Hi Everybody,
My quest for a better source ended today. Since the Pune HFV meet last December (got to audition Beresford Caiman DAC), I knew DAC will suit my requirements, and started searching for DACs around price band of 10-15k. After lot of reading on web, including our fellow member SHANTI's posts (no audition!) finally settled for Asus Xonar Essence ST soundcard.
Installed the card with stock drivers and played my favourite mp3 tracks with VLC player (didn't play audio CD deliberately). I hoped that the card is good enough that it can make mp3s sound good. And result? >> I found moderately better SQ than my DVDP playing the mp3 :-( !!!. The bass was lesser but with better body, details were better across the whole spectrum, but I couldn't figure what was all the fuss about, I mean the rave reviews on web. So did I plonk down 9.5k (+ another 9k for PC) for marginal improvement?
The advice that foobar with kernal streaming option should be used with this card, was known to me, however I wanted to start out with stock drivers from Asus-CD and a regular player like VLC as a safe option. Having played the PC for close to 3 days without any hiccups I was assured that the "wintel" pc and the card are basically happy together, and now's the time to tread into little risky waters (Kernel streaming may not work smoothly on some PCs, say reports on web)
Downloaded foobar player along with Kernel streaming dll file >> followed the instructions for installtion of both >> tweaked the settings in Asus Xonar control panel as per tips on web >> with little anxiety in heart clicked the play button in foobar >> *** WOW ***.
The mp3 "Portabello belle" (Dire straits) sounded so full of life. The moment the song finished I rushed for the Dire straits Debut album audio CD >> Skipped directly to track 2 (Water of love) >> *** SPEECHLESS ***.
To be fair, part credit for "SPEECHLESS" effect also goes to Usher V-601 bookshelf speakers and my other new aquisition, the Adcom GFA 545 MkII power amp (my NAD C320 integrated amp served as pre-amp).
I knew I've hit a significant landmark in my audio-journey when my 16 yr old son said after hearing the same, "dad now your system sounds better than my headphones" (not surprisingly, he is also fan of Dire straits, and ridiculed me often that his 800 bucks sony headphones sounded better than my 45k system. The poor Usher's had to take blame for a average source like DVDP). OTOH My "better half", having noticed my "speechless looks" seemed to enquire "what's the fuss all about? Well... I've learned to ignore that.
There are still better days ahead. The card is knwon to improve after approx 100 hrs of burn in. BTW the box-pack of the card ought to have this notice printed in bold >> IMPORTANT: DON'T EVER THINK OF USING THIS CARD WITHOUT FOOBAR & KERNEL STREAMING OPTION.
I don't foresee myself touching wallet for a long time.
And yes, I've got to stay away from -wallet breaking- "opportunities" to audition mega-buck systems
Regds,
Sonosphere
hyeah: 
