Asus Xonar Essence ST soundcard - experience

[spirovious]

Hi,

Asus STX card* as source + CA amp + Para 9 >> ______In my experience, stock STX + forward sounding gear can bleed your ears.
,

I have done lot of trials with D2X.Selecting proper driver & installing correctly(not overwritting previous) sometimes solves problem.The drivers from asus site sounds forward & bright.I use unixonar 1.41 driver which sounds balanced on my PC.

 

[Deleted member 17547]

I have done lot of trials with D2X.Selecting proper driver & installing correctly(not overwritting previous) sometimes solves problem.The drivers from asus site sounds forward & bright.I use unixonar 1.41 driver which sounds balanced on my PC.

Thanks a ton sonosphere for you usefull suggestion.

Spiro, m using unixonar drivers only..

 

[captrajesh]

Update:
I've recently installed a software media player called "Final Media Player" (FLV, MP4, 3GP, VOB, WMV Player - Final Media Player). The SQ of this player surprised me, in similar way as in above quote. First of all a disclaimer: The "surprising" results I describe may be a result of synergy with my pwr-amp & speakers. AND in comparison to Foobar player. A amp-speaker combo weak on treble-end details and bass-end may not sound as good.

Whoa sonosphere, wonderful effort and a great thread which I just discovered.

I was using my AP DAC having dual TDA1541 chips + tube output stage (dual ECC83) with my Marnatz CD6003 and was enjoying the huge collection of CDs that I have.

I had visited a friend recently and he gave me some FLACs and want to play it through the DAC to see how they sound.

Going by the forum knowledge, I'm required to install 'foobar with kernel streaming'

I just saw this post mentioning 'Final Media Player' Am I correct in assuming that this would be not applicable in my case as this would involve the stock sound card on my laptop?

 

[spirovious]

Going by the forum knowledge, I'm required to install 'foobar with kernel streaming'

I just saw this post mentioning 'Final Media Player' Am I correct in assuming that this would be not applicable in my case as this would involve the stock sound card on my laptop?

Foobar + wasapi sounds best to me.You can select digital out OR usb out in preference so that you can feed to DAC.
Final player dont have such setting.It uses default sound out of windows.So if we select digital out from windows,it should work.

 

[sonosphere]

............

I just saw this post mentioning 'Final Media Player' Am I correct in assuming that this would be not applicable in my case as this would involve the stock sound card on my laptop?

Hi Capt,
FMP should work on any "Win XP and above" PC /Laptop.

Regds,

 

[captrajesh]

Foobar + wasapi sounds best to me.You can select digital out OR usb out in preference so that you can feed to DAC.
Final player don't have such setting.It uses default sound out of windows.So if we select digital out from windows,it should work.

Hi Capt,
FMP should work on any "Win XP and above" PC /Laptop.

Hi Sonosphere,

Sorry for confusing you. I wanted to say that since intend to use my DAC, the option of FMP would not work in my case (as the stock audiocard of the notebook would be crappy)

However, Spirovious gave me the answer already (The portion highlighted by me)

Edit: Is there an option of 'Digital out' on the FMP? Let me check it out.

 

[spirovious]

Edit: Is there an option of 'Digital out' on the FMP? Let me check it out.

I am talking about setting in playback devices(win 7) & choose digital out/usb.
No option in Final MP.

 

[sonosphere]

Hi,
I am sharing my collection of random notes on Xonar ST compiled from web here >> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x1hsqjGANBp2Fq5aDkUtXVna3pNEwk5XPXZQytHAQ0M/edit?pli=1

These notes cover card installation /troubleshooting, where to get opamps, opamp SQ micro-reviews etc.

Xonar noobs who don't mind (...rather like) getting getting their hands dirty before they take their position at sweet spot, may find this link helpful.

Regds,

 

[Deleted member 17547]

Hey Sono, as suggested by you i changed the op-amps of my STX card with LM4562 in I/V and OPA2107 in Buffer.. and as expected, there's a change in sound quality.. Thanks a ton for your suggestion..

Highs and mids are good but have significant improvement in the bass.. not in the loudness but bass is balanced and tight now.. volume level is 50% right now on the sound card... Now i just need to get NAD amp to check the sound on these speakers..

I also tried LME49720 but highs were not that good specially with my speakers.. i mean highs were good but there was no improvement with my speakers.. was still sounding harsh.. again bass was awesome with this op-amp..

So i would suggest all (who are still not satisfied with the ST/STX sound with stock op-amps) to change the op-amps and Enjoy the mUzIK...!!

