CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

  • December 31, 2015, 11:20:26 AM
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7

Author Topic: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.  (Read 11857 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

PelPix

  • Team Linear Magnetic
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +63/-2
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 176
The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« on: August 10, 2012, 02:32:07 AM »
I own this for gaming and other such computer-related things, and it sounds pretty good.  The ST's line out is good, and its digital out is pretty good too (Especially with the ST's jitter correction).  As expected, performance seems to vary highly from user to user due to differing power quality and background interference from the computer parts.

It has something like 19 effective bits and a THD of <=0.0003%
Here are some Audio Precision SYS2722 measurements from stereophile:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/asus-xonar-essence-ststx-soundcards-measurements

Essential images for the line-out (HPA not included):



dBf v Frequency



THD+Noise on a -90dB signal
(16-bit Magenta, 24-bit Red)



16-bit 1khz sine wave at –90.31dB



Same as above, 24-bit



Harmonic distortion cropped to all produced harmonics above the noise floor.


For whatever reason, one channel is measuring as having more harmonic distortion than the other.
It's also worth noting that the ST has a low-jitter clock setup and the STX does not.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2012, 12:13:39 AM by PelPix »
Logged

PelPix

  • Team Linear Magnetic
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +63/-2
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 176
Re: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2012, 08:39:06 PM »
Comments?
Logged

Anaxilus.

  • Dikus Beligerantis Analmorticus
  • Pirate
  • **
  • Brownie Points: +65535/-65535
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 577
Re: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2012, 10:41:39 PM »
Got the same for the X-FI Elite Pro per chance?
Logged
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading - Lao Tzu

PelPix

  • Team Linear Magnetic
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +63/-2
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 176
Re: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2012, 12:15:10 AM »
Quote from: Analixus on August 19, 2012, 10:41:39 PM
Got the same for the X-FI Elite Pro per chance?

I have RMAA results for it on the internet, but that's notoriously unreliable.  The measurements are also woefully incomplete and only measure THD+noise and crosstalk and FR.
If the RMAA is to be believed, THD is 0.0005% to the ST's 0.0003%, FR is dead even on both, crosstalk is below -100dB on the Creative VS below -120dB on the Xonar.

Can't find any other useful info.  The audio community is woefully lacking in PCI DAC measurements.  The Xonar ST is a ROCK SOLID DAC with good component selection, a good clock, and good digital out.  Sound-wise, it performs essentially identically to the Musical Fidelity V-DAC II, with which it shares a DAC chip.

In comparison to the V-DAC II, the Xonar ST performs quite a bit better in harmonic distortion, pulling much closer to datasheet specs out of the Burr Brown 1792 they both use.  However, the ST is hindered by RFI from its environment, bringing the noise level up to about 10dB higher than the V-DAC II.
I don't think the ST can be beaten for its $199 price.  By anything, external or internal.  You get one of the best DAC implementations I've ever seen (Look at that square wave at -90dB!), an excellent line-in ADC, and two very low-jitter digital outs (RCA and optical).  It's a great first DAC choice because the jitter-corrected optical out is very convenient for later when you want to buy a better DAC.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2012, 12:33:33 AM by PelPix »
Logged

extrabigmehdi

  • Powder Monkey
  • *
  • Brownie Points: +2/-13
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 27
Re: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2012, 12:14:35 AM »
There's lot of measurements for headphones here, with explanations of why they sound bad etc ...
I'd like to see measurements or anything objective that would explain why the xonar stx , can't compete with more high end DAC/Amp on the market.
Logged

Anaxilus.

  • Dikus Beligerantis Analmorticus
  • Pirate
  • **
  • Brownie Points: +65535/-65535
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 577
Re: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2012, 02:57:35 AM »
Quote from: extrabigmehdi on October 02, 2012, 12:14:35 AM
There's lot of measurements for headphones here, with explanations of why they sound bad etc ...
I'd like to see measurements or anything objective that would explain why the xonar stx , can't compete with more high end DAC/Amp on the market.


