Any opinions on Asus Xonar ST/STX Soundcard?

[monstermoo]

As per the title really.

I'm toying with the idea of investing in a 1st gen. Linn Akurate DS but as you probably know - they ain't cheap.

I've read that the Asus Xonar ST/STX sound card is supposed to be a damn fine piece of kit for the money (got glowing reviews in Stereophile) and so if I am to have my music streaming from a PC/storage device then perhaps this is much more flexible and cost effective solution.

At the moment I just stream my music from my HP laptop via Apple Airport Express from I-Tunes through a Caiman. Sounds OK, but I'd like more finesse, detail, control etc. etc. All music is ripped in apple lossless format from off-the-shelf CD's.

I presume a laptop with the ASUS soundcard would be huge step forward on what I currently have, but would the Linn system be sooo much better again?

I'd assume so when looking at the price.

Any thoughts?

[HighFidelityGuy]

I presume a laptop with the ASUS soundcard would be huge step forward on what I currently have, but would the Linn system be sooo much better again?

Did you mean to say laptop? These are soundcards for desktop PC's, not laptops. :scratch:

I've heard they're good soundcards but they're still just an internal soundcard running of an electrically noisy power supply inside a case full of electrical interference. They're never going to be as good as an external soundcard. IMO you're best off putting your money towards a digital transport that's USB or Firewire based and runs off it's own separate power supply. Something like a HiFace Evo or KingRex UC-192 for example. These will give you a high quality digital output for you to feed into your Caiman. You can also use these with a laptop unlike the Xonar cards you mentioned. :)

[WAD62]

As Dave said the ASUS is an internal card for a PC/tower, not a laptop...

However if you are going to use a PC/tower, I'd recommend using a cheaper soundcard with a digital out into the beresford, I'm using an M-Audio 2496 which is ideal for the beresford's capabilities (TC-7510). You can pick up a second hand one for about £35.

If it's a laptop then there are some soundcard options, but you need a compatible laptop, creative do some laptop souncards, it's a configuration that Stan uses himself. Then as above use the digital out into the DAC

P.S. The ASUS does look a nice bit of kit, and I've not heard it, but I doubt it will better a Beresford with a good digital source...I stand to be corrected

P.P.S. Why apple lossless and not FLAC?

[monstermoo]

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for not being too clear on my plans.

I'm thinking about getting a PC which I could use as a dedicated source for music and DVD/Bluray and using Microsoft's Media Centre to playback.

So, I was wondering just how good the ASUS would be in comparison to something like the Linn ADS.

Would there be any benefits to going from the PC to the Beresford and then via fixed line outs to the power amp and using the PC software as volume control? I currently use the variable outputs and volume control on the Caiman. It's stock BTW.

As I understand it the ASUS has its own internal DAC and is very well shielded against interference. Would there be any benefit in using the Caiman at all in this situation?

I'm using apple lossless purely because all of my ripped music is in Itunes so we can copy to our Ipods and stream via the Airport Express.

Thanks again

[HighFidelityGuy]

I would say that using the Caiman as an external DAC will more than likely give you better results than the Xonar's on-board DAC. The gap would increase further if you got a Gator upgrade board for the Caiman and maybe a linear power supply. With the Caiman you have these upgrade possiblities and many more which make a big improvement to the already very good Caiman.

Personally I wouldn't recommend using the software volume control. I'm not sure how the Xonar software/drivers work when it comes to allowing WASAPI mode or ASIO but usually if the windows volume control works it means that the audio stream is being mangled by Windows. To get get a bit perfect output from Windows you need to be using WASAPI or ASIO. These are methods of allowing the media software to talk directly to the soundcard without the audio signal going through the Windows audio sub-system. If you're planning on getting a new PC then this will have Win7 and therefore WASAPI is your best option. However, both Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player are not compatible with WASAPI despite WASAPI being a Microsoft development. :doh: This is incredibly annoying as in my opinion Media Center is by far the best interface for PC music playback and gives you the option of using it for TV playback and much more. This is what I currently use.

However, I've recently found a way round this problem using a bit of software called ReClock which allows you to get WASAPI working with Media Center. I'll try and find a link for you as there are lots of versions on different websites and it gets confusing. I'm guessing that the problem you'll find with this option is that you'll have to use your Caiman or a separate preamp to get volume control. I'm not sure if you need remote volume control? Another thing to take into consideration is that Win8 is supposed to be coming out soonish, so that might allow WASAPI with Media Center as a native feature. I know lots of people have requested this. As you've probably guessed the whole computer based music source field is a bit of a minefield unless you're just using the computer as a server for something like a Linn DS or some other separate device like that.

