Asus Xonar Essence STX Thread

[Skripka]

How is the Xonar STX for grounding? Almost every internal sound card I've had has suffered from poor grounding, resulting in a low hum or buzz (sometimes not so low) with my head end speakers and cans. I just ripped an Auzentech card out of my system because of horrid, ear shattering electronic squealing. I've heard the Xonar has some sort of "special" grounding method. How does it do, in this regard?

I've not had any hum or hiss problems on the headphone out, and the digital out comes through on my avr as clean as on would expect a digital out to be.

 

[NCX]

I have denon d2000's and the astro amp, would the STX be a vast improvement and would I need anything else aside from the op amps?

 

[guitarslingerchris]

I have denon d2000's and the astro amp, would the STX be a vast improvement and would I need anything else aside from the op amps?

STX isn't a good match for the D2000s and changing the op amps only changes the sound because you're overdriving the opamp in an unintended way. This is perfectly fine if it's what you're after, but it's actually changing the sound and not improving it. Know the difference.

 

[Bojamijams]

This is my favorite amp out of the 8 I tested to use in the I/V spot

http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/464373-ic-opamp-gp-1mhz-dual-8dip-opa2137p.html

Brings up the bass and tames the highs... the only win/win op-amp I've tried

I also wouldn't recommend Denon's with the STX. You'll get sibilance. At least I did when I tried it with D2000 and D5000.

The STX really likes high impedance cans since they require voltage swing whereas low impedance ones want current which the STX isn't the most giving on. The beyer dynamic DT-880 600ohm (legendary gaming headphone) pairs up very nicely with the STX. Its my goto gaming solution now and if I didn't have JH|13 Pro's, it would also be my goto music pair

 

[Bojamijams]

The unified drivers however will not install for me. All I see is a command prompt (that doesn't finish something I'm guessing) and the status bar of the installation just crawls along slowly (waiting for that something in command prompt to finish I bet)

but.. whatever.. I don't have DPC issues and GX doesn't cause any problems for me so.. I guess I'll stay 'official'

 

[NCX]

TI also wouldn't recommend Denon's with the STX.

Thanks for the feedback. Hmm, well from all the reviews I have read the STX seems like the best card, but not for Denons....too bad.

I don't want to get new headphones. With my initial research I actually decided on the D2K's over the Berydynamics (can't remember which ohm version) back in 2010 based on reviews and opinions from people who owned both the 770 and 880's. My 2nd sound card solution is the HT Omega Cairo since it also gets excellent reviews.

 

[guitarslingerchris]

The unified drivers however will not install for me. All I see is a command prompt (that doesn't finish something I'm guessing) and the status bar of the installation just crawls along slowly (waiting for that something in command prompt to finish I bet)

but.. whatever.. I don't have DPC issues and GX doesn't cause any problems for me so.. I guess I'll stay 'official'

I've experienced this problem with both stock and unified drivers, I've had luck with reseating my GPU and/or the STX to get it to install properly or if I'm doing a fresh install I just install the STX drivers first before GPU.

 

[russeree]

Does the optical SPDIF port glow red at all times? Mine fails to light up or give me any sort of digital out.

InB4 Flame: I don't use optical as my primary output, I just acquired a 7.1 setup and would like to test optical audio.

 

[Skripka]

Does the optical SPDIF port glow red at all times? Mine fails to light up or give me any sort of digital out.

InB4 Flame: I don't use optical as my primary output, I just acquired a 7.1 setup and would like to test optical audio.

Have you tried using as coaxial instead of optical? The LED probably burned out, it is something you can RMA probably if you want.

 

[russeree]

Have you tried using as coaxial instead of optical? The LED probably burned out, it is something you can RMA probably if you want.

Yea the digital side as coaxial works flawlessly! Are the two signals mathematically the same as each other? Also is there a source I could just buy a replacement port? Digikey?

 

[Skripka]

Yea the digital side as coaxial works flawlessly! Are the two signals mathematically the same as each other? Also is there a source I could just buy a replacement port? Digikey?

They're the same exact signal just transmitted differently. The S/PDIF standard provides for either optical (a.k.a. TOSLINK) or electrical over RCA plug transmission. Both are technically S/PDIF though usually people only refer to the coaxial RCA as S/PDIF. Optical S/PDIF suffers from cables that cannot bend tightly and signal drop over longer distances like 20+ft, coaxial S/PDIF can suffer from jitter or ground/RF interference problems.

I don;t know honestly, I had a D2X that had a dead LED in the optical port and just used the coaxial digital. I still haven't RMA'd that card because the other digital out work fine. I use optical on my STX only because I had the TOSLINK cable around, and fiber-optic cables are neat to play with. It honestly makes no difference what transmission medium you use IRL if you're a consumer, so long as you're using a well shielded/built RCA-plug cable.

"Coaxial digital" cables are adverted by Worst Buy and lots of places and often sell for much more than standard RCA, but IME most quality everyday RCA cables will work fine.

 

[russeree]

They're the same exact signal just transmitted differently. The S/PDIF standard provides for either optical (a.k.a. TOSLINK) or electrical over RCA plug transmission. Both are technically S/PDIF though usually people only refer to the coaxial RCA as S/PDIF. Optical S/PDIF suffers from cables that cannot bend tightly signal drop over longer distances, coaxial S/PDIF can suffer from jitter or ground/RF interference problems.

I don;t know honestly, I had a D2X that had a dead LED in the optical port and just used the coaxial digital. I still haven't RMA'd that card because the other digital out work fine. I use optical on my STX only because I had the TOSLINK cable around, and fiber-optic cables are neat. It honestly makes no difference what transmission medium you use IRL if you're a consumer, so long as you're using a well shielded/built RCA-plug cable.

"Coaxial digital" cables are adverted by Worst Buy and lots of places, and often sell for much more than standard RCA, but IME most quality everyday RCA cables will work fine.

Thanks very much for your reply. Very informative, and yea I just used a regular coaxial cable laying around. I probably wont rma the card because it still has a 3 pin header for an optical out on the back of the card.

Thanks again

 

[HeavensCloud]

Slight necro. I just got this card and I'm working out the best way to configure it. I have mine running to an HK3490 stereo receiver and Acculine A1 bookshelf speakers. Should I use the RCA L / R outputs or the SPDIF output with the Toslink adapter and a Toslink cable? I'm confused about whether using optical bypasses the cards amp and etc.

 

[Skripka]

Slight necro. I just got this card and I'm working out the best way to configure it. I have mine running to an HK3490 stereo receiver and Acculine A1 bookshelf speakers. Should I use the RCA L / R outputs or the SPDIF output with the Toslink adapter and a Toslink cable? I'm confused about whether using optical bypasses the cards amp and etc.

If you're using a digital connection you bypass the card's processing entirely unless you're applying DSPs like Dolby etc.

 

[HeavensCloud]

I don't use Dolby. I use it for music and gaming only. Does that mean I should use the RCA cables?

 

[Skripka]

I don't use Dolby. I use it for music and gaming only. Does that mean I should use the RCA cables?

Unless your AVR has a better DAC, yes. And if your AVR has a better DAC then there's no point in the STX....that being said with some rolled op-amps the STX has a good DAC.