We have some jitter (DACs) and distortion (amps) figures around.  More will come over time.  Also there's the mysterious 'X' factor when ears don't seem to mesh w/ flat FR+low distortion = ultimate transparency.  Not to mention how various driver dynamics and amps react to various loads over non static conditions.  Also the environment that a soundcard has to struggle against inside a PC.
Logged
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading - Lao Tzu

Willakan

  • Pirate
  • **
  • Brownie Points: +20/-17
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
  • I'm quite reasonable really.
Re: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2012, 07:11:14 AM »
Rather than go for the full-objectivist rant, I would suggest that null testing might be of use in situations where a disconnect is felt to exist between the measurements and listening impressions. It would do much to compensate for the present disparity on this forum between the approach to headphones and the approach to other audio equipment.
Logged
Indecent lover of cheap opamps...

Anaxilus.

  • Dikus Beligerantis Analmorticus
  • Pirate
  • **
  • Brownie Points: +65535/-65535
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 577
Re: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« Reply #7 on: October 02, 2012, 07:52:33 AM »
Quote from: Willakan on October 02, 2012, 07:11:14 AM
Rather than go for the full-objectivist rant, I would suggest that null testing might be of use in situations where a disconnect is felt to exist between the measurements and listening impressions. It would do much to compensate for the present disparity on this forum between the approach to headphones and the approach to other audio equipment.


Despite your perceptions, there is no disparity between headphones and other equipment on this forum. 

Epistemological certitude as an absolute value is not welcome here.  Neither is the potential implication that many subjective impressions found on this forum are random, spurious, uncritical and uneducated opinions.  Many here have experienced first hand what others have both independently and collectively and have challenged, confirmed and reconfirmed impressions and opinions.  While not to the level of satisfaction you are looking for, suffice it to say we are not the other place.  Feel free to use or not use any information or opinions as one sees fit.
« Last Edit: October 02, 2012, 08:02:00 AM by Analixus »
Logged
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading - Lao Tzu

Willakan

  • Pirate
  • **
  • Brownie Points: +20/-17
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
  • I'm quite reasonable really.
Re: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« Reply #8 on: October 02, 2012, 01:52:31 PM »
Epistemological certainty is a straw man: nobody's suggesting we reason our way through all this on anything other than the balance of probabilities (the nature of that balance being the point of disagreement.)

The 'potential implication' is largely your own. Besides, you cannot eliminate all the other factors that could cause you to hear differences, aside from the actual performance of the equipment, via experience, or anticipating the effect of such factors and consciously trying to guard yourself against them (seriously, your skill or experience as a listener doesn't render you even partially immune to non-auditory difference factors). Likewise, the arrival of some sort of minimal consensus within a small, or even a large, community is hardly proof of anything, regardless of how compelling it may seem as confirmation from the inside.

When it comes to amplifiers, the fragility of the impressions as evidence for anything is extreme, due to the combination of the small size of the differences and the opportunities for those differences to be caused by other factors, so even if you feel they are adequate surely using a testing protocol than can account for anything happening of electrical significance known to physics in the output of an amp/DAC to investigate them would be a good thing?

With the enormous differences between headphones, the measurements still reduce the pinch of salt required for any subjective impressions: with the tiny differences between other pieces of equipment, surely measurements should serve at least an equally important role?

Logged
Indecent lover of cheap opamps...

rhythmdevils

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +131/-65535
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: I am a geek!!
  • Team Cheap, Picky Basterds
    • www.my40dollarorhosarebetterthanyour1kflagship.com
Re: The Asus Xonar ST/X's line-out is surprisingly good.
« Reply #9 on: October 02, 2012, 05:35:11 PM »
No one here gives a shit about blind testing.  I trust my subjective impressions.  And no, I am not biased.  People here like the headphones measurements Purrin makes because they explain and follow their subjective impressions.  I do not blindly follow headphone measurements.  If something sounds good and measures bad, I still like it.  Purrin likes the W3000anv even though it isn't super clean.  I like the Sextett.  My opinion of them has not changed either their strengths or their weaknesses.  Purrin likes the Beats for heavens sake. 

There are plenty of headphone measurements on other sites that don't line up with my impressions, and I don't find them meaningful.  Even Tyll's measurements, as good as they are, don't line up with my impressions as well.  Headphones can measure good on his system and sound bad to me, for example the K550, whose problems were revealed by Purrin's graphs.  If a headphone measures flat and clean with low distorion here, the chances are very very good I'll like it.  That's my experience, not an ideology. 
« Last Edit: October 02, 2012, 06:04:28 PM by rhythmdevils »
Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7
« previous next »