Asus Xonar Essence STX or Auzentech Forte?

masterkaj

Junior Member
Dec 22, 2007
24
0
66
I've been researching a sound card to replace my Creative X-Fi Xtremegamer Fatal1ty because it has started to die/not be recognized by windows from time to time.

My cpu is pretty much only used for gaming:
Asus Maximus III Forumula
i7 860 OC'd to 3.8
2x2 DDR2000
2x60g OCZ Vertex SSD
Sapphire HD5970 OC'd to 850/1200
Antec 1200 Case with 850w PCP&C Silencer

The headphones I currently use are Sennheiser HD595, which I absolutely love. I always have CMSS 3D enabled in all the FPS games I play, and do not want to lose the amazing positional/direction sound I get with my card (IE: being able to pinpoint which direction I hear footsteps or gunshots). However, I never really use Alchemy; so I don't think EAX is too big of a deal(as long as I still get great positional audio).

I have researched both quite a bit and have a few questions/concerns. My first concern is with the Forte; having read many complaints about it picking up EMI/white noise. I am going to have this in the PCIe slot right above my 5970, so there is concern there.

I previously tried an X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro (to replace my Xtremegamer) in that slot and it had horrible white noise/static, and could even hear mouse movement; however, I believe it was driver related because when I uninstalled all creative driver/software and let windows auto detect and install it's own driver it worked perfectly fine. However, that kind of defeats the purpose of buying a 100-200 dollar card and I couldn't use CMSS-3D, so I returned it (tired of dealing with Creatives BS support and drivers).

My concern with the Essence STX is how does it do with positional audio? I know it doesn't have CMSS-3D; which is my main concern. However, it does have Dolby Headphone, but I have no idea if it is as good as CMSS-3d. One reason I am leaning towards the Essence STX, despite no CMSS-3D, is because it has some EMI shielding (plus I have not read many complaints about EMI).

Will the Essence STX still give me great positional audio? Everything I read pretty much states it is great for music, but good to mediocre for gaming.
 
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Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
I find the STX fine for gaming, i dont care about surround sound though and run it with no effects such as dolby headphone or any other DSP.

EMI shielding seems to work great, i got a Highly OC'ed 4890 with some coil whine going on less than 1" from it and its still crystal clear.

I do hear the STX sound quality is effected by crappy PSU's though as it doesnt like voltage fluctuations at all, and as the card takes a 4 pin molex connector for power you need a stable PSU voltage rail to get the best sound.

There are some people on head-fi.org computer audio forums talking about it if you want to read up on the STX, there are lots of threads weekly about it. But if you have a quality PSU im sure the STX will serve you well, and it better because its not cheap.

link to head-fi thread about tweaks for STX, first post has links to reviews as well

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/421890/the-xonar-essence-stx-q-a-tweaking-impressions-thread
 

OVerLoRDI

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
5,490
4
81
I love my Essence STX. It is great for gaming, the clarity on the sound plus my HD555s seem to give me super human hearing in some games, Left 4 Dead in particular. Also music sounds amazing on the Essence STX. You just have to be knowledgeable about how to get the best quality out of Windows. Read up on ASIO and figure out how to best implement it to bypass Windows built in resampler.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
I love my Essence STX. It is great for gaming, the clarity on the sound plus my HD555s seem to give me super human hearing in some games, Left 4 Dead in particular. Also music sounds amazing on the Essence STX. You just have to be knowledgeable about how to get the best quality out of Windows. Read up on ASIO and figure out how to best implement it to bypass Windows built in resampler.

yeah asio or waspi would be ideal for music listening.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
Asio drivers are almost always Fuked up. Less you know how to make your own under linux..

I"ve got ASIO working just fine on my STX with foobar. I have however seen tons of posts online about people having issues but the latest Asus beta drivers seem to be solid.
 

KGB

Diamond Member
May 11, 2000
3,042
0
0
To the OP, visually inspect your current X-Fi for signs of blown or bulging capacitors.
 

SkuLLyRT

Senior member
Sep 28, 2002
219
0
0
I'd caution against the Auzentech card; they produce some amazing hardware but their support is crap.
 

videogames101

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2005
6,783
27
91
The STX is pretty much the best card on the consumer market. It's designed to allow you to replace the opamps with whatever type you prefer, again, see head-fi.org
 

billyb0b

Golden Member
Nov 8, 2009
1,270
5
81
i can't speak for the asus xonar and i'm biased toward the auzentech forte because i'm running one.... i'm not audiophile but i'm very happy with the forte pushing to some good 2.1 speakers