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asus software interface looks outdated.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.

There are a few dirty secrets in the tech industry, and one of the best-guarded among them regards multichannel audio-everybody wants multichannel audio but almost no one actually runs the speakers to use it.

Clean and pure sound output and control over headphone impedance

Pricey and lacks full EAX support

This isn't just a fancy sound card, you know. Oh no. Let us quote from the included Audio Precision Test Report, a fancy document bound with gold string to compound its obvious legitimacy: "The development of the new Xonar Essence line has triggered us to engage a new quest in search for true...

Humans have five main senses; touch, taste, sight, smell and hearing. Modern computing strives to advance the integration of these senses to produce stimulation during interaction, whether it be for games, movies or writing lengthy documents like this one!

Crisp audio output; Near flat frequency response; Respectable headphone amp; Very low noise levels on both line-in and line-out; Top-tier components; such as the capacitors; DAC and op-amps; Op-amps are user replaceable; Drivers work flawlessly on Vista and 7; Dolby Headphone works well for movies...

Need pricey equipment to appreciate the added quality of sound; EAX emulation isn't quite as good as a native hardware solution; No hotkeys to quickly alter settings in Xonar Audio Center

Asus Xonar Essence STX Backside of the Essence The sound card seems to have fallen out of favor with the hardware enthusiast over the past few years, as on-board solutions have provided multi-channel surround sound that functions as well as dedicated cards.

I had tried a few headsets (Corsair, Logitech, Razer) but in one form or another they were lacking. I decided I wanted to get the best sound possible (within my budget), especially for gaming, so I bought this sound card. First of all, it is pricey. But for me, that was the only con.

Last year at COMPUTEX, I came across a product at the ASUS booth known as the "Stereo X". My interest in this product led to an enthusiastic...

The best music experience you'll ever have on a set of headphones on a PC; Extremely high quality audiophile build with swappable OPAMPS for those with a need to tweak

Not for gamers or casual listeners; Price may be hard to justify for some

James is back in business and this time he looks at a special Xonar offering from ASUS, essentially a headphone pre-amp for discerning audiophiles.

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 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.