Asus Xonar Essence level sound card in 2020+

[WgizmO]

Hi,

Is there any type of sound card or usb interface which is on the same sound quality level or better than asus xonar essance level? I do have my STX 2 for long time but getting afraid if it will stop working I would not be able to go back to integrated onboard sound. I love my STX 2 and KRK monitors or DT 880 headphones. Is there anything on the market to buy if my stop working?

 

[Marsman]

It's hard to say whether there is any interface that will be better, because sound cards and interfaces are aimed at different consumers and rarely get compared. There certainly could be, but I'd imagine you'd be looking at something costing a fair bit more. I'd only look into those though if they do what you want feature wise, that a sound card won't.

I'd imagine something from Creative would be the best alternative. Asus have seemed to stop producing good sound cards. I get the feeling they wanted to get their foot in the sound card market door, so to speak, when Creative cards suffered issues all those years ago on Vista. Asus released many good cards then, but since the STX II, there hasn't been anything of note. Creative will go on developing new sound cards as long as there is a market; Asus, in my opinion, have scratched their 'sound card' itch. That's my take.

Creative AE-5 and G6 are very good products. I think it will mainly come down to personal preference as to whether they can be compared as being a worthy replacement for the STX II.

If don't use or want any of the stuff like Dolby Headphone or Creative's SBX and just want good stereo sound without effects stuff, then a DAC and headphones amp would be an alternative.

 

[WgizmO]

Looking for something as good as STX when my will pass away. Question is there any dac/amp for sound as music and gaming as STX if yes what costs we are talking about to compare to STX. My current setup is KRK monitors conected to STX same as DT 880 600ohm edition and quality is best I ever heard. What would be a quality replacement?

 

[EsaT]

Looking for something as good as STX when my will pass away. Question is there any dac/amp for sound as music and gaming as STX if yes what costs we are talking about to compare to STX. My current setup is KRK monitors conected to STX same as DT 880 600ohm edition and quality is best I ever heard. What would be a quality replacement?

What's the usage "priority"/most common use?
Gaming, movies etc?
Or plain listening of music?
That decides what features are beneficial.

For listening music those fashion DACs, which are stripped down sound card without much any features, would do well.
Again for headphone gaming not so much...
Speaker stereo mix from average game simple sucks donkey balls with headphones courtesy of very unnatural "sound inside left/right ear, or in center of head" immersion.
Because of us humans not having stereo hearing, stereo sound works only through speakers.

If don't use or want any of the stuff like Dolby Headphone

Old Dolby Heaphone is such mediocrity for gaming that I certainly wouldn't want to use it.
Its bass bloated explosions are pretty horrible even with bass neutral cans.

 

[JasonM]

I own 2 Essence ST's and 1 Essence STX II, and will run them as long as there is driver support.

The only other high end card I've owned is an Creative Titanium HD, however it was not the same quality as the Essence. The Creative Titanium HD was a more processed sound, where the Essence cards are more a natural sound similar to a higher end CD player. I use Amazon music HD that uses FLAC codec, and the Essence cards are good enough to justify paying extra for the HD over standard.

Like the OP I can't use motherboard audio, it's a total downgrade over the Essence cards.

Couple more things to add..

1) I believe that a good PSU helps the Essence cards, I use higher end Seasonic PSU's, X series, Platinum, I have a Titanium ready to go into next build.

2) They also benefit from very good quality RCA cables, I use custom cables made from Van Damme XKE instrument cable, it's helped bring out more detail in sound. Custom cables produced from cable below. These cables are double shielded use silver plated copper, they are incredible transparent and neutral sounding, they also raise the signal around 2db that helps counter noise.

https://www.van-damme.com/vandamme_product/van-damme-tour-grade-classic-xke-microphone-cable/

 

[tyler_jrb]

Same have the stx 2 and can’t enjoy anything else. I use the Dolby 7.1 surround feature on mine sounds great. Like listening to live music.

They are very good quality pcbs so chances of failure are probably quite low. Not something I have really worried about as I’d likely just buy another if mine failed or repair it.

 

[WgizmO]

Will try buy STX or STX2 then and keep for bad times

 

[JasonM]

Will try buy STX or STX2 then and keep for bad times

The solution will be external DAC, the problem is finding an external DAC at least the quality of the Essence for reasonable money.

I read many customer reviews, and also scoured hi fi forums, one thing mentioned is the STX II is better quality than a Cambridge DAC Magic Plus (£300 rrp). I've never owned or listened to a Cambridge DAC Magic Plus, however if this is correct, I suspect you'll have to spend quite a bit of money to find an external DAC that matches the Essence cards.

 

[Guest2]

Similar position as OP. I’ve been using an essence st for years but building a new machine so no pci slot.
I’ll try onboard sound as have read its come a long way (realtec acl1220)
I have a feeling ill end up buying a 2nd hand stx or stxii.
I primarily game (cod mw) with akg 702s and dolby atmos but do listen to quite a lot of music too through the headphones & iloud micro monitors.
None of the software processing is used - hifi mode in xonar centre app and headphone control on high gain

Would an iFi Zen DAC be an upgrade / sidegrade to a xonar essence st / stx at £130?

edit, also looking at the Fiio K5 Pro. This seems much better for £150

 

[WgizmO]

Is it ok to buy ST on PCI and buy adapter from PCIE to PCI and run it or to much and better go for STX2?

