Asus Introduces Audiophile-Grade Essence STX II Sound Cards

[N.Broekhuijsen]

Asus has built two very attractive new sound cards (again) with swappable op-amps.

Asus Introduces Audiophile-Grade Essence STX II Sound Cards : Read more

 

[WyomingKnott]

My STX is awesome, both with headphones and driving amplified speakers.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

Strange that there's no mention of the DAC or headphone amp in the press release. ASUS was very public about both with the original Essence.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

More information for anyone who's interested:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/708756/asus-xonar-essence-stx-ii

It looks like it uses the same Burr Brown DAC from the original ST/STX. There are some new caps and upgraded op amps though.

 

[Evolution2001]

THIS shortly after Tom's runs an article about most people not being able to differentiate between audiophile grade hardware and a top-of-the-line Realtek ALC889 audio for $2. *chuckles*http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-19.html

 

[bharatwd]

hope they changed molex power to sata power...........please.......

 

[Evolution2001]

hope they changed molex power to sata power...........please.......

The fullsize pic...still looks like a molex. *eyeroll*

 

[bharatwd]

What a shame...................2014 and molex power connector..........

 

[getochkn]

Who's amp has 8 separate connections? It's all digital or HDMI.

 

[jimmysmitty]

THIS shortly after Tom's runs an article about most people not being able to differentiate between audiophile grade hardware and a top-of-the-line Realtek ALC889 audio for $2. *chuckles*http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-19.html

There are a lot of people who claim to not be able to tell the difference. I think they are full of it but there are some people who cannot hear the difference but ever since I got my X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatality Pro card, I couldn't go back. I tried to use my onboard sound for a while and it just didn't have the same quality and clarity.

Upgraded to a SB-Z and haven't looked back, especially with the ability to have speakers and headphones plugged in it just makes it that much better so I can easily switch.

hope they changed molex power to sata power...........please.......

I would hope so too. But from what I can tell from the pictures it looks like a normal Molex connection. If you look towards the base on the power connection you will see 4 solder points, SATA power has more that 4 points.

I only have one Molex in my entire system, due to my case having a fan controller for the front and side fans.

 

[esco_sid]

I fail to see how they call Internal sound cards audiophile as far as i know internal cards get introduced to too much noise from the computer only way to go is external, although i still hope it is a good product but i will stick to my bifrost as i am sure it is still a lot better.

 

[getochkn]

I fail to see how they call Internal sound cards audiophile as far as i know internal cards get introduced to too much noise from the computer only way to go is external, although i still hope it is a good product but i will stick to my bifrost as i am sure it is still a lot better.

If it's designed right, it doesn't matter that it's internal. RME makes some of the best pro-audio recording sound cards in the world and they have come internal for like 10 years.

 

[MSus]

200$ - 250$

 

[Zeroplanetz]

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.

 

[XGrabMyY]

I wonder if the drivers for the STX II will have the same insanely frequent compatibility issues with 33% of all games ever made due to the use of EAX and OpenAL, specifically the HsSrv.dll file which will cause launch crashes with a wide variety of games and even BSODs in more severe compatibility issues.If they have solved these problems sign me up, I had to return my STX Classic because of that.

 

[WyomingKnott]

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.

It depends on your ears. You have to try it, preferably by borrowing one for a couple of weeks and spending two days with one setup, two days with the other. A/B blind testing is, IMHO, useless. Build an impression of one over a few days, then the other, and keep switching.

Me, I can tell the difference. I've gotten my headphone equipment to the point where it is good enough, even the portable stuff, and it would take something really amazing to make me pay money to switch. Speakers - what speakers? Someday I may go back to fooling with them.

 

[sancco]

how is this different to the original stx?

 

[Zeroplanetz]

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.

It depends on your ears. You have to try it, preferably by borrowing one for a couple of weeks and spending two days with one setup, two days with the other. A/B blind testing is, IMHO, useless. Build an impression of one over a few days, then the other, and keep switching.

Me, I can tell the difference. I've gotten my headphone equipment to the point where it is good enough, even the portable stuff, and it would take something really amazing to make me pay money to switch. Speakers - what speakers? Someday I may go back to fooling with them.

I def have ears that can hear differences. But would my current equipment be able to utilize a sound card? I guess that's what im asking more because they both just have one plug in to the pc not several...?

 

[dragonsqrrl]

THIS shortly after Tom's runs an article about most people not being able to differentiate between audiophile grade hardware and a top-of-the-line Realtek ALC889 audio for $2. *chuckles*http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-19.html

I think you may have misinterpreted the results. That's taking amplification out of the equation. A quality amp can still make all the difference when driving high impedance headphones.

 

[jasonelmore]

Can this sound card push a 130w 7.1 Surround sound System? or is a reciever needed to push power to speakers and subwoofer.

 

[laststop311]

For people who already own the original STX is this card worth upgrading to or is the difference very minimal between the 2?

 

[Guinibee]

I have the old essence STX...it doesn't seem like anything is new on this one...would it be worth "upgrading" to?

 

[Guest]

you will need some kind of power amplifier. I run my STX directly into my Sennheiser HD600's for headphone listening, but for speaker listening I use RCA into a NAD C 316BEE Integrated power amplifier (40watts RMS) to power the speakers. I'm don't know how well the STX handles 7.1, I only use stereo

 

[milktea]

Very exciting to hear the new Essence STX II.
Hopefully, the new MUSES 8820 & 8920 proofs itself in the Audio Precision measurements. Although, their specs are somewhat thin compare to the TI LMEs. TI test the heck out of their products. I only wish NJR/JRC would do the same and have a more comprehensive datasheet.

 

[milktea]

I have the old essence STX...it doesn't seem like anything is new on this one...would it be worth "upgrading" to?

Since you already have the STX, I would probably wait for the reviews & measurements. The headphone output amp, the DAC and the Audio processor appears to be the same (from the picture alone, don't know what the final specs would be). They might have fixed some bugs, and tweaked a few things here and there. And now you get to try out the new MUSES 88/89s, which is somewhat difficult to come by. So unless you're really into trying new MUSES op-amps, I'd probably wait for the reviews then decide.