Asus Introduces Audiophile-Grade Essence STX II Sound Cards

[cats_Paw]

Everytime some company uses the term audiophile and then gives its power rating in "it can drive XXX OHM headphones" they are using the term audiophile as a marketing trick.Audiophile grade equipment will give you extact numbers on their output for different ohm ratings.I love asus as a PC company and even like their soundcards, but this sort of move is bad and idiotic.

 

[chicofehr]

I got the ST version of this with the PCI and its better then this one. I upgraded to the highest end op-amps available for the socket, better then the ones Asus sells. I was going to get even better ones with with even lower THD and better frequency range, but I would have to solder it on but didn't want to risk breaking it. I might get one of these in future as I have been happy with them. One very good reason to get one of these if you already have one of the older, is that it will have better OS support then the current. I'm sure they will stop making new drivers now that the new card is coming. I'm with Win 7 so it doesn't effect me.

 

[milktea]

Everytime some company uses the term audiophile and then gives its power rating in "it can drive XXX OHM headphones" they are using the term audiophile as a marketing trick.Audiophile grade equipment will give you extact numbers on their output for different ohm ratings.I love asus as a PC company and even like their soundcards, but this sort of move is bad and idiotic.

This is just ASUS's press release. They are probably still finalizing the datasheet, and maybe some last minute testing and bugs clean up. Do you expect them to list all the engineering test data for the press?
It's a teaser, and most tech companies do that now. I'm not sure why you think it's idiotic?!

 

[Faye_Kane_]

==-FYI, a "tulip plug" is an ordinary RCA jack. I had to look it up.-faye kane

 

[Orguss]

Heh, Faye_Kane, it _was_ kind of sneaky to use a moderately obscure term ('tulip plugs') to describe an RCA jack. Bad enough folks love throwing around 'audiophile' like anything built into a motherboard for sound is best only heard with a cochlear implant and an inch of old drywall. My 1980s-era 450w NEC receiver and pair of 200w-per Technics monoliths sound just fine, thank you very much. I just use a 3.5mm-to-RCA cable from my rig's back panel line-out into my NEC's RCA aux-in, and it sounds to me as good as I need it to. Please don't foist this 'audiophile' bullshit on me as if I'm pissing on a special snowflake chef's food on my own time.-Trogdor.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Hey Orguss, lay off the cochlear implants. My daughter has one, and got enough experience (implant in one ear, hearing aid in the other) that at about 16 she switched to stereo instead of mono. Then she managed to tell that Sennheiser 497's are better than what she had been using.

Pretty amazing stuff. (and I was kidding if you thought that I really took offense.)

 

[NightLight]

i wonder what the latency will be like... just in case you want to plug a guitar in it...

 

[hasten]

Question here... I can appreciate great sound but I am a noob when it comes to audiophile stuff. In other words would I benefit from having a card with my speakers and headphones which are UE6000 headphones and Bose companion 3 series II ? Ive had the bose for a while now and to me they sound great, But could I get more out of them? I know some may say otherwise towards bose but I received them as a gift so yea.

I disagree with the post that said "it depends on your ears". The gear you are using will see no benefit from an audiophile level soundcard. A decent soundcard ($50-75) is all you would need, if not onboard on a good motherboard.

I'm using a Titanium HD (which never claimed to be audiophile) sent through a decent amp to Definitive Technology BP7006 tower speakers. Then the line out from the amp is going to a headphone amp driving a variety of high end cans. I couldn't even justify upgrading to this card with the equipment I'm driving...