 

[JasonM]

Is it ok to buy ST on PCI and buy adapter from PCIE to PCI and run it or to much and better go for STX2?

I've read once someone did this, however I would prefer to get either the STX or STX II, this way your on the correct interface.

Also I've still not done a full back-to-back, however I believe the STX II is better sound quality then the ST.

 

[Guest2]

Is it ok to buy ST on PCI and buy adapter from PCIE to PCI and run it or to much and better go for STX2?

I never even knew these existed or thought about searching for one.

The one ive seen on the rainforest for £15 doesnt have good reviews "Does not work" I already have a Xonar Essence ST so making use of the cheap adapter might be the way to go. Whether it works on not on an X570 board (along with the crap Asus drivers) is another thing.
I'm usig these at the moment, but on a Z97X motherboard

'PCI_ST_8_1_8_1823_Win10'
Driver version - 8.1.6.1823, date 02/06/2015
Xonar center is version 0.3.0.68

 

[WgizmO]

I do have x570 gigabyte gaming x and my stx 2 works fine. Adapter wise is hit and miss as they are not best quality and usually you need to mont the card outside the case but all depends. Its kind of last resort solution.

 

[EsaT]

Will try buy STX or STX2 then and keep for bad times

Not good idea to buy already old products just to wait on shelf.
Everyone blames Creative for bad support, while Asus is even worser when it comes to supporting older products.
(also they have only mediocre Dolby Headphone for headphone gaming)

And besides the risk of full amplitude static noise incidents with those C-Media sound chip cards, STX II has its own compatibility problem risk with AMD boards:
https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1036071
Probably also caused by those cards using PCI sound chip over ASMedia bridge chip...
So who knows how many more compatibility problems there will be in future.
(latest Asus cards use USB sound chip through bridge chip...)

 

[WgizmO]

I think golden age of proper sound cards is over. External usb stuff is not for me but will come the day when I will need to spend much more just to make it work over the usb . So far my AMD platform works fine with my STX and hope to keep this way for long.

 

[JasonM]

I think golden age of proper sound cards is over. External usb stuff is not for me but will come the day when I will need to spend much more just to make it work over the usb . So far my AMD platform works fine with my STX and hope to keep this way for long.

The advantage of external DAC, is providing it has S/PDIF or Toslink, then even if the DAC no longer has USB driver support, S/PDIF or Toslink will allow you to continue using it.

 

[Guest2]

Instead of creating another thread i'll use this one. The new motherboard I have has a Realtek ACL 1220 audio codec.

This reads as having

Front audio SNR - 120 dB
Stereo Line-In SNR - 110 dB

Does this mean that headphones should always be connected using the front panel audio connector direct from motherboard to case port (JAUD1: Front Audio Connector) instead of connecting to Front speaker out (Rear I/O Panel Audio jacks to headphone and microphone diagram)

By the way, now you know why I always tell you to connect the headset to the front panel of such boards, but in general, the three (headphone) amplifiers for the output always work separately from the I/O shield and the front header for the HD car, with port D always being the front connector. Well, it should be. But I already had boards in my hands where exactly this was wrongly wired on the ALC1220 and Port-D was incomprehensibly unused.

https://www.igorslab.de/en/realtek-...-is-really-different-from-the-larger-alc1220/

Motherboard manual is here - https://download.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/M7C35v2.1-EURO.pdf

Motherboard audio in the past e.g. ACL 97 was always around 88 SNR so quite an improvement.

edit - I found the front panel connector, wired it up to my current soundcard (front panel out on soundcard) and its working. Guess i can only try it on the new motherboard and see

 

[JasonM]

Motherboard audio in the past e.g. ACL 97 was always around 88 SNR so quite an improvement.

What it says on paper is one thing. I've had motherboards that said how great their motherboard audio is, however listening to it sounded terrible.

 

[Guest2]

What it says on paper is one thing. I've had motherboards that said how great their motherboard audio is, however listening to it sounded terrible.

Too right. I remember ACL 97 saying it great. Nope, though I guess it was better than older onboard hardware
Same with onboard sound going back to the mid 90s. Terrible
The first 'good' sounding PC audio was using a Soundblaster 16

 

[JasonM]

Too right. I remember ACL 97 saying it great. Nope, though I guess it was better than older onboard hardware
Same with onboard sound going back to the mid 90s. Terrible
The first 'good' sounding PC audio was using a Soundblaster 16

The best 90's audio I had was the Gravis Ultrasound. I sold my Gravis Ultrasound 10 years ago (big mistake), but looking for another one.

I do still have an AWE 32, they were of course more compatible than the Gravis, however can assure you sound quality not as good.