Sorry if all of this has blown your mind a bit but these are the pitfalls of computer audio which I've ran into over the last couple of years, so I thought it would be best to provide you with as much info as possible at the beginning to speed up the process for you. :) Try not to let all this put you off as it is possible to setup a very easy to use and great sounding system with Windows, you just need to be willing to spend some time setting it all up properly. :)

[WAD62]

+ 1

Bypass any DSP processing on the computer if at all possible, even volume adjustment, and turn off any soundscheme.

For audio playback I'd suggest winamp or foobar, I think they can support ALAC, but you might need an additional plugin.

As I said earlier if you use the beresford as a DAC something like the M-Audio 2496 or even 192 will give you a high quality digital output at less than half the price of the ASUS...there are obviously other options too, and plenty on ebay. Then you can direct the output of your music player directly to the SPDIF of the soundcard, thus bypassing any windows 'pollution'...

N.B. The ASUS also looks like it might be a bit of a beast to fit, and may need more than one PCI/X slot.

P.S. Dave I want a desperate preamp :lol:

"you'll have to use your Caiman or a desperate preamp to get volume control"

[HighFidelityGuy]

+ 1

Bypass any DSP processing on the computer if at all possible, even volume adjustment, and turn off any soundscheme.

For audio playback I'd suggest winamp or foobar, I think they can support ALAC, but you might need an additional plugin.

As I said earlier if you use the beresford as a DAC something like the M-Audio 2496 or even 192 will give you a high quality digital output at less than half the price of the ASUS...there are obviously other options too, and plenty on ebay. Then you can direct the output of your music player directly to the SPDIF of the soundcard, thus bypassing any windows 'pollution'...

N.B. The ASUS also looks like it might be a bit of a beast to fit, and may need more than one PCI/X slot.

P.S. Dave I want a desperate preamp :lol:

"you'll have to use your Caiman or a desperate preamp to get volume control"

:lolsign: Now corrected.

I have an M-Audio Audiophile 192 card which you can have cheap. It's the model up from the 2496. I got it to try out but found it screwed up Windows Standby. So if you need standby then I wouldn't recommend any M-Audio cards. I guess you could have my Auzentech Xplosion instead as I'm not using it at the moment. Let me know if you're interested in either and I'll work out some prices. :)

[barry-potter]

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for not being too clear on my plans.

I'm thinking about getting a PC which I could use as a dedicated source for music and DVD/Bluray and using Microsoft's Media Centre to playback.

So, I was wondering just how good the ASUS would be in comparison to something like the Linn ADS.

Would there be any benefits to going from the PC to the Beresford and then via fixed line outs to the power amp and using the PC software as volume control? I currently use the variable outputs and volume control on the Caiman. It's stock BTW.

As I understand it the ASUS has its own internal DAC and is very well shielded against interference. Would there be any benefit in using the Caiman at all in this situation?

I'm using apple lossless purely because all of my ripped music is in Itunes so we can copy to our Ipods and stream via the Airport Express.

Thanks again

I recently built a dedicated music pc (not bluray playback) so my task was a bit simpler. You may know more about this stuff then me but what I found out was that the motherboard was key. I think there are a few that are powerful enough to run all you require but are passive cooled so no noisy fans (either auditory or electrical) and have a dc input , so an external power supply too.
Mine has spdif headers and sounds pretty good (into a linear caimen gator) as it stands but can be improved upon.

[alfie2902]

As per the title really.

I'm toying with the idea of investing in a 1st gen. Linn Akurate DS but as you probably know - they ain't cheap.

I've read that the Asus Xonar ST/STX sound card is supposed to be a damn fine piece of kit for the money (got glowing reviews in Stereophile) and so if I am to have my music streaming from a PC/storage device then perhaps this is much more flexible and cost effective solution.

At the moment I just stream my music from my HP laptop via Apple Airport Express from I-Tunes through a Caiman. Sounds OK, but I'd like more finesse, detail, control etc. etc. All music is ripped in apple lossless format from off-the-shelf CD's.

I presume a laptop with the ASUS soundcard would be huge step forward on what I currently have, but would the Linn system be sooo much better again?

I'd assume so when looking at the price.

Any thoughts?

You say you would like more finesse, detail, control etc. well I suspect that lays with the Dac! Transports IMO do make a diffence but quite small compared to the differences a better Dac will make. Most people just use a soundcard for a digital out & use KS WASAPI or ASIO to bypass windows nasties! I'm not sure what you'd gain with a Xonar. iTunes into an AE is bit perfect so any issue with sound quality should be the Dac.

I've heard an Akurate DS a few times & they sound very nice. A SB Touch into a nice Dac will get you most of the way there though IMO.

Or you could look at Asnyc Dacs the Arcam rDac is a steal at it's price & sounded better in my system than the Caiman, & for more money the async M2Tech Young sounds better again!