Xonar Essence STX with built-in headphone amplifier

[spirovious]

Hence htpc with intel is no-no until GMA-500 chipset is launched.

Regards

KK,in that case I have 7300GC.

 

[thevortex]

Venkat
I was talking about the STX only.

Vortex, I want to avoid a 2nd PC only for music + existing desktop + MID/Tablet/netbook later next year. That would be a waste no?

All I want is to save hours ripping a CD or writing flac downloads on a CD at 4x speed and decent SQ. Besides I dont want a NAS fileserver incurring continuous disk writes with torrents while it reads a file for playback. You know that audiophile concern about how that stray 1 msec delay here and there will prevent the listener from achieving Audio Nirvana (or audiogasms) right?!! :lol:

Cheers

But I thought we were not audiophiles with audiogasms

Jokes apart, I got your point.

 

[venkatcr]

The Xonar Essence cards seem to be available from The IT Depot. Please check Theitdepot - Sound-Cards for details.

Cheers

 

[venkatcr]

The complete Stereophile article is now available on-line at Stereophile: ASUS Xonar Essence ST/STX soundcards

Cheers

 

[mahiruha]

Hi,
IT depot doesn't have the stock. I ordered the card and a PSU on friday but only the power supply reached my home today. I wish it could play music. I have to look elsewhere to procure it.
Thanks

 

[spirovious]

The Xonar Essence cards seem to be available from The IT Depot. Please check Theitdepot - Sound-Cards for details.

Cheers

Price looks less here-
Audio Card

 

[kapvin]

Sorry to hijack your thread; I was also evaluating using a sound card for an HAPC and this is what I zeroed in on.

RME: Hammerfall DSP 9632

there's a dealer in mumbai., whose quoting 35k all inc.

any experience on this, advice?


cheers


ps - the idea is to upgrade the entire audio chain in parts; starting with the weakest link currently - the source..

 

[mahiruha]

hi Kapvin,
from the picture the card looks a bit strange. I couldn't find any analogue out. Am I missing something?
Thanks.

 

[spirovious]

analogout can be from Dsub connection with special cable.
http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_cables.php#1

 

[kapvin]

analogout can be from Dsub connection with special cable.

that's right, and it's included in the box

 

[spirovious]

Specifications are good ,reviews are OK-
Review: Benchmark DAC1 vs RME HDSP 9632 vs RME PAD vs EMU 1212M - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/RME-Hammerfall-HDSP-9632-PCI-Card?sku=240310

 

[mahiruha]

hi,
understood how it is working. Not sure about tehe quality of the connectors though. They doen't look very impressive given the asking price for them.Do research very well about this product.
Thanks.

 

[kapvin]

sure, and that's why i am seeking feedback from multiple sources.

given the kind of "old school" vendors who sell it, an auditions seems out of the question.

it's not too cheap, and i'd hate to make a 35k mistake.

at the same time, I do want to do it "right the first time" and don't want to buy a midfi card that I will need to update in a year or so, as the rest of chain upgrades... also I don't want a mid-fi source to evaluate true hifi compenents that I'll be adding over the period of the next year (i'm in the non spendors club atm )

any "safe recommendations" other than xonar?

 

[spirovious]

Get D2X if you want SC for music & mov(I know you have 3 BD-roms)
for 10k
http://primeabgb.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=123&Itemid=53

OR 8k+ for STX.

 

[kapvin]

Get D2X if you want SC for music & mov(I know you have 3 BD-roms)
for 10k
Audio Card

OR 8k+ for STX.

this or the HDAV deluxe would be great for the HTPC, but I looking at something a little more hi -fi ATM.

Kapil

 

[spirovious]

HDAV is good for BD HTPC,but not known much for music.
Perhapps if you change its opsamp(swappable)it may.

 

[spirovious]

new Beta drivers for win 7 now supports Sample rate : 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96 / 176.4 / 192 kHz