ASUS Xonar Essence STX 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card

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This is one of the best sounds cards you can possibly get. I've never heard sound this good coming from my PC. Easy to install, comes with everything you need.

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I got this card mainly because my Auzentech Forte died like many others experienced also. Since I have good headphones that require some amplification (Sennheiser HD580) I decided to replace it with this card. To be fair I'm sure it's overkill, but I was able to PM it for a decent price. The audio quality for my headphones is excellent. Though the software drivers are functional, I would like to see a bit more features added to make switching between analog outs better with settings etc. Otherwise, the card is great!

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If you want the best of the best for MUSIC this is the card to get. If your into surround sound movies and games like me you will be dissapointed. The fidelity is there but it lacks proper depth, fullness, and channel separation compared to even realteks generic offerings, or even a stand alone BluRay player. On the other hand this isnt the case for mp3, CD, or flac playback once you tweak the EQ settings to your liking. For 2 channel sampling it sounds wonderful. With a receiver or secondary amp it sounds even better. On a side note I returned mine for a refund as it wasn't as good of a 'all around' card as realtek was. Personally I think think this card is suited to people who listen to classical music on $900 headphones.

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This is the best investment you can make if you have a good pair of headphones. The difference is night and day. Dolby headphone is great for 3D positioning in games.

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Very happy with this. At first I thought I wasted the Money, considering I had a X-Fi Titanium (non-HD) which I though sounded pretty good.When I bought this .. at first I did not notice a big difference .. but then after listening to FLAC for about 10 minutes .. I realized the details of songs I did not hear before!Hard to go back to a on-board after that!For gamers .. its good .. but only with Headphones ... stick to something else cheaper if you just want to play games. The Xonar DG will do! :)

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blew 200 bucks on this thing. ITS A BEAST. hooked this up to my 5.1 surround sound speakers in my room and dam. sounds like i'm in the game and i am very satisfied of buying this card.

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Solid product. A must have for those that own a pair of high quality headset or speakers.

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Got this to upgrade the sound from my media PC with onboard sound. What an amazing improvement. Having owned high end audio equipment in the past, I was extremely impressed to hear what a marked improvement this card made. Considering the cost of high end audio equipment, this card is really not at all expensive. Huge improvement. Buy it, you won't look back.

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Card just came in, defiantly worth the money spent. The sound is unbelievably beautiful and vivid, combined with an excellent speaker/headphone system. Crushed my X-fi Extreme Audio in every department, I love it.Amazing build quality, everything seems firm and sturdy. The design is elegant and professional.

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honestly after purchasing a creative labs fatality card and having so many problems with it i just about gave up on sound cards, i am glad to say this one actually works great with windows 7

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Way back when I had just purchased HD555's and found that my audigy 2 ZS was lacking. I searched far and wide and for a while considered getting external amps and such, but found this on special and decided to pull the trigger since it got raving reviews everywhere. After alot of tweaking in the sound cards control panel, I finally got it to where I wanted it to be for my music and was really blown away. Dolby headphone and the 7.1 virtual speaker shifter together really make you hear and FEEL the drums and bass, without sacrificing anything else. Audiophiles sue me, but I dont like the HF option because it sounds nothing like how music sounds live; these are headphones after all. There was a couple of months where when I upgraded to 7 (the beta) I could not use this card AT ALL. Thankfully that rough patch is over, and its been smooth sailing ever since. If you are recording instruments like guitar/bass, you will need to install ASIO drivers as the asus drivers currently cause a very noticeable delay (for instruments) that makes it near impossible to play while listening to what you are playing. However there are beta drivers to remedy this, I will give them a try and update  when they are officially released. Have tried an auzentech bravura with the same model headphones I currently use (HD555's) and it really didnt compare AT ALL. This may cost double, but with what I was hearing with the bravura id rather save the 100ish $ and use onboard, or spend the 200$ and get this. It really isnt a good middle ground in comparison. One thing Ive noticed some people complain about is the clicking noise it makes on shut down/power up/restart. THIS IS NORMAL! Its protecting your (supposed) sensitive/expensive equipment, a little strange at first but unless you are overclocking like mad you shouldnt be restarting too often.

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Great sound card, especially when paired with a good headphone. Drivers are stable, and even work well in games.

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This is the best fully adjustable sound device i have had to date Exelent clarity and,premium sound output. Asus needs to improve the windows 7 driver then it will be perfect.

