[wushuliu]

I purchased the Essence ST ($209 Amazon) as a means to provide coax and optical input to any FOTM DAC straight from my PC. It's bad enough the DAC market is oversaturated, I don't want to sweat over all the usb cables and usb/spdif converters as well - just seems like a lot of hoops to get from the computer to a DAC. The Stereophile review gave ST and STX high praise and having one less component taking up space is always a plus. There is a computeraudiophile review but he ignored the analog outs altogether. Before I hooked up the coax, I decided to give the analog outputs a try for kicks with Jplay and Kernel Streaming. The card kicks alright - it kicks @ss .

Neutral is the best word for it. That and the super low noise floor took me by surprise. A sound card can sound this good? Pinpoint imaging, very precise but not overly so. I did not have a knee-jerk reaction to the top end like some other dacs - it's nice and extended I could hear just as much inner detail as with any of the other wonderful budget dacs I've heard, sometimes more so. It does not sound like a $200 DAC. Does it sound worse than the $700 setup I had (DacIT, V-link, silver usb cables). In terms of depth and holographic imaging, a little bit. But not $500 worse. Top it off you can do an easy mod of swapping opamps to tailor sound, which I do recommend. I know. Opamps. I never thought I would ever go back to opamps. But I am a sucker for that low noise floor, the card is so quiet and see-through. Strictly garbage in, garbage-out. Doesn't add any character of its own.

If you use a PC and feel comfortable popping inside it, it is definitely worth checking out. I know you can't show it off and I mean, it's a sound card! But this level of sound quality is a herald of what's to come in computer audio. Right now I don't want aspire to brush the ceiling of the sistine chapel of audio nirvana with my fingertips. I just want affordable kit that's 'good enough', and this card fits the bill.


Also, consensus seems to be the ST is better for analog out than the STX due to some added jitter-reduction circuitry.
Also the packaging is pretty sweet. Computer Bling!

http://www.amazon.com/Xonar-Essence-24-bit-192KHz-Interface/dp/B002UVME88/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326529096&sr=8-1

[nwboater]

And for those of you into Surround Sound add on their H6 Daughter card and get up to 7.1 analog output. I've been very happy with mine. Haven't yet tried swapping op amps but just might some time.

Rod

[Letitroll98]

I see it is limited to 24/96, is that correct?

[nwboater]

I see it is limited to 24/96, is that correct?

No, 24/192.  Here's the Asus spec sheet:  http://www.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_Essence_ST/#specifications

Rod

[wushuliu]

No, 24/192.  Here's the Asus spec sheet:  http://www.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_Essence_ST/#specifications

Rod

New ASIO drivers also support 88.2 and 176. I use third party UniXonar low latency drivers.

[nwboater]

New ASIO drivers also support 88.2 and 176. I use third party UniXonar low latency drivers.

I've been using the UniXonar drivers for quite awhile without problem. Haven't updated in quite awhile though. Have you tried his latest V 1.50?  Here's link to the drivers on his blog.  http://brainbit.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/

Rod

[wushuliu]

I've been using the UniXonar drivers for quite awhile without problem. Haven't updated in quite awhile though. Have you tried his latest V 1.50?  Here's link to the drivers on his blog.  http://brainbit.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/

Rod

1.50 beta doesn't mix with 64bit well at this time, so I use 1.4.

[Rclark]

Are you saying use this with a dac or as standalone?

[nwboater]

Are you saying use this with a dac or as standalone?

I'm using it "Standalone", ie as a DAC. The analog outputs from the Essence ST Board go straight to our power amp inputs. No receiver or other DACs in the system - just our HTPC that has this card in it. I believe that wushuliu is also using the analog outputs from this card. Again no other DAC. Right wushuliu?

Also our Speakers are Kipschorns and other Klipsch Heritage in a 5.1 system. All very revealing. I have never owned a 'high end' DAC so can't give a comparison. Can only say that I'm pleased with what I hear.

Rod

Rod

[wushuliu]

Are you saying use this with a dac or as standalone?

yep, standalone...

