Audio performance and quality

[reach231]

Hey guys, I am deciding whether to buy a soundcard mainly for music and gaming (comp gamer)

Asus xonar essence stx 2 II

Or

Asus essence stx ii

At the moment im having a hard time figuring out which is better. When I say better I mean better in performance wise and clarity with good quality.

If you guys want to suggest a better sound card for me. Please do tell me so I can look more further into it.

In your guys field of sound expertise. I need your guys help to choose between the Asus xonar essence stx II or Asus Essence stx II. I ask you guys which is better for Audio clarity and quality and all round better. Also budget doesn't matter.

Thank you guys for reading this and have a good day/night!!

 

[ssddx]

first i would suggest listing what headphones or speakers you are using and if you need things like virtual surround, etc.

for headphones, an external amp may be a better solution. or an amp paired with a lower end soundcard. (the xonar dx has the same dac as the stx so paired with a $100 external amp its far superior for headphone use than a stx)

give us some more info on your needs and what you need to connect up.

 

[reach231]

I will be using a Seinheiser HD 598 for headphones and a creative labs gigaworks t40 series

I also will be playing games such as cs:go where it requires positional audio to know where the enmy is. I also watch alot of movies and listen to muisc as much too. I even play a game named osu ( which is music beat game) All alround I just want better postional audio good clairty sound for music and movies and good for gaming also.

 

[ssddx]

the stx would be overkill for that. likewise high dollar amps and dacs would also be overkill.

you wont really notice a difference on the speakers between the dx and the stx since the dac afaik is the same one on both.

for the headphones you may benefit a bit from the stronger amp on the stx a little but honestly using a cheaper external would do the same thing or better and be less money overall.

of course your choice and an stx would certainly work i just think its spending money where you arent going to really notice it.

as far as virtual surround is concerned, they would be similar since asus uses dolby headphone. for position audio and soundstage that depends on your headphones more.