#DMG AUDIO ESSENCE REVIEW PRO#
#DMG AUDIO ESSENCE REVIEW SOFTWARE#
#DMG AUDIO ESSENCE REVIEW PC#
#DMG AUDIO ESSENCE REVIEW PROFESSIONAL#

We don’t find much joy in folding, spindling, and mutilating our favorite tunes, however, so we didn’t spend a lot of time with these geegaws.

#DMG AUDIO ESSENCE REVIEW PRO#

You’ll find a host of environmental effects (concert hall, stadium, and the like), a programmable equalizer, and several DSP modes, including Dolby Virtual Speaker, Dolby Headphone, and Dolby Pro Logic IIx.

#DMG AUDIO ESSENCE REVIEW SOFTWARE#

The software does a lot of other things, too.

#DMG AUDIO ESSENCE REVIEW PROFESSIONAL#

This is largely due to the use of effective shielding to stop electromagnetic interference from bleeding into the analog signal path.Īnother feature that renders this sound card unique is the presence of an onboard headphone amplifier (the well-regarded Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 chip), coupled with software that lets you adjust the amount of gain for headphones that present different amounts of impedance, ranging from 0dB gain for headphones with less than 64 ohms of impedance (most consumer models fall into this category), to 12dB gain for headphones with 64- to 300 ohms of impedance, and 18dB gain for professional phones with 300 to 600 ohms of impedance.

And total harmonic distortion (THD) of just 0.0002 percent means that the music is all you hear. The Xonar Essence STX’s other specs are equally impressive, putting it in the range of pro audio gear: Broad dynamic range of 118dB, for instance, enables the card to more accurately reproduce the diversity of instrumental and vocal timbres that make great recordings so rich, full, and rewarding. Where the typical motherboard audio system delivers signal-to-noise ratio in the mid 80s, Asus claims its card delivers a signal-to-noise ratio of 124dB when driving speakers, and 117dB when driving headphones. Everything else being equal, the higher the number the better, and the Xonar Essence STX’s numbers are very high indeed. The answers are to be found in some of the card’s other specs, such as its signal-to-noise ratio, a measurement of the relationship between the strength of the desired signal and unwanted background noise (e.g., hum, hiss, and static). Of course, if you examine the specs for the onboard audio solutions used in most PCs these days, you’ll see the same numbers, so we have to look deeper for an explanation as to why this card sounds so delightful.

#DMG AUDIO ESSENCE REVIEW PC#

The result is the cleanest sounding PC soundcard we’ve laid ears on.Īsus uses a Burr-Brown PCM1792A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that delivers up to 24-bits of resolution and sampling rates as high as 192kHz. This card boasts very high-end digital and analog audio components, and it’s been vigorously engineered to eliminate the noise problems that plague the typical onboard audio solution. A PC can be an awesome high-fidelity component, and the Xonar Essence STX is proof. Listen carefully and you’ll hear noise and distortion worming its way into your music, irrevocably changing and diminishing what the artist worked so hard to record. If you’re the type who thinks MP3s encoded at 128Kb/sec sound just fine, on the other hand, no amount of praise we heap on the Xonar Essence will ever convince you that this card easily justifies its $180 street price-especially when even the least expensive computer can play music without needing any additional hardware at all.īut have you ever plugged a pair of quality headphones into your PC’s onboard audio and really listened to it? The interior of a PC is a harsh environment for audio, and most onboard sound systems do little to compensate for it. This audiophile-quality sound card is a glittering sonic jewel. If you’re the type of audio enthusiast who delights in discovering nuances in musical recordings you thought you were already intimately familiar with, you’ll want to check out the Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card.

Dmg audio essence review