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Xonar Essence STX 5.1?

T

Tudz

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
7,434
G'day all,

This is a really newbish question. A Xonar Essence STX has a stereo analog out and a coaxial out, yeah? If you run the coaxial out to a reciever, will you be able to 5.1 out of it?

I was under the impression no you wont, as if I run the optical out from my mobo to a receiver I dont get 5.1, but a couple of people mentioned on the STX it'd actually send out 5.1. Is that true?

I want to get this card to drive a set of headphones as I've read it has a decent DAC and headphone amp for the price, but down the track I also want to run a surround sound system, if I go surround it'll be with a reciever so coax 5.1 is fine, wont need 5.1 analog.

Cheers!
Daniel
 
Yes, Essence can output 5.1 with Dolby Digital Live encoding from S/PDIF out connector by coax or optical (with included adapter) cable. I'm using STX with both headphones and external A/V receiver and 5.1 setup - works great! :)
 
Thanks for the info! I'm definitely going to get the STX now. Seems like great value for what it is.
 
Well I just bought the Essence ST (rather than STX) and WOW! What a difference. It's night and day compared to the onboard sound.

I'm running them into a Sennheiser HD280 set of headphones, and a Sony CFS-9900 (an old stereo my Dad bought for $400 25 years ago). The detail in the sound is amazing, through both the headphones as well as the old Sony speakers.

On the headphones I find myself using much less volume than I was using onboard, because even with a lower volume the sound is much more detailed and clear. I was thinking of getting some HD650s, but want to have a listen before I buy something so expensive (could get a new set of exhaust headers for my car for that price :p).

Through the speakers, wow! I always thought this old stereo was a bit crappy, now I realise they're actually really good, it was just the onboard sound was a bad source (the only other thing I've heard through it was radio, as it just has a tuner, broken tape player and AUX input). There's some problem with the AUX in, but the sound is still great, so this might motivate me to get the old beast fixed.
 
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Happy to hear that you are pleased with your new sound card! I have a pair of HD650 hooked up to my STX - they sound amazing using +12 dB gain setting - so I can definitely recommend them too. :)
 
Tudz said:
G'day all,

This is a really newbish question. A Xonar Essence STX has a stereo analog out and a coaxial out, yeah? If you run the coaxial out to a reciever, will you be able to 5.1 out of it?

I was under the impression no you wont, as if I run the optical out from my mobo to a receiver I dont get 5.1, but a couple of people mentioned on the STX it'd actually send out 5.1. Is that true?

I want to get this card to drive a set of headphones as I've read it has a decent DAC and headphone amp for the price, but down the track I also want to run a surround sound system, if I go surround it'll be with a reciever so coax 5.1 is fine, wont need 5.1 analog.

Cheers!
Daniel
Click to expand...
5.1 through spdif is a function of the specs of the source not a limitation of the cable. In other words if your source can do dolby digital live or DTS Connect than you can get 5.1 with a spdif cable of the toslink or coaxial variety.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF
 
Cool, I've just bought a Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe and was so suprised with that !! its hardware and performance is much much better than my previous on board card when playing FPS games and every movie. I think Xonar worth the price. Best recommand!
 
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