 

[corElement]

where do you get these oamps?

 

[Deleted member 17547]

where do you get these oamps?

One of my friend had these op-amps.. i didn't ask him from where he got them..

 

[doors666]

I am not sure if this has been posted here before or not, but to all the people that have or are planning to change their op amps, here's an interesting article from a guy who has designed a few amps and dacs etc.

NwAvGuy: Op Amps: Myths & Facts

 

[sonosphere]

where do you get these oamps?

Refer my previous post# 168

 

[sonosphere]

....
I also tried LME49720 but highs were not that good specially with my speakers.. i mean highs were good but there was no improvement with my speakers.. was still sounding harsh.. )

Sagar, LME49720 is more on treble-details and less on warmth, hence won't be a good match for your setup.

You can try reverse-combi in your present opamp setup:
a. put two OPA2107 in the two I/V slots and
b. put one LM4562 in Buffer.

The above will increase warmth a little more while the treble end details would lessen... which is not bad in your already treble-accentuated amp+spkr combo.

Regds,

 

[Deleted member 17547]

Sagar, LME49720 is more on treble-details and less on warmth, hence won't be a good match for your setup.

You can try reverse-combi in your present opamp setup:
a. put two OPA2107 in the two I/V slots and
b. put one LM4562 in Buffer.

The above will increase warmth a little more while the treble end details would lessen... which is not bad in your already treble-accentuated amp+spkr combo.

Regds,

Hmm.. Will try that if i get my hand on one more OPA2107 ..

 

[sonosphere]

Hmm.. Will try that if i get my hand on one more OPA2107 ..

if you have a personal email ID with .com or .edu extension, getting 2107 opamp from "Texas instruments" isn't difficult. (see details in the link in my previous post# 168) ... or else try ebay.

 

[sonosphere]

I am not sure if this has been posted here before or not, but to all the people that have or are planning to change their op amps, here's an interesting article from a guy who has designed a few amps and dacs etc.

NwAvGuy: Op Amps: Myths & Facts

The author of the above blogspot link says " Ill challenge anyone to a listening test and bet they wont be able to tell the above three op amps apart."

Well all I can say that my wife won't be able to tell them apart for sure... and she can't tell apart the SQ difference between my NAD integrated and the Adcom power amp either. OTOH, Blind or no blind, I can tell the difference between OPA 2107, LM4562 and Audio-GD Earth (when all these are in buffer slot, whereas are remaining opamps, backend gear, AND SONGS are kept the same)

Many other statements in that link can also be debated. However at the end of the day, I suppose we all hear differently so we all have our own personal collection of "Absolute truths" .

Regds,

 

[captrajesh]

I suppose we all hear differently so we all have our own personal collection of "Absolute truths"

Very well said.:clapping:

 

[doors666]

The author of the above blogspot link says " Ill challenge anyone to a listening test and bet they wont be able to tell the above three op amps apart."

Well all I can say that my wife won't be able to tell them apart for sure... and she can't tell apart the SQ difference between my NAD integrated and the Adcom power amp either. OTOH, Blind or no blind, I can tell the difference between OPA 2107, LM4562 and Audio-GD Earth (when all these are in buffer slot, whereas are remaining opamps, backend gear, AND SONGS are kept the same)

He also says that you cant replace op amps on your own whims and fancies as there is a lot of science involved. Of course you can put an op amp in a bad application and it will sound different, read that as worse. An op amp costs a dollar, I am pretty sure asus tried most of them and picked the best one for this app. If by replacing a 1$ opamp with another 1$opamp had improved things dramatically, they would have used the new opamp.

BTW, he designed the O2 headphone amp, supposedly one of the best and it costs 30$ and is opensource. I just met a guy who's heard this amp and he says its like sticking two electrostatic speakers in your ears. He has just now completed a usb dac for 100$ and his measurements are better than benchmark dac1 and people couldnt pick out which is which in blind tests. So I would give some credibility to the guy. There are other links on his site where he runs other tests on opamps.

Many other statements in that link can also be debated. However at the end of the day, I suppose we all hear differently so we all have our own personal collection of "Absolute truths" .

Regds,

Well, if we all hear things differently, then why should anyone follow someone else's suggestions.

 

[venkatcr]

I think a good idea will be to compare two cards - one with the original op amps, and one modified with the 'ideal' ops-amps. We can use the same chain for everything else - cables, amplifiers, speakers, software, OS, and of course, the music. Ideally we must use identical computers, but that may be different.

If a few of us are ready to get together with another card, I have a STX with the original Op-amps still in place.

Cheers