ASUS Xonar Essence

I just noticed for the last few weeks my supplier has had the ASUS Xonar Essence STX availible for order. ANyone have this card or know of the quality at the price its listed I am presuming its very good and since most specs seem good

 

It suppose to be a great card,Rob will be able to tell you alot about it. Whenever he appears from within the mist.

 

Yes, it is a exceptional soundcard. This card is meant for stereo or headphone use for analog. If you want surround you have to go digital on this card. The card has a built in headphone amplifier so the card can power high impedance headphones.
I did a bit of a preview for the net:

Essence STX preview part I
and
Essence STX preview part I


Both section were written prior to the card being released to the general public. If you have any questions let me know as I have been using it for sometime now.

 

oh man.. if you check out the Head-fi.org, you'll find the Xonar Essence thread is probably the fastest growing thread in the entire Head-fi.org

That's really something to pay more attention to...

 

@Lilohtpc3, That thread was started by yours truly

 

What hardware acceleration does it support if any? (not speaking vista but pre vista)

 

That card has gaming effects from the GX drivers however they are software based effects.

 

But you shouldnt notice the hit. because i surey didnt.

 

Well if its just EAX I dont use it anyways EAX makes too many things sound un natural to me

But what I am really asking is audio processed through the Sound Card or is it running it through CPU cycles.... On this model anyways

 

cpu cycles. since you dont use eax any way even tho DSGX2.0 does a good job of emulating it, the card would be great choice.If I didnt use speakers I prolly would had waited even more to grab it my self. But then I dont really wait that long for stuff to come out.

 

a soundcard with RCA outputs? niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice... I want me one of those, then I can hook it up with some good quality RCA cables rather than 3.5mm to RCA cables!

 

Both the Essence and the HDAV 1.3 have RCA outputs if your looking for those on a soundcard.

 

oh.. cool... com'on.. bring some of them here, we could use more people to discuss making better PC audio possible here... :infinity:

 

That card is meant for headphones. That is where most of the headphone types hang out. I have started similar threads here.
I have been using the Essence STX for months now...