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[mojave]

The ASUS Xonar Essence ST with the H6 daughtercard has recently been reviewed at Guru3d. I have this setup and really like it. I've been using it since December, 2009. If you are looking for a high quality multichannel solution (7.1), I highly recommend it. The current ASUS Beta drivers provide bit matching, bypasses Windows volume control, and bypass all of the card's DSP when using ASIO output. You need to use MC's internal volume control, room correction DSP, and bass management for best results when using ASIO output. You also need to do the channel swap in MC's ASIO setup.

[Matt]

Thanks for the heads up.

I think high quality analog output is important for some of the Room Correction, Bass Management, etc. work we've been doing.

A few months back, I tried a lot of soundcards.  At that time, the Asus Xonar gave me a lot of troubles and I gave up on it:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=55607.0

It's good to hear they've gotten things straightened away.

[nwboater]

I think this is the way I'm going to go now for 5.1.  As Mojave knows I've been looking for a high SQ 12 channel sound card (internal or external) so I can do active crossovers on our L, R & C in a 5.1 system. No good approach has come up at any reasonable kind of price. So what I'll do is get the Essence ST and H6 cards for the basic 5.1. Then use my Behringer DCX 2496 for the active crossovers. Really hate to 'double dac' MC's output and to also limit things to 96K on the final output. But at least this should be a workable system for now.

Thanks for posting the latest info on the ST card and glad it's working so well for you.

Rod

[nwboater]

I'm ordering the Asus Essence ST & H6 cards and will use them with MC15. The ST will basically go straight to my power amps, ie, no receiver.  I have a couple of questions.

1. There may be times that I want to use external analog devices such as a cd/dvd player, but still want all the Bass Management etc to be done in the PC. Do I connect these devices to the ST card Analog Input, or?

2. Mojave previously mentioned swapping op amps in the ST card for better SQ. Could you please share what amps you used, and what SQ changes there were?

Thanks,
Rod

[mojave]

I'm ordering the Asus Essence ST & H6 cards and will use them with MC15. The ST will basically go straight to my power amps, ie, no receiver.  I have a couple of questions.

1. There may be times that I want to use external analog devices such as a cd/dvd player, but still want all the Bass Management etc to be done in the PC. Do I connect these devices to the ST card Analog Input, or?

You could use the stereo input on the ST, but you have no way of routing the sound to MC.

2. Mojave previously mentioned swapping op amps in the ST card for better SQ. Could you please share what amps you used, and what SQ changes there were.

Here is what I wrote at Head-Fi on 3/18/10. I still have the same configuration.
Yesterday I had a chance to try some different opamps. I ended up with AD8620BR for the buffer and LT1469 for the I/V. This combo is very dynamic and detailed, yet not fatiguing. To me, it felt the most lifelike of any of the combos I tried. The OPA2107 was too harsh and the OPA2277, while smooth, seemed less detailed and had a darker feel. I actually tried many combos of both buffer and I/V using these opamps and also LT1358 an LT1057.

For the center/subwoofer buffer I also used the AD8620BR. I used the LT1358 for the I/V (I plan to get another LT1469 for the Center). For the surrounds I used OPA2107 for the buffer and OPA2277 for the I/V. I may change the buffer on these to something else.

There are a lot of opamps mentioned in that thread with many reviews.

[nwboater]

Thanks Mojave for the informative reply. I'm disappointed to hear that the Analog In can't be routed through to MC. This seems a big disadvantage in trying to do everything (DSP, etc) with MC as opposed to using a separate receiver, or pre/pro. If someone brings over a CD or DVD it would be nice to just plop it into the player. (Some might take offense at my ripping their discs!) We also have an old VCR that on occasion is fun to use.

Thanks also for the op amp info. I have your thread on HeadFi. Think I'll wait until I hear the board before ordering any new op amps.

Rod

[mojave]

Some might take offense at my ripping their discs!

You can set your AutoPlay settings in Tools > Options > CD & DVD. If you set both to "Play" then your computer acts just like a stand alone CD/DVD player. No need to rip.  Besides, why would you want to use the analog outs of an external player, convert to digital for MC, and then convert to analog again for the output unless it is for active crossovers?

I requested in July (on the Beta forum) that MC be able to accept an input from another source. Maybe it will be implemented some time.

[nwboater]

Very good point on using the PC CD/DVD drive. That solves that part of the problem.

Still remaining is the occasional use of the VCR. Also we are still using SageTV for watching Live TV and Recording. We need to do that since we have our tuner card (future multiples) in our WHS machine. MC doesn't seem to yet support that function well unfortunately. Many of us will be very glad for the day that they do! I haven't yet given thought to how to deal with the whole TV issue with MC doing all our DSP and not having a reciever pre/pro. That could become a problem.

Thanks again for your good suggestions.

Rod