Asus Xonar essence stx soundcard?

Jacob Schu

I currently have some hd 595 which i love and use on my ipod and desktop. They sound very nice but i wanna go to the next level. Im contemplating getting a pair of hd 650s. Will my sound card a 200$ 'ASUS Xonar Essence stx' make these headphones really shine or do I need an upgrade?

Answer
Maybe, however if it is a crappy headset, that will change nothing, the sound will still be lousy.

How to connect Asus Xonar sound card to studio monitors?

Jack

I have an Asus Xonar Essence STX, and a pair of KRK Rokit 8's which have balanced TRS input and unbalance RCA input.

What's the best way to connect the two and what cables do I need?
Here is a link to the spec of the sound card:

http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=k8OChreLuh8zgFmQ&templete=2

Answer
Seeing the nice monitors which you have, it would be better to purchase a sound interface by Edirol, M-Audio, ESI or Tascam for example, as an ASUS Xonar Essence STX does not do justice to your KRK Rokit Powered 8 monitors. Make sure to use the supplied ASIO drivers for your ASUS Xonar Essence STX.

You will need to use the RCA jacks on your ASUS Xonar Essence STX and connect them to the jack plugs on your KRK Rokit Powered 8 monitors, so you will need a cable which has RCA jacks on one side, white and red, and on the other end the cable should have two jack plugs, those large ones, such as which you find on large headphones for example. The ones found on in ear headphones are those small ones, but you will need those big jack plugs.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

Should I Go Vinyl or Stay In My Little Digital World?

Jacob

My Generation is the Digital Generation. But, My Favorite Band is The Beatles. I Was Thinking About Buying The New Box Set Of All Their Albums In Vinyl. So I Guess Technically I Could Listen To It The Way It Was Ment to be heard. I Don't Mind Buying A Turn Table just to listen to it. But I Never heard a Actual Vinyl In Real Life. (Been Watching Some Videos About IT Though) Some People say Vinyl is better than CD. Is that true? should i switch to Vinyl?

Answer
I have a nice turntable and collection of mint and very good LPs. Also I have a PC with audiophile sound card (ASUS Xonar Essence STX) with 192 kHz sample rating.

So, I digitized some of my LPs at 192 kHz @ 24 bit to lossless FLAC files.

I have very good class A headphone amplifier and one of the best open range headphones (AKG K701).

So, I put my headphones on and asked my daughter to switch from actual LPs to digital FLAC files without my knowledge (blind test). I could NOT tell the difference.

However, when I took control of the switch by myself I could hear the difference. It seemed to me the sound of LP was more wide and clear.

So, I figured out that blind test is more objective and there is NO difference in clarity or any other aspects of the music.

It comes down only to a perception. Some people believe that LP sounds better and nothing can change it.

do you think dr dre beats headphones would be good playing online games like black opps?

Nikita

im thinking of buy dr dre head phones i watched some reveiws on 2 of their products the solo hd and the studio headphones and what most of them said to go for is the studio ones but i wanted to know if they would be good for playing games like black opps, where it would be best if you could hear everything around you, basically like sorround headphones but with ones that i can also use listening to music on my ipod. has anybody got any got advice on which one would be good?

Answer
Talking about beats, that are mediocre headphones already, I have to say they won't do their job well at gaming.

Aside all their sound quality aspects, they have a very narrow, close soundstage. This means you won't have an edge at hearing the environment, particularly you will have difficulties differing the location of a fired shot - was it from the front left or rear left? for example.

My point is - look else where. I just don't know your budget.

The Audio Technica ATH-A700 sounds great and I really like that glossy black on it f.e.

BTW, for gaming, you will benefit from a nice soundcard too. Nothing overcomes the ASUS Xonar Essence

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

Is this a good enough setup for UDK and 2560x1440 gaming?

best headphones xonar essence image

ThisIsaCoo

Hey guys, I'm building a new beast gaming and UDK computer. I want this to be future-proof for 5-10 years, and I can spend maximum of $4000 CAD (including everything). I am also getting into professional level video editing, plus I consider myself an audiophile. Also, everything is being ordered from Newegg.ca. Anyways, here's my specs:

MB: Asus Rampage IV Formula
CPU: Intel Core i7 3930K
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB
GPU: 2x Asus DirectCUII GTX 670 4GB
PSU: XCLIO Gold 1000W PSU
Case: NZXT Phantom 630
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX
OS: Windows 8 64-bit
Cooling: Corsair H100i
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST
Hardrives: WD Red 2TB, Samsung 840 Pro 128GB
Monitor: Achieva Shimian QH270 2560x1440 Korean IPS Display
Other: Byerdynamic DT 990 Pro audiophile headphones

This all adds up to slightly over $4k. Will this be future-proof for 5-10 years?

