My essence stx is very good but the topping dx3 pro is as good if not better. At just us 90 on amazon with prime shipping, this is quite a bargain if it lives up to its specifications. Xonar essence stx essence hifi audio asus united kingdom. The xonar stx is the worlds first sound card to achieve a 124 db snr rating for crystal clear audio.
Package contents check your asus xonar essence stx audio card package for the following items. Asus essence stx ii sound problem hi all ive installed a new asus sound card essence stx ii and of the 3 possible sound outputs analog, headphone, spdif, only the spdif works and while only connected to an external dac audioengine d1 24bit dac, which defeats the purpose of this soundcard. It doesnt change the output impedance at all or the gain. No sound from speakers asus xonar realtek after gpu. Windows 10 and asus sound card drivers quick fix neowin.
The asus xonar essence stu usb dac headphone amplifier offers audiophilegrade performance plus usb convenience. I use an asus xonar d2x and a friend uses an essence stx. I then restarted the computer using xubuntu linux 15. All specifications are subject to change without notice. It only outputs sound on one side and the other one is really really quite. Asus xonar essence stx quick start guide english 1. Asus xonar essence stx 124 db snr headphone amp card. Builtin headphone amp a highquality ti tpa6120a2 headphone amp supports headphones up to 600 ohms of impedance with lower than 0. The headphone driver is a texas instruments tpa6120a2 chip, a currentfeedback design capable of sourcing 80mwpc into 600 ohms with very low distortion. Connect the bifrost with the optical and connect the logitech speakers to the analog outputs on the xonar dx. For sound hardware you can get better quality for the same money with another brand.
Drivers need updating to run in true 64 mode of post 2017 intel processors. Dac pcm1792a the digital to analog converter dac on the xonar essence stx is the texas instruments pcm1792a chip. Thanks for sharing your experiences with uni xonar drivers and how the phoebus sound card with standard drivers performs. Hello, i am not able to get any sound out of my speakers since installing the newest driver for my geforce gtx960. Essence stx ii supports asio, as well as kernel streaming or wasapi. A txco clock source is added next to the asus audio controller ic. Equipped with carefullyselected components and asus exclusive hypergrounding and emi shield design, the xonar essence stx is capable of achieving an industryleading 124db snr in signal clarity. Asus xonar essence stx audio device windows 7 drivers, free driver download. Another thing is that the problem is not specific to uni xonar drivers, if you would install asus original drivers with the same audio drivers 1816, 1818, 1823, etc. Hi, i use a sennheiser hd650 for my gaming setup and am planing to buy a mic as well. Asus xonar essence stx sound card page 3 tweaktown. Xonar cards use the oxygen pcie controller which supports only 16bit and 32bit samples over dma see the corresponding line in the linux driver source code git.
There might be something better in a darpa design lab, but you can. The asus xonar essence stx is a pcie audio card that is designed for the music enthusiast. Nov 15, 2019 asus xonar essence stx sound card page 3 by james vozar on jan 12, 2009 at 11. Oct 20, 2018 right now im using the external usb xonar u7, but i use it with the standard microsoft usb audio drivers, not the asus drivers. It sets up perfectly fine for use on windows 7 without any drivers installed. Try different xonar driver versions and install them with low dpc latency configuration. As a little background info, i recently found out that my asus xonar essence stx sound card.
From here on, unless otherwise noted, my comments refer to both cards. Choosing only the best components and finest design, xonar essence stx achieves. Using a usb spdif converter is not a guarantee for improved sq. Asus xonar essence ststx soundcards specifications. The performance of the asus xonar essence one is tested both via listening tests with a barrage of headphones and a set of rmaa tests carried out by hooking its headphone out up to a asus xonar essence stx sound card with the latest drivers installed. In may of 2009, asus launched its xonar essence st. I have weird problem with asus soundcard xonar stx ii using with foobar2000 player with asio driver. The comparison is a bit tricky though because i i have upgraded the opamps. A highquality ti tpa6120a2 headphone driver supports headphones up to. Please visit the asus usa and asus canada websites for information about. Xonar essence stx 2 channel pci express audio card. The asus essence stx ii is bar none the best consumer audio card available. Of more importance is the quality of the music files themselves, and the quality of the dac itself. You can control the functions and features of the xonar essence stx driver on the xonar audio center.