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Best sound card I have ever owned! For my high quality headphones (Sennheiser HD-800)Just a pure joy to listen to!!!

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I paired this card with some HD 555 and my music has never sounded sooooo good!I love the fact that I can plug in my speakers and headphones in them and with a simple mouse click have them switch from one to the other.I'm no audiophile so I don't know any terms, but from other reviews and personal experience, your ears will love you!

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Awesome sound card, the software is simple to use and free of bugs. Sound over my Denon AH-D2000 headphones is fantastic and far better than the two previous Sound Blaster cards I've used.

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This is yet another Asus product that is a "coming of age" , in this case for PC audio.For those who are really picky about their sound, this card should be your choice.Even though this card is 24 bit capable, keep in mind that 24 bit playback is just starting to come online. The Winamp driver needs to be bypassed using the ASIO 2.8 driverThe sound drivers for Vista 64 are more mature than the Windows 7/64 drivers , they will have to release at least one more revision.Remember also that only recordings that have been recorded at 24 bit will PLAY 24 bit audio, the bulk of recorded music is 16 bit, 44,000 Hz.I own the Rampage 2 Extreme mobo and the PCIe 1 slot is blocked by the NB cooler fins and is also "on top" of my very hot Radeon 4870x2, using the second PCIe x16 slots caused the Bios to and Windows to do weird things and some BSODs. The best option was the last PCIe slot x8 at the end.This has to do with the NB chipset( also onboard HDMI audio on the Radeon card).Best 16 bit audio playback came out of Media Monkey, best 24 bit form Foobar2000, worst sound form Windows Media player. Blu ray , games and DVD sound super, soundscape in Crysis is..wow!!I listen to mostly jazz and classical recordings and I can tell you, when properly configured, the sound is amazing.Lastly, remember sound cards can be tricky at the best of times

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I have this soundcard piped into a high-end system in my music room, and have been extremely pleased with it's performance. I do a lot of hard disk wav file recording, and this card has done the chores flawlessly. Installed this in a PCIe-16 slot (rather than the PCIe-1 that is called for) on a P6T MB, not knowing if that would work or not. It did fine, and installation was easy and straightforward. Best PC card I've ever heard.

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Honest to god, this is a HUGE jump from onboard audio (asus p5q-e). This can drive a pair oh Audio-Technica ATH-PRO700 with the amp set all the way up to +18dB without much distortion. Clear sound all the time. EAX emulation is good, I don't really have many problems with that. VERY good product ^^

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I hesitated for months about spending this amount on a sound card but this is worth every penny go large or go home! Sennheiser HD 280's now sound like they should.

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Best sound card I have ever owned. Way better than my x fi fataltiy great job asus

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Definitely the best sound card I have ever owned or listened to. This is a premium product at a premium price. I use it to drive my Sennheiser HD600 headset, and its pure musical bliss. This headphone uses 300 ohm impedance, so no external amp is needed. Even though the card is rated at being able to drive a 600 ohm headphone, I'm sure it can do it, but I doubt it can do it well.I don't really consider myself a big shot audiophile at all, but I am still a discerning listener when it comes to quality music. I love music, and if you do too, get this card with a good set of headphone, you will not regret it.

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The difference with this card was incredible. I'd always used built-in cards because I was able to get half-decent ones that served my purposes.However I just bought new Sennheiser HD555 headphones in a combo with this card and simply using it was enough to convince me my 7.1 HDMI-capable built-in soundcard wasn't nearly as good as it seemed.Activating the Dolby Headphone settings improved it even further, I actually felt immersed in the sounds I heard rather than simply flat stereo sound.

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First off, this product is for high quality speakers (audioengine A2, using the RCA cables, here), or really high quality headphones (what it's mostly geared for) not surround sound. With that out of the way.. I bought this to replace a Creative X-Fi Extreme Audio, and wasn't expecting at all how vastly improved my audio became. It was downright stunning--blew away my every expectation. You'll hear things you never knew, and the soundstage is huge, you'll be able to pick out the location of each instrument relative to the recording mics. Also, realize this means that bad quality and imperfect sound won't get covered up, as the Xonar Essence STX will expose it all with its amazing clarity. It's also a surprisingly warm sound for how clear it is! Just a pure joy to listen to.

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I don't normally give 5-star reviews to anything, but this card is deserving. Digital out works better then expected and headphone out works excellent with the BOSE on ear phones.