Is Essense STX audibly better than Xonar DX ?

[thevortex]

You are correct that vista/win7 resamples all audio to the sample rate set in sound device property. The purpose is to defeat the poor hardware resampling done in el-cheapo onboard souond cards.
However one can easily bypass this by using the Wasapi exclusive mode - in this mode the audio is passed untouched to the driver.
The xonar driver would still resample the audio to the one set in xonar control center. It does not resample 96k/ higher samples though.

The latest xonar beta driver has a bit perfect asio driver which completely bypasses any OS/Control center settings.

If there is a gripe I have on the ASUS cards, it has to be about the drivers.

And Venkat - no, I am not at all a fan of investing so much money on the sound card and then have to rely on ASIO4ALL. That just sounds plain wrong to me.

Incidentally I checked and there are no driver updates for the Xonar D2X. Perhaps they are concentrating only on the Essence in this?

Gurubhai - I thought the Xonar Audio Center had the capability to resample to 24/192 khz? Why is it limited at 96k?

 

[thevortex]

I am playing around with Windows 7 right now. But I have run into the dreaded 'Unidentified network' error! . Subject for another thread perhaps.

But just in case, I do solve it and keep it on, how exactly Gurubhai do you engage this wasapi exclusive mode?

 

[spirovious]

read a detailed rev of ST abt hardware,Electronic & reported practically no issues-

ASUS Xonar Essence ST DeLuxe review
ASUS Xonar Essence ST DeLuxe review
ASUS Xonar Essence ST DeLuxe review

upgrade Opsamps-
http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-xonar-essence-st-deluxe-review/14

I am playing around with Windows 7 right now. But I have run into the dreaded 'Unidentified network' error! . Subject for another thread perhaps.

But just in case, I do solve it and keep it on, how exactly Gurubhai do you engage this wasapi exclusive mode?

I have tested asio,wapasi,KS (in win7) with no issue in default settings.DS fails in 7 dont know why?

 

[suprateep]

Suprateep, Didnt get you on the part when you say the card is awesome but not listenable??

well everything is reproduced to great detail - channel seprataion is great and instruments are spaced out nicely but sometimes the music does not keep up pace with the lyrics sometimes. Mind it its very transparent but I prefer the DVP + DAC combo overall. Loved it while the STX was with me for over 7 months but the problem is I never probably heard it over extended periods - maybe a hour at a stretch max. With the other combo - its on for atleast 4-5 hours every day of the wekened and maybe 1-2 hours over weekdays.

Overall Setup was (prefer 2 over 1):
1. HTPC (win7) with Xonar STX (analog out) -> amplifier -> speakers
2. (HTPC + Foobar 0.94 with wasapi + Realtek Onboard Optical Out)/DVP Digital Coaxial -> DAC -> amplifier ->speakers

PS: The headphone out of the STX is better than the analog out - but I used the analog out for my setup and this is what I have discussed here.

 

[suprateep]

I am playing around with Windows 7 right now. But I have run into the dreaded 'Unidentified network' error! . Subject for another thread perhaps.

But just in case, I do solve it and keep it on, how exactly Gurubhai do you engage this wasapi exclusive mode?

Asuuming you are on windows 7
1.Right-click the speaker icon in the notification area, which is located on the right side of the taskbar, and select Playback Devices or Recording Devices.
2.After the Sound window appears, select Playback or Recording. Next, select an entry in the list of device names, and click Properties.
3.After the Properties window appears, click Advanced.
4.To enable applications to use the device in exclusive mode, check the box labeled Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device. To disable exclusive-mode use of the device, clear the check box.

You can go to output in foobar - click the xonar wasapi output (wasapi plugin does not come default with foobar - you may need to download and copy the plugin in the component folder of foobar in program files) - play with the buffer size to come with an optimum size. With an extenral USB DAC (the lower the buffer the better) the xonar witll accept it aorund 100 ms (which is very acceptable).

Hope that helps.

 

[spirovious]

Hi Suprateep,
I found in Win7 "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device"is usually selected.
Secondly when we select asio OR other,these settings will be bypassed as they are Windows settings.

 

[thevortex]

Asuuming you are on windows 7
1.Right-click the speaker icon in the notification area, which is located on the right side of the taskbar, and select Playback Devices or Recording Devices.
2.After the Sound window appears, select Playback or Recording. Next, select an entry in the list of device names, and click Properties.
3.After the Properties window appears, click Advanced.
4.To enable applications to use the device in exclusive mode, check the box labeled Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device. To disable exclusive-mode use of the device, clear the check box.

