught the attention of people who usually look for external headphone amplifiers. Some of you may know there were rumors of ASUS expanding the Essence Line-up with possibly a PCI model. Guru3D has the prototype the engineering sample of the Essence ST in our audio lab today, and will bring you a sneak preview on it.
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The recent addition of the HDAV 1.3 and Essence STX have targeted two new markets for the ever moving Xonar sound machine landing impressive contributions to the high end HTPC audio and high end stereo/headphone markets. This review will encompass the new Xonar Essence STX and we will examine what this card has to offer new users who are interested in this product. This new card has been highlighted as the pinnacle of the Xonar soundcards at least as far as 2.0 and headphone audio are concerned.
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