Asus Xonar Essence STX Audio Sound Card

I've also asked about it as it seems aimed at audiophiles, yet no one seems to have tried it. Look at the ST I think: PCI version. It is similar but adds something about its own clock and swappable op-amps, iirc.

 

As mentioned, if you only have a PCI slot you need the ST version. the STX is PCIx only.

I have the ST version. Very, very impressive. Best sounding consumer soundcard I have ever heard. Specifically too, the best sounding consumer DAC I have ever heard on the low side of $1000 - much better to my ears than the Cambridge DACMagic / V-DAC, etc. As in there is no contest.

Excellent for recording from the line input too - it has the top of the line Cirrus Logic ADC.

Extremely good headphone amp built-in - again you could spend $500 on a headphone amp that does not sound any better.

It is also one of those rare consumer items that sounds better at 192 Khz than it does at 48 Khz or 96 Khz. Most consumer level digital products to my ears get worse at higher sample rates due to clock precision issues and recording spurious noise, etc at the higher sampling rates. Not the Essence.

I would go so far as to say it has every right to be at the heart of a high end computer based audio system. Considering the rediculously low price it really is a steal.

I have noticed a bug, however, with the card (or drivers) with Windows 7 64 bit though. If you do not disable the microphone input gain and the front panel microphone through the drivers regardless if whether they are connected or not (easily done though), you will get a much worse signal to noise ratio through the line and mix inputs. I don't know why this is possibly the case, but it is. Luckily I have absolutely no need for any microphones so this is not a problem for me. I also don't recall it having been an issue in Vista or XP.

And one other thing that annoys me about the Xonar / Essence cards in Windows 7. When you change the sample rate in the driver control panel, it does not make the corresponding change in Windows itself. So if for example you have the card sampling rate set to 96 Khz in the drivers and you are playing music via Windows Media Player for example, if the Windows control panel is set to 48,000 Hz it will be downsampling from 96 Khz to 48 Khz. And if you have the driver control panel set to 48 Khz and Windows set to 96,000 Hz it will upsample from 48 Khz to 96 Khz. So you have to make sure for playback via headphones or speaker outputs that the sampling rate you set on the card is the same as that set in Windows itself (so two adjustments required instead of one). As I say, this is annoying because other brands of soundcard don't necessarily do this. When you change the sampling rate on the card itself it will adjust the setting in Windows too. I don't know why ASUS make you do this as I cannot think of any reason for it.

 

This version (the STX) has swappable op-amps if you remove that metal shroud. A tweakers dream. I think there was a link in a thread here to a review in stereophile a few months back.

I've never heard it but it is the sound card I'd buy if I was in the market for one.

 

There is also a 7.1 channel add-on for the card (i.e., 5.1 additional discrete channels). Pretty neat!

$49 at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-XONAR_HDAV_H6-A-Multi-ch-Extension/dp/B003LD94SM/

 

The original review is very positive and showcases some pretty impressive measurements. The follow-up review is a bit more lukewarm. Sometimes I gotta wonder what's going on with John Atkinson. He seems to waffle a bit.

 

Here's an in depth review of the Essence Xonar ST Deluxe card:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-xonar-essence-st-deluxe-review/1

 

The ST is the PCI version of the STX with a few improvements:

1)It has an extra IC for reclocking and jitter reduction not present in the STX

2)It has a header on the back for installation of the 7.1 channel expansion card not present on the STX

Otherwise, the cards are identical. You can swap opamps on either card.

 

I would buy one for my notebook, but seems like you need an "Expresscard"-entry to connect it?

Imo notebooks are far more silent than a desktop pc, and better for audio playback???

 

No, you need a PCI or PCI Express slot. These cards are for desktop computers only.

 

I bought one about a month ago- after a loooong process to decide what I wanted. I was interested in ESI Juli@, HT Omega, Asus, or Auzentech.

In the end- it came down to the best deal, as I figured they'd all be close in sound compared to my on board. I bought from NCIX us- as they had the best deal. I got the STX for I thought $170 plus $5 to ship.

If I had gotten any other sound card- it would have been like $15 or $16 to ship.

How do I like it? I don't know yet, as I haven't had much time to play around. I want to record my vinyl rips at hi-rez- and I did try recording a couple pieces at 96K 32 bit float, but that was as far as I got. I then upgraded my cartridge to a Denon DL-110, and I haven't touched my table or any recording since.

Guess I really gotta set my priorities huh?

 

I thought there was one for notebook too...

 

Desktops can be fanless and create no noise whatsoever.

 

Just a note not endorsement:
Newegg is selling them with, quote "Free Xonar Op-amp upgrade kit w/ purchase, ends 10/31"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132010

The first example of the latest incarnation of "tube roller's incentive" in the world of sound cards?

 

If you are especially looking for an S/PDIF output to your digital source, you could look into the better USB->S/PDIF converters with lower jitter such as M2Tech HiFace or Musiland Monitor 02 US, etc.

 

I did not know about this difference when I bought my ST card. My decision to go with the ST was purely on the way the slots are arranged in my case. I wanted the soundcard to be as far as possible from the double slotted video card and had I bought the STX I would have had the two cards literally a mm or two from each other.

I therefore also have to add that my glowing endorsement of this card relates to the ST and (possibly) not so much the STX. I used to use the STX version up to around a year ago with my previous computer and I have to say that I don't remember it sounding quite as good as my ST, particularly when recording at 192 khz, where I thought it actually sounded worse than at 96khz (as opposed to the ST that continues to improve with sampling rate).

I did not think too much of this, at first just thinking my memory of the sound quality was perhaps faulty or that there were variations in product quality and that my ST was just a "good" one and the STX a "normal" one. Or that perhaps hardware and / or software revisions accounted for the difference.

But now I know there is this extra circuit, perhaps there is actually reason for the ST sounding better and I wasn't just imagining it afterall (see Barry's numerous posts where he mentions gear not sounding as good at 192khz due to imprecise clocking).

 

Is this useful for recording?

 

Yup. I am building one of these based on this fanless Atom CPU and motherboard:

 

I'm also using a Nexus Psile case which has an interior platform that acts as a big heatsink for the motherboard and hard drive. I'll probably remove the case fan that comes with the Psile, although Nexus claims it's silent.

 

I will be interested to see what you think of it when you are done. I am seriously considering going down the same route because since I got my Essence ST soundcard, everything other digital source sounds pretty bad This is always the problem when a new component suddenly lifts the bar - you can't go back to what you had before. It is something I am sure many of us are famliar with.

I've looked at alternatives for a high resolution source but they are all either rediculously expensive (NAIM, Linn, etc), don't sound as good and / or have forced upsampling. With the Essence you can force it to sample at the same rate as the source material and therefore get a better, more cohesive and tonally true sound (in my opinion of course).

Haven't decided exactly what bits yet, but it will be one of those integrated ASUS boards and it will have to have a PCI slot, since I believe the ST sounds better than the STX. And I think I will get a solid state drive. It will cost me more but will literally make the source silent and hopefully no noise interference.

Either that or there is some amazing source out there I have not heard of yet that sounds better than the Essence and costs less than the price of a used car.

 

So has anyone purchased one of these Xonar STX cards yet? If so, have you
done any op-amp rolling? Have you biased the op-amps into class a? Have you
replaced them completely with some discrete components.

Inquiring minds want to know.