You can go to output in foobar - click the xonar wasapi output (wasapi plugin does not come default with foobar - you may need to download and copy the plugin in the component folder of foobar in program files) - play with the buffer size to come with an optimum size. With an extenral USB DAC (the lower the buffer the better) the xonar witll accept it aorund 100 ms (which is very acceptable).

Hope that helps.

All of that is done by default, Suprateep.

I am no longer using the Xonar D2X. I am actually using the digital out from another board - ASUS P4NE SLI. I find the quality of the digital out to be far better with this.

So, after I ensure all this is checked, is there a wasapi plugin to be downloaded? Just like ASIO? I will check. Thanks.

 

[spirovious]

So, after I ensure all this is checked, is there a wasapi plugin to be downloaded? Just like ASIO? I will check. Thanks.

Yes,DL from component site & add....

 

[thevortex]

The only sad thing is that cPlay may not work with Windows 7. Or will it? Has anybody tested?

 

[thevortex]

Just read up on this. Should theoretically work. Lets see when I get home.

 

[spirovious]

The only sad thing is that cPlay may not work with Windows 7. Or will it? Has anybody tested?

Old Cplay(ver.30 & above)works perfectly.
I have installed both foobar & Cplay both.

 

[thevortex]

Thanks Spiro - just downloaded the latest cPlay - b37. Time to test it out in the evening.

 

[gryph0n]

Online rev says ST is marginally better than STX...

Yeah, most online reviews do say that. And the ST can take a daughter card to output multichannel audio, which the STX cannot do.

I am afraid of going with a PCI card today. My current motherboard does has one PCI slot, and it's vacant. However I am now seeing many new motherboards omit the PCI slot entirely. So from a futuristic perspective, the STX seems a better bet.

 

[suprateep]

Thanks Spiro - just downloaded the latest cPlay - b37. Time to test it out in the evening.

1. CPlay has different versions depending on your processor - chose the right installer.
2. For me CPLAY with ASIO works better than Foobar with KS in windows XP - in Windows 7 its the other way round. Bass is more detailed and refined with foobar with wasapi than CPLay with ASIO.

 

[thevortex]

oh - thanks for the heads-up Suprateep. I can get to these things only after the network issue is resolved on Win 7

 

[gurubhai]

If there is a gripe I have on the ASUS cards, it has to be about the drivers.

And Venkat - no, I am not at all a fan of investing so much money on the sound card and then have to rely on ASIO4ALL. That just sounds plain wrong to me.

Incidentally I checked and there are no driver updates for the Xonar D2X. Perhaps they are concentrating only on the Essence in this?

Gurubhai - I thought the Xonar Audio Center had the capability to resample to 24/192 khz? Why is it limited at 96k?

The Xonar is able to upsample upto 192k from sources lesser than 96k.
For sources 96k/higher, asus developers disabled any processing so that users are able to enjoy their hi-res music as bit-perfect.

I am playing around with Windows 7 right now. But I have run into the dreaded 'Unidentified network' error! . Subject for another thread perhaps.

But just in case, I do solve it and keep it on, how exactly Gurubhai do you engage this wasapi exclusive mode?

Already covered but yes you need the foobar wasapi plugin.

 

[spirovious]

Yeah, most online reviews do say that. And the ST can take a daughter card to output multichannel audio, which the STX cannot do.

I am afraid of going with a PCI card today. My current motherboard does has one PCI slot, and it's vacant. However I am now seeing many new motherboards omit the PCI slot entirely. So from a futuristic perspective, the STX seems a better bet.

Thats not entirely true as still MB come with atleast 1PCI slot.Atleast Asus will produce to sale ST hyeah:

 

[spirovious]

1. CPlay has different versions depending on your processor - chose the right installer.
2. For me CPLAY with ASIO works better than Foobar with KS in windows XP - in Windows 7 its the other way round. Bass is more detailed and refined with foobar with wasapi than CPLay with ASIO.

My observations are similar-

Foobar- very musical with deep/proper Bass.Soundstage not as wide as Cplay.
Cplay- very clear with highs,vocals can sound a bit thinner.A digital sound.

In foobar with Wasapi,you cannot use D2X equiliser,in asio you can.

 

[Spidey]

Can one sound card give simultaneous connections :
analog to stereo amp and HDMI to AV reciever , with uncompromised quality ?


Or how to take HDMI from PC ; sound card or graphic card for movies ?

thnks

 

[spirovious]

My D2X can output analoge & spdf at the same time with no audible difference in SQ.
Usually GC/onbrd graphics do the job.ie.they can output both audio & video from their HDMI.
SC with HDMI in & out(HDAV)inputs video from GC/MB out,mixes with audio & output both from their HDMI out.

You can use both SC(onbrd & dedicated)with proper config with different programes.