Can't beat the sound. (Tip) To change it to your front panel headphones use the ASUS Control Center that is installed with the software or download the lastest update. You can switch from Speakers to Front Headphones.

This thing is simply incredible. Really worth every penny for any audiophile.

I am thrilled with the sound quality of this card. I can't imagine anyone complaining about it regardless of the cost of the rest of their equipment be it cheap or ridiculously expensive. It really is worth switching to analogue for music listening and then back to digital for games and movies.

Im not 100% satisfied with the shipping, thus the 4 egg overall experience. The product itself functions exceptionally. It is a 5 star audio card. I definitely recommend it for an htpc build, for watching movies and listening to music.

i got it on sale and am pretty happy with it; On krk rokits, corsair sp2500 and bland creative t40s, the stx makes quite a difference in sound quality; highs, mids and lows become very distinct; It offers a plethora of settings to enhance your music and movie experience.

asus software interface looks outdated. Not a huge deal, since it's mostly a set it and forget it affair, but it just looks windows 98 ish. The extra clarity works both ways; lossy and unprofessionally mixed audio files will become much more apparent.

Perfect for headphones. Gets the best out of any headphones/earphones. Quality of output is pristine. Listen to musical notes never heard before, in any song, with a good headset. Even though drivers could be better, giving it a 5 star is not exaggerating.

Reliable

Difficult To Install; Expensive

Well, firstly this is a nicely made item, sadly though it told me that i needed to install "Windows Vista" after I had installed it... REALLY?! Need I say more?

The Asus Xonar Essence is extremely good. Although a little long in the tooth, it still performs well. It beats the dust out of the so called hi def on board sound as supplied by many mobo manufactures. Being PCIe it will work in any size socket without any problem with video cards.

I in tend on using this for gaming and for home theater and have found the sound quality amazing! Once the software was installed it works well. The CD that came with it only had VISA drivers which crashed multiple programs on my computer and I had to restart in safe mode uninstall them and then...

Easy To Use; Quality Output; Reliable Performance

Difficult To Install

This is a great sound card ,with 24 bit you cant get any better than this in sound quality, I bought this card for my Music Apps and this card works with them beautifully recreating true to life sounds. If you need an ASIO sound card look no further.

This card is great for sound quality, but lacks analog outs for surround sound, and there is no EAX support. Good for audiophile music and movies, but don't use this for gaming and definitely not audio production.

Great audio clarity; and selectable ohm setting for built-in headphone amp

-Requires a 4 pin molex power connector -Useless gimmicky EMI sheild, A clean power supply makes this feature redundant -Not a true PCIe card, it's actually a PCI card with a PCIe bridge chip -Slow ASIO 2.0 drivers; You're lucky to get 30 or 40ms latency.