I installed the hardware, started windows 10, downloaded the driver from asus, installed it and immedliately had sound. This allows users to drive their headphones as intended without additional amplification. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. The xonar essence stx qa, tweaking, impressions thread. Random high pitch constant sound out of nowhere happening every once in a while. Asus xonar essence stx what does it take to turn the pc. The xonar audio center is the graphic user interface gui for the xonar essence stx driver. I can see in my sound settings that the volume moves when i play an audiofile but i cant hear anything. Essence stx ii uses a dedicated fourpin molex power connection rather than drawing power from the expansion slot like other cards, and that means a cleaner supply of electricity. Asus xonar cards and amd ryzen am4 motherboards compatibility. Since i rarely use my desktoppc with the asus xonar essence stx.
Installing the drivers also installs the xonar audio center program, which allows you to adjust the cards settings. Asus stx ii sound card audio dynamic range measurements. The asus impedance selection is just a software level limiter. Asus sent me both the xonar essence st and essence stx cards. The u7 offers 24bit192khz recording and playback with 114db snr, spdif output, 7. Asus xonar essence ststx soundcards page 3 audiostream. The burrbrown pcm 1792a digitaltoanalog convertor dac converts.
I have used an asus xonar essence stx for 3 years now and am very happy with it. Audioengine d1 premium 24bit dac vs asus xonar essence st. Free trial driver booster 6 pro 60% off when you buy asus xonar dg audio driver 8. Heaven forbid microsoft changes its driver interface again and asus doesnt. Oct 12, 2012 asus xonar essence one is a headphone amplifier, dac digital to analog converter and preamplifier.
Asus xonar essence stx ii digital sources, dacs, and. The stx ii brings new opamps and a more precise clock generator to the table. It has both balanced xlr and unbalanced rca outputs and upsampling functionality. The stx was setup according to the guide on rightmarks webpage. Also i checked the asus xonar essence one that darren is suggesting and this nice piece of equipment is very geared toward pc users like me. Then again i wouldnt be surprised if its shit asus drivers. My xonar essence stx i dont know wich one, but a very old one stoped working, i tried drivers from asus and i tried yours but i got nothing. I really like the xonar essence stx, much better sound than onboard soundcard gives me. Asus xonar essence stx internal or musical fidelity v.
For instance, i can record and playback perfectly well at 192 khz sample rate i set on the asus control panel regardless of whether the windows sample rate is set to 44. Added stx ii with asus pro ws x570ace, dx with asus prime x570p, stx ii with asus x570 tuf gaming x570plus wifi, stx ii with asrock x470 taichi, dsx with asus prime x570pro. The xonar dx differs from its d2x cousin in many ways, but some of those differences are more important than others. Xonar essence stx and asio steve hoffman music forums.
Apr 06, 2009 the asus xonar essence stx isnt any larger than a typical sound card, though its fullheight design means it wont fit in a lowprofile htpc chassis. Im actually scratching my head as to why similarly priced dacs cant perform as well as it does in terms of distortion. Sound blasterx ae5 hi resolution pcie gaming sound card and dac with rgb aurora. A member overseas prompted me to purchase this unit to test by donating to the forum nickel jar. The xonar u3 uses a similar set of drivers as some of the other cards from the xonar. But on an apples to apples comparison cd vs flac at 16bit 44. Are this dac and amp better than an asus xonar essence stx. Asus xonar essence st stx soundcards page 2 asus recommends that, using the windows control panel, you first disable any existing audio hardware before you install the essences supplied drivers. Atom as my headphone amplifier and the topping d30 as my dac. Drivers work with stxii cards but the changing audio settings may not work with asus audio center and only with cmedia panel.
