ASUS Launches Essence STX II and Essence STX II 7.1 Sound Cards
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RED_404
Or never touch a sound card again. Get a good DAC and never deal with crap drivers, distorted DSPs, high CPU usage doto the crap drivers and no high DPC/kernel interrupts and better system stability.
Ch0plol
ASUS soundcard driver support is nonexistent. If it wasn't for the guy who makes the UNi Xonar drivers the cards would only be useful as a paperweight.
HonoredShadow
OOOh! Please tell me more! This is all very new to me. What pumps out the sound then if you have no sound card?
moab600
Looks good but they come with DHT software which i hated with my phoebus, and Asus driver support is poor to say at least.
miffywiffy
Sound cards are ****, high latency, driver issues and the sound quality isn't better, they just have a built in amp to be louder. I don't even use my Asus any more due to so many issues I used to have with it and they never update their drivers. Rocksmith doesn't even work with it because of the latency the card generates.
kosh_neranek
Drivers may not be the best but I sure had fun listening to jazz through Essence STX & Sennheiser HD600. Think am gonna buy the new version and get myself HD650 as well.
FULMTL
USB DAC/amp- digital to analog converter + amplifier
Some have an amp built in. Do note that an amp isn't just for increasing volume. It also increases the quality and can change the characteristics of a headphone. So best to have a good headphone(s) first before you have a higher end amp.
Prepare your wallet...
HonoredShadow
Thanks FULMTL. So are all sound cards rubbish then? High latency and bad drivers?
ClexRex
Ive been using creative sound cards for years now using the x-fi and it is very nice never have issues with it..even with my descent on board sound from the asus maximus formula...the sound card still produces much clearer and crisp sounds its esp noticeable in games like gw2 where lots of sounds are being created in large battles...with on board its much more mashes together and unclear....if you cant notice the difference you either cant hear or should not buy asus sound cards...... lol
sverek
Never had any issues with simple Xonar DG and its night and day comparing to mobo's audio.
War child
Asus own STX drivers are bad. but someone did make a 3rd party Xonar driver which is lightweight and addresses alot of issues. I use it for my current STX and its far better.
schmidtbag
Unless you wear headphones or care about analog recording quality, I really don't understand the point of modern discrete sound cards these days. SPDIF on integrated audio or HDMI audio is already good enough - get yourself a good sound receiver and you'll be all set for the years to come. Your speakers are only as good as the lowest quality part, so even if you're paying for a high-end sound card, if the speakers themselves or the transistors driving them are crap then you're still going to get bad sound.
I also think that supreme sound quality is just a placebo. People need to justify paying several hundred dollars/euros on something they're physically incapable of noticing so they just believe they notice a difference. Then again, you could say the same about people who buy the latest i7 every time a new one comes out.
Corbus
Same with mine.
gapson
Can't agree more on that!
Get a DAC headphone amp, good 2.0 speaker and headphone and you will see the difference!
These Asus and Creative are making huge market share in PC sound sector, but their SQ are real bad and they are not cheap at all, the value you paid for could get a much better gear in DAC and speakers!
sverek
I can't believe people found to argue about something and its not "Nvidia VS Amd".
Great! but how much that cost?
I got Xonar DG to drive Sennheiser 595 for $20. And it was quite an upgrade in audio quality.
gapson
I got the Essence STX a while ago and a DAC from Audio-GD, prices between them are marginal. The SQ is much comparable and you may google it to find some discussions and impressions.
leeaids
iv been using an asus essence stx for a wile now and as i use a pair of mackie hr 824s, before the sound card i used on bord sound, i can tell you for sure a sound card makes all the diffrtence if your using decent speakers,
on bord sound is ok for day to day use but not for good much else
FULMTL
Go to a headphone store and tell me you won't notice the difference between sound quality when you have a wall like this in front of you. You can even measure the differences between a poor headphone and a quality one. You can even see a sound signature just by looking at the wave pattern. However you seem to be too ignorant to even try and you are just missing out.
http://cdn.head-fi.org/7/71/711b388e_222376_470305263006629_201504998_n.jpeg
CronoGraal
audigy se + steelseries siberia v2. come at me.
Andrew LB
Talk about the biggest load of crap i've read on the net in a long time. I have zero driver issues with my x-fi titanium HD, latency is normal, and the sound quality completely obliterates any onboard sound. I guess they may sound the same with a pair of $15 headphones, but if you actually had quality studio monitors or headphones like my Sennheiser HD580's, the difference is like night and day.
