Asus Xonar Essence STX opinions

[Juha]

Just won Asus Xonar Essence STX on net auction.
Any users here?

After this I have 5 audio systems on my very plain PC/Windows 7

- RME HDSP 9632 on a pci slot
- RME DIGI 96/8 on a pci slot
- Hegel dac on usb
- Motherboard sound card
- Asus Xonar on pci-e slot

It will be interesting to see, if Xonar Essence STX can beat the German RME cards.

http://hoone.com/xonar.jpg

[vegman1973]

What is it? A sound card

[Andrei]

Yes it is a Sound Card. They are quite old now but fabulously good. They got an excellent write up in Stereophile - the 'ST' version which is practically identical. I have 5 pcs and two are running this card, one ST and one STX. They utilised a top quality Texas Instruments DAC chip'.

[vegman1973]

Cool

[Juha]

Yes it is a Sound Card. They are quite old now but fabulously good. They got an excellent write up in Stereophile - the 'ST' version which is practically identical. I have 5 pcs and two are running this card, one ST and one STX. They utilised a top quality Texas Instruments DAC chip'.

Have you changed the op-amps? I had a look and supposed better quality op-amps are easy to find on Ebay. They only cost 3 euro/op-amp.
Windows 10 driver is available from Asus. This is good.

[AlfaGTV]

I have one of those running at the moment!
Have always thought it were good but not excellent. However, i recently built meself a MediaServer/Player on a Streacom chassi, utilising Win Server 2012R2 and JRiver Media Center for playback and UPnP server duties. Havent used my Essence STX for a while and wanted to try getting analog signal out of the Streamer directly. Afte getting a PCI1x extension i installed it the other day and i was absolutely thrilled about the results!
It plays with a lot of life and dynamics and the bottom end really exercises the woofers! Compared to the Streamer serving up USB signal to a few USB only DAC's it is more of a question of preference...
The USB dacs may have a fuller midrange but less extension. The STX draws very detailed images of the venue/studio but can be a bit "in yer face" sometimes.
The USB DAC's are, in order of preference, HRT MusicStreamer II, Music Streamer+ and doublessly the best; Bladelius USB DAC.

If you want to, a good substitute for the OPAmps in the STX to take out some grain is the LME 49720HA, metal cap.
Difficult to keep the protective metal piece in place though as these build quite high on the adapter plater...
Atb Mike

[Juha]

I have one of those running at the moment!
Have always thought it were good but not excellent. However, i recently built meself a MediaServer/Player on a Streacom chassi, utilising Win Server 2012R2 and JRiver Media Center for playback and UPnP server duties. Havent used my Essence STX for a while and wanted to try getting analog signal out of the Streamer directly. Afte getting a PCI1x extension i installed it the other day and i was absolutely thrilled about the results!
It plays with a lot of life and dynamics and the bottom end really exercises the woofers! Compared to the Streamer serving up USB signal to a few USB only DAC's it is more of a question of preference...
The USB dacs may have a fuller midrange but less extension. The STX draws very detailed images of the venue/studio but can be a bit "in yer face" sometimes.
The USB DAC's are, in order of preference, HRT MusicStreamer II, Music Streamer+ and doublessly the best; Bladelius USB DAC.

If you want to, a good substitute for the OPAmps in the STX to take out some grain is the LME 49720HA, metal cap.
Difficult to keep the protective metal piece in place though as these build quite high on the adapter plater...
Atb Mike

My card will be mailed tomorrow.
Wow, "but can be a bit "in yer face" sometimes". The Genelec/NS1000M active speakers that I use are totally "in your face" all the time.
Let's see what double "in your face" does...

[Andrei]

Have you changed the op-amps? I had a look and supposed better quality op-amps are easy to find on Ebay. They only cost 3 euro/op-amp.
Windows 10 driver is available from Asus. This is good.
I did experiment with op-amps quite a while ago. I tried pairs of OPA627APs and LME49860NAs in the 'A' and 'B' positions. I do not recall any night and day differences but it is still worth a go given the ease with which they can be swapped in and out.
I did not know they had a WIN 10 driver - ASUS are not prolific up-daters of their drivers. I'm considering WIN 10 so will use the new driver if I go for it - thanks for the tip!

[Juha]

After 2 days with Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card, this is my initial impression.

1. It was well worth the £60 paid for it.

2. Drivers are as bad as their reputation suggests.

Difficult to install. I had to boot twice to make them work.
User interface is a joke. There is no audio routing. I would like to route
spdif input to analog out. RME cards have audio routing. They can be used as
stand-alone dacs as long as the computer is on.

3. The sound is exceptional.

There is low distortion and a super heightened clarity on everything.
I mean while listening to familiar song choruses, I can now count how many McCartneys or Roger Waters are layered.
On my active NS1000/Genelec monitors I hear everything down to the minutest detail.

It is then a philosophical question, if this is beneficial or not.
I'll try Magneplanars and ESS speakers tomorrow.

[AlfaGTV]

Nice to read about your experience! I haven't had much complaints about the drivers though. (At least the olders versions!) In Win Server 2012R2 i couldn't install the "package" but i didn't have any issues installing needed drivers from the source files.
As for the routing part it wouldn't even cross my mind using the Xonar as a DAC ;) My loss perhaps...

So then, is all of this detail beneficial for the musical experience? Keep us posted!
Regards /Mike

[User211]

I've been using one (the ST version) since it first came out in my second system. The fact it has stayed in there for so long must mean it is good, I figure:)

[orbscure]

There is no doubting that the Xonar Essence is a very good card. I had the STX version in my Korus server before plumping for dedicated USB connection to my DAC, but what is out there in the market place that comes anywhere near being as good?

[mongeddavid]

No issues with drivers on mine. Really is excellent with headphones Grado HiFiman etc well worth the asking price and used they are a bargain

[Juha]

Asus Xonar STX drivers:

There are two driver packages available. The original drivers from Asus. Then there is the UNi Xonar driver package.
These are the same drivers, but the installation system is much better. This is developed by an Asus user.

Once installed I had problems with the ASIO driver. While using ASIO there was clicking noise while using the computer,
e.g. moving the mouse. This is a well known problem. So using WASAPI.

Asus Xonar Essence STX sound:

I have tested this against RME HDSP 9632. Both cards in the same £200-300 price range.

RME HDSP 9632 can handle 16 simultaneous audio channels. Made for pro/semi-pro use.
The drivers are rock steady and very versatile. These cards are used for 24/7 operations.

There is a difference in the sound. RME HDSP 9632 is more rounded, musical with less digital "glare".
Asus Xonar Essence STX is flashy, very dry and super clear sound. But with tendency towards some "glare".

Both cards are good. But I am now using the Xonar STX. It is so exceptional. It is difficult to imagine
how the sound would get more crystal clear. No wonder it is the number one sound card on Head-Fi.

Testing with:
Windows 7 /JRiver20 == Audiolabor VV2020 == Genelec active NS1000M
Both cards upsampled to 96K

P.S. Maybe I am getting on with too much clarity.
a) upsampling to 96K creates a certain clear sound
b) Audiolabor pre amp is class A discrete transistors = clear sound
c) NS1000 with beryllium mid/tweeter = clear sound