Nov 09, 2011 the asus impedance selection is just a software level limiter. Of course, then you dont get access to many of the settings for the dac there are several shortcomings in terms of settings. Asus xonar essence stx audio device last downloaded. The driver worked flawlessly, i didnt encounter any installation or utilization problems. Problem is when i choose asio driver in foobar2000 audio output i have sluttering sound when i for example open browser and when its opening sound getting more sluttering, even when i browse a web, a bit. Asus xonar essence stx audio device windows 7 drivers. I would guess the xonar dxs cs4398 dac chip should match or better the logitechs dac chip. The digital to analog converter dac on the xonar essence stx is the texas instruments pcm1792a chip. Furthermore, the highquality headphone amplifier supports headphones up to 600ohms of impendence with less than 0. For stx ii cards and uni xonar drivers that do not end with b you need to install the drivers with disable driver signature enforcement option.
Go to control panel soundspeakers asus xonar dgx audio device right click on go to properties and click the advanced tab and set as 24 bit 96000hz studio quality. I dont think there is enough of a difference between a mid end and a high end sound card to be noticed. Asus xonar essence stx sound card sign in to comment. Asus xonar essence st asus xonar essence st windows xp, windows vista, windows 7, windows 8, windows. Optimized power delivery is further assured with highfidelity lowdropout ldo regulators unprecedented in the audiocard industry. Asus xonar essence stx audio center toms guide forum.
Be sure to install properly and download the updated driver files from asus before you. The pcb has been redone, but the only visible change is the pcm1792a dac has been moved towards the top of the card closer to the iv conversion op amps. Review and measurements of asus stx ii pci sound card audio. Equipping the xonar essence stx with the best components and the finest design, the stx delivers a topoftheline audio experience with a 124 db snr rating. With 120db snr sound, 600ohm headphone amplifier, asynchronous usb audio, and swappable opamps, it fully supports even the highestend headphones. Take the audio chips used in each card, for example. But i found out that my asus xonar d2 drivers were completely out of date. Right now i play my flac files that are stored in my pc, through an asus xonar ds. The following picture shows a basic overview of the xonar audio center. Theres no way im installing any xonar drivers after the horrors i witnessed. Neither the essences resolution nor their low levels of noise are compromised by having to operate in the electrically unfriendly environment of a computer chassis. Products certified by the federal communications commission and industry canada will be distributed in the united states and canada. T his dac chip is a stereo module which supports up to 24192 khz and has very impressive.
If there is a asus essence stx iii, do away with the 14 connectors and go with rca for both input and output. My new motherboard is a gigabyte and the build quality is much better than asus. Review and measurements of asus xonar u7 mkii adcdachp. An second ldo regulator ic, u34, empty on the stx, is now populated. Jitter performance is also often good on soundcards because the soundcards can reclock data and have a buffer.
As weve already seen, the upper half of the card is enshrouded by a metal cover, whose job is to prevent electromagnetic interference emi from entering the cards analog signal path. Asus xonar is ok but how about a focusrite scarlett, has a decent. For some reason asus has been faffing with their website,now the xonar essence stx doesnt show up,only the stx 2 and you cant use those drivers. The dac connected to oxygen via i2s supports 24 bits exactly oxygen adds zerospads zeros to the samples read via dma before sending to the dac. Need help figuring out what goes where with new xonar essence stx. I realized they released the essence stu which is essentially a dac version of this at double the price of the original stx, which probably contribute to its downfall. Asus marked their entry into the highend sound card market with the xonar essence st some years ago. May 28, 2012 asio on the xonar stx st series of cards absolutely overrides the windows sample rate, as does wasapi. The unit can decode 192 khz source material and features a well performing headphone amplifier stage that allows for opamp swapping. Xonar essence stx essence hifi audio asus australia. Asus xonar essence one unboxing headphone amplifier and dac. Review and measurements of asus stx ii pci sound card page.
Certainly hope that asus can follow up with an affordable usb option for this legend. The linelevel output stage is based on a pair of jrc 2114d dualopamp chips the 2114d is equivalent to the popular 5532 chip, followed by a pair of lownoise national lm 4562 dual opamps. Jul 29, 2015 so after upgrading to windows 10 it appeared everything worked great to my surprise. I had an asus xonar xense with a headphone port that got unsuable. They appear to be identical, other than the st being configured to fit into a standard pci slot on a legacy computers motherboard, the stx conforming to the newer pci express standard.
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