[Rclark]

Guys, if you were going to build a PC based music system around this card (as a total noob who wants quality but knows jack-S), what would you do? And would it be competitive with going the Touch/external dac route?

[firedog]

New ASIO drivers also support 88.2 and 176. I use third party UniXonar low latency drivers.

Have any of you actually tried it with 88k or 176K files? Acc'd to the spec sheet, in ANALOGUE it doesn't do 88 and 176. Does that mean it does handle them through the SPDIF out?

[wushuliu]

Have any of you actually tried it with 88k or 176K files? Acc'd to the spec sheet, in ANALOGUE it doesn't do 88 and 176. Does that mean it does handle them through the SPDIF out?

It definitely supports them through spdif. I thought it supported them through analog now, but the stereophile follow-up article did say bit-perfect 88.2/176 analog was not yet available - I don't know if that's changed since then.

[charmerci]

Guys, if you were going to build a PC based music system around this card (as a total noob who wants quality but knows jack-S), what would you do? And would it be competitive with going the Touch/external dac route?

Many people gave their thoughts in the discless circle - http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=101118.0

[wushuliu]

Tested the spdif out with my Muse Dac and it has given that little dac a second life vs. V-link and Teralink spdif converters/usb cable chase. Now I wish I had some other dacs to try. If only I'd known about this card sooner...

[motorcitym3]

I'm using this card with JR Media17 to send the bitperfect signal via spdif to a Bolder Cable modded EE minimax DAC ( -->Modwright PRe--> Bryston 7B-ST mono's-->Tyler Acoustic Linbrook system) and couldn't be happier!

[HsvHeelFan]

I'm using the ASUS Essence Sonar STX in the new music pc that I built.  I have a nice set of RCA cables taking the audio directly from the Sound Card to my Parasound Pre-amp which hands it off to my Bryston 4B-ST.

Beware of the ASUS bloatware.   I run the ASUS drivers and I leave "HiFi" mode selected.  The sound deteriorates considerably when the ASUS eq's, mixers and DSPs are involved. (Actually, it sounds like crap...

HiFi mode avoids that. 

I'm running JRiver Media Center 16 or 17 and use the WASAPI output.  It has better imaging and I think better channel to channel separation than my Denon DCM-390 SACD/redbook CD player that I'm replacing.  Instrument placement is MUCH better than the Denon and the instruments don't move around in the soundstage.

When I get brave,  I'll try the non-ASUS ASIO drivers.

HsvHeelFan

[wushuliu]

I'm using the ASUS Essence Sonar STX in the new music pc that I built.  I have a nice set of RCA cables taking the audio directly from the Sound Card to my Parasound Pre-amp which hands it off to my Bryston 4B-ST.

Beware of the ASUS bloatware.   I run the ASUS drivers and I leave "HiFi" mode selected.  The sound deteriorates considerably when the ASUS eq's, mixers and DSPs are involved. (Actually, it sounds like crap...

HiFi mode avoids that. 

I'm running JRiver Media Center 16 or 17 and use the WASAPI output.  It has better imaging and I think better channel to channel separation than my Denon DCM-390 SACD/redbook CD player that I'm replacing.  Instrument placement is MUCH better than the Denon and the instruments don't move around in the soundstage.

When I get brave,  I'll try the non-ASUS ASIO drivers.

HsvHeelFan

No need to be brave to install the unixonar drivers, it's a straightforward install and you'll still be able to change key features - volume, asio, spdif - through the xonar icon. The ASIO sound quality w/ the ST is *very* good, just as good as jplay in fact (to my ears)!

Another thing to mention is the clock replacement modification, where the on-board clock is replaced with an inexpensive Vanguard available on ebay. It elevates performance even more, with refinement approaching the DACiT. However you do need to be handy with a soldering iron - otherwise it's relatively easy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vanguard-Ultra-precision-Golden-TCXO-0-3ppm-24-576MHz-/120763673234?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item1c1e136a92#ht_2163wt_956

http://www.head-fi.org/t/433533/upgrading-the-crystal-x0-on-essence-stx/195#post_6919819