ASUS Xonar Essence STX II 7.1 Review

👤by Tony Le Bourne Comments 📅30-08-14
Performance Testing: Continued...

Setup, Design & Observations
Set up was fairly simple, the same as plugging in any PCIe device, it is recommended to use a spare PCIe x1 lane for the daughter board to provide stability (not electronically needed). The large, ugly, grey ribbon cable that connects to the daughter board could have been more discrete as it gives reminiscent feels of IDE days of past, if that wasn't bad enough you will have to throw in an ugly old molex power cable to power the Essence STX II too. Regardless of orientation of the daughter board (whether you choose to mount it above or below the STX II), it would have been nice to have a matching EMI shield, this may be a matter of form over function, but appearances can make a difference.

Another interesting observation is about the included Op-amps and Op-amp kit, firstly, the kit includes needle nose pliers rather a correct IC removal tool, so be careful when using it. The included pair of Ti LME49720 Op-amps are also very good quality to which one could argue whether the inclusion of the 'mainstream' versions of the MUSES Op-amps and the Ti LME49720 is worth it over simply including the flagship MUSES 01/02? Regardless, it is an interesting approach to the STX II and not many will complain about it considering the possible combinations available.



Multi-Media

Headphones
Using the Beyerdynamic DT770 PRO headphones, I listened through a selection of music to which I am familiar with in Flac format as a way to determine output performance subjectively. Being used to the output performance of the Creative ZxR, which uses the same headphone amplifier, I could determine that there was a fair improvement in accuracy and brightness but I also noticed a flatter and less refined bass. Swapping out the two MUSES 8920 Op-amps for the Ti LME49720, I found the bass to be noticeably tight and impressive, resulting in a much more enjoyable music playback experience. Having set the gain level up to 300 Ohm for the 250 Ohm Beyers, the STX II seemed a little less capable of driving the DT770 than the ZxR, though this was not a major concern as the max volume was perfectly adequate regardless. For sake of mentioning as it could be significant to some, I have not experienced noise, hiss, or background interference in any sound card setup I have used (except in some USB headsets) even while idling at max volume. Static hiss can be introduced by various sources such as poor EMI insulation, faulty circuitry, 'dirty' power or interrupted power supply, or simply poor quality headphones.

In gaming, the Dolby Headphone, simulating multichannel through stereo, was surprisingly very good. The virtual surround channel created an incredible sense of immersion and directional audio, significantly better than what I had experienced before from such a feature (notably with the Corsair Vengeance 2100 which too was pretty decent). Though the STX II is aimed at audiophiles, it would be unfair to rule it out for high end gaming audio, to highlight this further, the STX II also features DS3D GX and DSP Modes to take advantage of EAX and 3D environmental sounds which can be enabled in the software.

Speakers
For the first part of this test I used the Microlab SOLO9C speaker system, in absolute fairness, the tightness and precision of the STX II over the Creative ZxR was apparent, mostly noticeable at higher volumes. Producing less noise resulted in an almost flawless performance, so much so, if I didn't have neighbours to consider, I would have been blasting music all night. In this test it has become clear that the STX II is highly capable and wouldn't be too out of place when used with audio systems of significant worth.

To loosely test out the daughter board, I created a makeshift 7.1 surround system by adding the Logitech X540 5.1 speaker system to the SOLO9Cs, with the help of a few adaptors, I was able to fill up the centre, sub, side and rear channels on the daughter board. Watching Dredd in Blu-ray became quite epic, and while I was impressed, firstly from how well the setup I created worked, but on Muting the SOLO9C speakers, the sound output from the satellites was sharp and impressive. The fact that the daughter board can be customised is a pretty impressive addition to the STX II also.

Input Options
The Essence STX II isn't just about quality output, but also input and creation, Supporting 24/96 recording and ASIO 2.0. However, this is where the Creative ZxR has an advantage due to having a 6.3mm input and 2xRCA input, allowing greater flexibility where audio creation is concerned. Regardless it is more down to individual requirements. Using my current 'standard' headset, the impressive Bitfenix FLO, a friend noted that my voice in a Skype conversation sounded Awesome, with a captial A! Stating that it was the clearest, best sounding conversation he had experienced online. Coming from a relatively cheap headset, that has to count for something!


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