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Comparison Asus Xonar Essence STX II 7.1 vs Asus Xonar Essence STX II

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Asus Xonar Essence STX II 7.1
Asus Xonar Essence STX II
Asus Xonar Essence STX II 7.1Asus Xonar Essence STX II
from $366.00
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from $313.00
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Featuresaudiophile (Hi-Fi)audiophile (Hi-Fi)
Specs
Typeinternalinternal
InterfacePCI-EPCI-E
Channels7.12
AudiochipASUS AV100ASUS AV100
ASIO
 /2.0/
 /2.0/
Additional power
DAC
DAC resolution24 bit24 bit
Max. sampling rate192 kHz192 kHz
Signal-to-noise ratio124 dB124 dB
ADC
ADC resolution24 bit24 bit
Max. sampling rate192 kHz192 kHz
Signal-to-noise ratio118 dB118 dB
Inputs
Jack (6.35 mm)11
Outputs
Jack (6.35 mm)11
RCA82
Coaxial S/P-DIF11
Added to E-Catalogseptember 2016september 2016

Channels

The most advanced multi-channel audio format that a sound card is capable of outputting.

2. Standard stereo sound on two channels — left and right. This format allows you to provide a sense of surround sound (especially when using headphones), which is quite enough for most simple tasks. However, it noticeably loses to multi-channel sound in terms of the "immersion effect", which can be critical for demanding gamers and audiophiles.

5.1. The classic and most popular multi-channel surround sound format today: a centre channel, two front and two rear channels allow you to achieve a full-fledged “surround effect”, and a separate subwoofer channel provides rich bass sound.

7.1. The 7.1 format differs from 5.1 by the presence of two additional channels. There are several options for localizing these channels — for example, a pair of side speakers, a pair of additional speakers above the front ones, etc. Anyway, the 7.1 format provides a more reliable surround sound transmission than 5.1, but such cards are more expensive, and there is less specialized content for 7.1.

When choosing a sound card by the number of channels, it is worth considering such moments. Firstly, multi-channel options are capable of producing sound in simpler formats (for example, a 7.1 card can be used for 5.1 acoustics), and stereo sound output is support...ed by all models in general. Secondly, modern multimedia software (in particular, codecs) allows you to output multi-channel audio through a card with fewer channels — for example, play 5.1 sound through a two-channel card with stereo speakers without quality loss. Thirdly, for the full-fledged operation of multi-channel sound, you will need not only a card, but also appropriate acoustics; therefore, it makes no sense to specifically look for a multi-channel model if you plan to use exclusively stereo speakers.

RCA

The number of outputs with RCA connectors(colloquially known as "tulips") in the sound card design. Like the Jack and mini-Jack interfaces, RCA is designed to carry an analogue signal, however, only one channel can be transmitted on one cable. On the one hand, this improves the sound quality, on the other hand, two connectors are required to transmit a stereo signal instead of one. Therefore, RCA is practically not used in headphones and is very rare in "purely computer" speakers, but it is quite popular in home-class acoustic systems and can be useful if you are planning to build such a speaker based on a computer.

Separately, we note that this output should not be confused with coaxial S / P-DIF (see below): although the latter also uses an RCA jack, however, it is fundamentally different in signal format and has specific cable requirements.
Asus Xonar Essence STX II 7.1 often compared
Asus Xonar Essence STX II often compared