Answer
Make sure the RAM is 1600 or 1866MHz. For gaming? It will definitely need to be upgraded GPU-wise but likely not for about 3 years. Have you seen what it takes to run Crysis 3? If you have the extra money, go for two 680's or even 3 7970's. That way you'd be REALLY future-proofed.

Also make sure the Hard Drives are at least 7200rpm if not 10000 since the within 5 years SSD's will probably be the norm.

Stick with Windows 8. Four thumbs up on that, since 7 will be obsolete within 10 years I'm willing to bet.

Have a nice time building, and good luck! This is a really nice system you have here. Great job choosing parts.

Best gaming headphones?

Eric

Hi!! Im looking for a good pair of headphones for my ASUS Xonar essence STX. I play FPS games mostly and i want to get the most out of this sound card! Any recommendations?!?

Answer
Believe it or not, some of the best headphone are often USB ones which don't use your soundcard at all since they use their own audio drivers and process audio over USB in the headset. Logitech makes good ones, Turtle Beach makes good to great ones, Razer makes some fantastic ones like the Tiamat and Megalodon. You really have to narrow down to what your budget is, here are what I would consider the best for the 3 price categories

<$40 the Turtle Beach Earforce Z11
$60ish Plantronics GameCom 780
$129 Razer Megalodon 7.1

Honestly you won't go wrong with the GameCom 780 it offers great performance for the price.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

asus xonar essence stx headphone and receiver?

best headphones xonar essence image

protonblas

i need a soundcard with coaxial support this card has it
i need it for my headphone stereo and watching hd movies with dts
will this card transmit dts in its true form
i only two options on the spdif pcm and dolby digital live i am not sure if it transfers dts

Answer
Hi there,
unfortunately the card doesn't support DTS.
It is mainly designed as a headphone amplifier, in this regard it is an excellent card for the money.

If your primary usage is for headphone listening this card represents an excellent choice, although I personally upgraded from this to an ODAC+O2 combination.

If your primary usage is to use the surround sound and DTS is important I would recommend the Xonar HDAV cards, I had the full size card with daughter board and loved it.

Is this a good enough setup for UDK and 2560x1440 gaming?

ThisIsaCoo

Hey guys, I'm building a new beast gaming and UDK computer. I want this to be future-proof for 5-10 years, and I can spend maximum of $4000 CAD (including everything). I am also getting into professional level video editing, plus I consider myself an audiophile. Also, everything is being ordered from Newegg.ca. Anyways, here's my specs:

MB: Asus Rampage IV Formula
CPU: Intel Core i7 3930K
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB
GPU: 2x Asus DirectCUII GTX 670 4GB
PSU: XCLIO Gold 1000W PSU
Case: NZXT Phantom 630
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX
OS: Windows 8 64-bit
Cooling: Corsair H100i
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST
Hardrives: WD Red 2TB, Samsung 840 Pro 128GB
Monitor: Achieva Shimian QH270 2560x1440 Korean IPS Display
Other: Byerdynamic DT 990 Pro audiophile headphones

This all adds up to slightly over $4k. Will this be future-proof for 5-10 years?

Answer
Make sure the RAM is 1600 or 1866MHz. For gaming? It will definitely need to be upgraded GPU-wise but likely not for about 3 years. Have you seen what it takes to run Crysis 3? If you have the extra money, go for two 680's or even 3 7970's. That way you'd be REALLY future-proofed.

Also make sure the Hard Drives are at least 7200rpm if not 10000 since the within 5 years SSD's will probably be the norm.

Stick with Windows 8. Four thumbs up on that, since 7 will be obsolete within 10 years I'm willing to bet.

Have a nice time building, and good luck! This is a really nice system you have here. Great job choosing parts.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers