Asus Xonar Essence ST : is it worth waiting for ??

[Spidey]

Asus is bringing a new card Essence ST that will feature best featuers of the STX and D2X xonar cards.
Is it worth waiting for ?

Asus Essence ST : a preview

 

[marsilians]

Currently available essence card will probably meeting 90% of the user community requirments. You will not find anything lacking in that monster of a card.

 

[cmsajith]

Currently available essence card will probably meeting 90% of the user community requirments. You will not find anything lacking in that monster of a card.

I think, we can say its 90% of the stereo listeners only. STX lacks the multichannel support using its dac. Considering the whole sound card market the scope for this card is very less, even though its the best in its class. ST is for both stereo and multichannel listeners. Also a small PCB architecture difference is there for ST to accommodate the daughter card which cannot be done in STX.

 

[Vijay_s]

Can anyone provide current price for various ASUS card available in market, My primary use is for audio. I am open for other brand as well if it delivers same SQ as asus. Anything above 5000 is not in my budget.

 

[spirovious]

Can anyone provide current price for various ASUS card available in market, My primary use is for audio. I am open for other brand as well if it delivers same SQ as asus. Anything above 5000 is not in my budget.

Asus DX came come in that range & better for music.

 

[thevortex]

I think, we can say its 90% of the stereo listeners only. STX lacks the multichannel support using its dac. Considering the whole sound card market the scope for this card is very less, even though its the best in its class. ST is for both stereo and multichannel listeners. Also a small PCB architecture difference is there for ST to accommodate the daughter card which cannot be done in STX.

STX, cmsajith, is targeted at the stereo listening crowd exclusively. So, there is no confusion there. For the people who want good music as well as multichannel mayhem, there is the more than competent Xonar D2X.

If the ST can do the best of both worlds, then it will be a good choice indeed. Although we need to see at how much of a price differential.

 

[moserw]

Might be priced in the same range. I remember reading somewhere it was going to be the STX translated for the PCI slot since the STX is PCI-E.

STX, cmsajith, is targeted at the stereo listening crowd exclusively. So, there is no confusion there. For the people who want good music as well as multichannel mayhem, there is the more than competent Xonar D2X.

If the ST can do the best of both worlds, then it will be a good choice indeed. Although we need to see at how much of a price differential.

 

[greenhorn]

what's there to wait for ?
the card is already available in india, and some folks have already gotten some.
A guy i know picked one up at about 8k.

 

[anm]

Another stupid question - is there a way to avoid mother board, cpu, OS etc and couple a hdd, or maybe just a CD drive with a sound card and use it like a CDP? Or the sound card as a DAC?

If not, what would be a fast loading lean OS that has good music playback? For making a music only comp?

 

[marsilians]

I think, we can say its 90% of the stereo listeners only. STX lacks the multichannel support using its dac. Considering the whole sound card market the scope for this card is very less, even though its the best in its class. ST is for both stereo and multichannel listeners. Also a small PCB architecture difference is there for ST to accommodate the daughter card which cannot be done in STX.

+1 to ThVortex note re: D2X for multi-channel. As you might well know true music listening is still aligned with 2 channel analogue. The STX is the best in class for this. For multichannel, there are tons of options though the D2X is one of the better ones and definitely a top 10 card.

 

[moserw]

Well the soundcards would not work. They don't have the connectivity options. They would kick in/work only when running on the mobo.

Coming to a "fast loading lean OS that has good music playback" well there are none unfortunately. You would need an XP at the minimum. Main problem here is not the OS itself, but the drivers and for that XP works best, followed by Vista.

Another stupid question - is there a way to avoid mother board, cpu, OS etc and couple a hdd, or maybe just a CD drive with a sound card and use it like a CDP? Or the sound card as a DAC?

If not, what would be a fast loading lean OS that has good music playback? For making a music only comp?

 

[cmsajith]

what's there to wait for ?
the card is already available in india, and some folks have already gotten some.
A guy i know picked one up at about 8k.

Is it ST, i think its STX (got quotation from Ankit, SP road, Blore for 8.4K two weeks back).

 

[anm]

are there any USB casings for sound card? Never heard one but I do not so many things, so I thought I should ask. If they do, will the drivers work?

regards

 

[greenhorn]

Is it ST, i think its STX (got quotation from Ankit, SP road, Blore for 8.4K two weeks back).

yeah, you're right. I meant the STX.

 

[cmsajith]

Is this released?

 

[mahiruha]

Hi guys,
I tried my best but couldn't locate anybody who is selling Asus Xonar Essence ST. Does anybody know a seller for this card. How it compares to logitech squeezebox ?
Thanks.

 

[thevortex]

Hi guys,
I tried my best but couldn't locate anybody who is selling Asus Xonar Essence ST. Does anybody know a seller for this card. How it compares to logitech squeezebox ?
Thanks.

Did you check techenclave? There are a few ebay deals that I saw on this. You could give the link to them and get them to procure. And I guess 20North too could do a similar thing - though I am not too sure.

 

[Kamal]

Hi friends,thinking of getting the much talked of & well reviewed(JA in Jan'10 Stereophile) Asus Xonar Essence STX soundcard.
Got a quote today from SMC International, the only vendor in Nehru Place, N.Delhi that I found who deals in this card.
Any audiophile in Delhi who can suggest a vendor offering a better deal?
Thanks.

 

[anm]

Hi Kamal
Maybe Amarbir can give a better quote - product is listed at his site

Asus XONAR ESSENCE STX ? Lynx - The Audio , Electronics & Computer Online Superstore In India


regards

Hi friends,thinking of getting the much talked of & well reviewed(JA in Jan'10 Stereophile) Asus Xonar Essence STX soundcard.
Got a quote today from SMC International, the only vendor in Nehru Place, N.Delhi that I found who deals in this card.
Any audiophile in Delhi who can suggest a vendor offering a better deal?
Thanks.

 

[gobble]

I think it will another few months before ST is launched in India like May ...:licklips:

Regards