Asus Xonar Essence STX and Astro A40

[fantastik250]

Hey everyone,

What would happen if you had an Asus Xonar Essence STX that has an Headphone Amp and use it with an Astro A40 which also has a Mixamp?

Are the amps different or will one affect the other?

 

[douglasw]

Hey everyone,

What would happen if you had an Asus Xonar Essence STX that has an Headphone Amp and use it with an Astro A40 which also has a Mixamp?

Are the amps different or will one affect the other?

I understand your Astro A40 is a pair of headphones...I have the card and it suggest you use a good quality headphones or they may get damaged... specially if you changed the op amps

 

[gamerk316]

Nothing. The A40 mixamp requires a digital input, which means that $180 STX, which is the best soundcard on the market, is going to total waste.

 

[douglasw]

Nothing. The A40 mixamp requires a digital input, which means that $180 STX, which is the best soundcard on the market, is going to total waste.

I think you just have a hate on for this card...Its far from being a total waste of money and there thousands out there including myself will disagree with you...I cant believe you think the STX is a total waste...If thats the case what do you consider to be a good computer sound card...

 

[fantastik250]

I was considering a purchase for an Astro A40 seeing. Is there a spdif to toslink converter? Or am I imagining things that there is no such thing.

 

[douglasw]

I was considering a purchase for an Astro A40 seeing. Is there a spdif to toslink converter? Or am I imagining things that there is no such thing.

Yes there is a converter that goes in your toslink and connects to your coaxial cable that how i don it its called RCA female adapter...one side look like a coaxial female and the other side looks like a earphone stereo plug in yes they make them..if your from canada they have them at the source or radio shake

 

[amuffin]

I just use the onboard optical port for my A30's and mixamp. 😀

 

[gamerk316]

I'm not hating on the STX, I'm just point out that its a total waste of cash to use its digital output. Why spend $180 on the best DAC on the market, then not even bother to use it?

Nevermind that all gaming headsets are trash; I went from a Sennheiser PC350 paired with my Xonar Xense [they come bundled together] to an Audio Technica ATH-m50. Light and day.

Just for kicks, I pulled out my old Tritton AX Pro's and hooked them up via optical, just for kicks. They were horrid in comparison.

There is no reason to buy a soundcard to use its optical output. Ever. Keep the STX, but get a headset that actually takes advantages of its abilities.

 

[fantastik250]

I know, I just wanted to know if the amps from both components would just be incompatible or just one takes over the other.