Asus Xonar Essence STX - Should I ?

[musicbob]

Hello All,

I have a PC based setup, playing 320kbps MP3's on the following:

PC (Asus Xonar D1 Soundcard) --> Marantz PM6003 Amp --> Mission 751 speakers.

Would an upgrade to the Asus Xonar Essence STX improve the sound quality? Is my setup good enough use the STX card, would I notice any difference?

Sound Card Specs:

http://www.bjorn3d.com/2010/02/asus-xonar-d1/
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/audio/asus_xonar_essence_stx_-_pci-e_audiophile_soundcard/1

I would be grateful for any opinions.

Thanks,

Rob

 

[ellisdj]

The STX is a good sounding card with power filtration and the option to change and upgrade the opamps for even better performance. You can power it directly from a Linear Power Supply that has a 12v and 5V Rail - improves the SQ no end.

There are lots of opamps out there, some can be had from ebay other from the likes of Burson are high end. Google searaching you will find info on whats what with them

It has good specs as well - better capacitors etc.

You might also be better off stopping listening to MP3 and playing full fat redbook files for better SQ also

 

[musicbob]

Hello ellisdj,

The STX looks like a decent card to me also, but I'm concerned whether it will give me any real world gains over the D1 card when pluged in.

I would want to hear an improvement straight away (it's 3X the price of the D1), the improvement would not have to be night and day, but I would want to hear one without having to strain myself too much to hear it.

Regards,

Rob

 

[ellisdj]

I have not compared the 2, I have an Xonar ST in my work pc that I used to use for in a audio PC for a while.

I thought it was ok at the time, much better once I wen to work on it - i.e. better op amps and better power supply.

My cousin currently uses an STX card, he has got a low noise ATX Power supply and has made some tweaks to the computer to give better sound and his system sounds good.

If you want better sound from a computer as a transport and dac then this is not the forum for best advice.

I would go on the JPlay forums - there is tons of advice, computeraudiophile - tons more advice.

Also the software you use will effect SQ. Jplay 6.2 is outstanding.

There are operating software system tweakers like Fildelizer and Process Lasso that are not expensive but suuposed to be very good.

I have not tried these yet but plan to very soon when I get some bits back from China that my system needs