ASUS Xonar Essence STX soundcard review -
Introduction
Product: | ASUS Xonar Essence STX |
Manufacturer: | ASUS |
Product code (SKU): | 10626256 |
Information: | website |
Street price: | $199,- USD / 179 EUR |
Hey audio crazies, we have us a brand spankin new audio card to tests out today in our labs, and it's all about the essence sound, lets get started with some background first.
The Xonar soundcard lineup has been methodically targeting all segments of the PC audio world with impressive results to the end users. The release of the original D2 marked the entrance of ASUS into the add-in soundcard hardware segments and the Xonar family has been building a strong and dedicated fan base.
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.
The Essence STX boasts extremely impressive numbers across the board and this card has a dedicated high impedance headphone amplifier meant to power those high end headphones which usually require an external amplifier unit for maximum audio enjoyment. Is this card as impressive as the numbers and reports say?
Does this card offer something new and bring new features to the Xonar line up? We are curious to find out so lets get to it, next page please.
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