Jump to content

Is this a good buy? What should I offer? ASUS Xonar Essence ST 24-bit 192KHz PCI

SnowBob

By copying other designs. The only product they have designed by themselves I believe is the E18? Everything else has been copied or OEM'd by another company.

 

Being cheap is innovative.

Of course,  nearly all companies do that.  I always thought this was the case.   

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes I've seen a few problem threads on this forum alone, it comes to just generally Chinese build quality. It has more so to do with their business model and how they get their designs. (Cheating and using other peoples designs AKA nwavguy).

 

I thought nwavguy reviewed fiio products and sometimes compares them with his designs which usually outperform the fiio's. Isn't it all up on his blog?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I thought nwavguy reviewed fiio products and compares them with his designs which usually outperform the fiio's. Isn't it all up on his blog?

Yep, I checked his last post and no mention of fiio stealing anything.   And even if they did use his design, he makes no money out of it anyway and fiio can't get the product reputation. So its a no loss situation.

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I thought nwavguy reviewed fiio products and sometimes compares them with his designs which usually outperform the fiio's. Isn't it all up on his blog?

His blog is nearly 3 years old now, pretty sure they didn't have half of their stuff back then as they do now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

His blog is nearly 3 years old now, pretty sure they didn't have half of their stuff back then as they do now.

I think we're just looking for a source to these claims of yours. Talking smack about soundcards, Schiit, NuForce, etc is one thing because those issues are well documented.

Even if FiiO is a shady Chinese company, their products are usually good for the price, and they release revised versions of those products in response to customer feedback.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

His blog is nearly 3 years old now, pretty sure they didn't have half of their stuff back then as they do now.

 

I don't know what the age of a blog had started (His was 2011) has any significance nor do I have a huge interest in defending Fiio. Just what you said earlier made me curious since it's the first I've heard of it. Although it would be something good to know were it accurate. I had recently been thinking about trying one of their USB DAC

 

NwAvGuy hasn't posted anything since May of 2012, so it has been over a year. His review of the Fiio E10, for example, is from January of 2012. I checked the comments and the review itself and haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. He even stated:

 

""The FiiO E10 is a simple Chinese designed and built USB powered headphone DAC designed to outperform the older, but more expensive and feature laden, FiiO E7. "

 

A simply search on his site with "FiiO" as the search term came up with these two quotes of interest.

 

"I’ve been accused of favoring FiiO and even working for them. The fact is they make some of the more popular reasonably priced headphone amps and that’s why I’ve been testing them. Some were surprised I rather liked the $19 FiiO E5 and and $99 FiiO E7." - FiiO E9 review 2011

 

and

"Given the FiiO E11 is almost a direct clone of the AMB Mini I wasn’t sure it was worth my time to review it." - FiiO E11 Amp review 2011 (Which is interesting since he said in the AMB Mini review of his that it was a Cmoy based design. And yeah, pretty much anyone can build a Cmoy if they choose to. I guess some people want to buy one instead, which is understandable)

 

I think His O2 design is Creative Commons licensed, which indeed would need anyone using his work to give him attribution for the design. I think the Cmoy design is also creative commons and would need it too. I don't know if AMB Mini and the FiiO E11 have done so.

 

Which FiiO product is a copy of that design? I did a quick google search with the objective2 and FiiO copy and didn't find anything. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'll post more when I get home, but you already said it about one of the products (about the e11)

Most of their products are clones or OEM'd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

He also stated in the E11 review, that it was better than the amb mini which it copies. A bad product overall, with plenty of audiophile fish oil, yes, but it's not like they're making counterfeit watches that fall apart in a couple weeks. I also don't like the E9k. It's just a bulky amp that doesn't perform like the O2, yet costs nearly as much.

However, a few bad products doesn't make the good ones trash.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

The ST is a bad sound card and not worth it? Since when?

 

When I had mine it was a lot better than on board audio with 598's. Sometimes I think people just like to hate on stuff because others are doing the same. As for being cheap, that card is very well made. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

The ST is a bad sound card and not worth it? Since when?

 

When I had mine it was a lot better than on board audio with 598's. Sometimes I think people just like to hate on stuff because others are doing the same. As for being cheap, that card is very well made. 

 

Since forever. You can get equivalent or better performance for much cheaper. It's louder than on-board, not better. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Since forever. You can get equivalent or better performance for much cheaper. It's louder than on-board, not better. 

What makes it louder? I noticed significantly less noise on mine. 

 

Sure something like a Fiio is comparable but you don't get things like Dolby Headphone which is kind of important for gamers. 

 

As far as pure audio, of course you wouldn't be using a sound card. You'd have tube amps and all kinds of other expensive stuff. Saying they are garbage is a bit misleading and there's plenty of others on Head-fi forums that would disagree with you. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

What makes it louder? I noticed significantly less noise on mine. 


 


There's a stronger amp on the STX. I have no noise on my motherboard, and you shouldn't either if you have a normal motherboard.


 


Sure something like a Fiio is comparable but you don't get things like Dolby Headphone which is kind of important for gamers. 


 


Dolby/surround/whatever isn't important for gamers. It's a marketing gimmick and makes good headphones sound bad.


 


As far as pure audio, of course you wouldn't be using a sound card. You'd have tube amps and all kinds of other expensive stuff. Saying they are garbage is a bit misleading and there's plenty of others on Head-fi forums that would disagree with you. 


 

No, tube amps are stupid and distort the sound. Expensive is a relative term. Fuck headfi, they can dis-agree with me all they want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

The ST is a bad sound car Sometimes I think people just like to hate on stuff because others are doing the same.

Whilst that is very true for most things. I do see it lot on forums like these, I can assure you we are going against the grain here very much when we post our opinions on soundcards.  It is popular belief that to have good audio you need to have a soundcard.  However that is not true and we cop no amount of shit for it, but at the end of the day the science, our own ears and blind testing all concur that soundcards are mostly a waste of money and PCI/PCIe slots.

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

What makes it louder? I noticed significantly less noise on mine. 

 

There's a stronger amp on the STX. I have no noise on my motherboard, and you shouldn't either if you have a normal motherboard.

 

Sure something like a Fiio is comparable but you don't get things like Dolby Headphone which is kind of important for gamers. 

 

Dolby/surround/whatever isn't important for gamers. It's a marketing gimmick and makes good headphones sound bad.

 

As far as pure audio, of course you wouldn't be using a sound card. You'd have tube amps and all kinds of other expensive stuff. Saying they are garbage is a bit misleading and there's plenty of others on Head-fi forums that would disagree with you. 

 
No, tube amps are stupid and distort the sound. Expensive is a relative term. Fuck headfi, they can dis-agree with me all they want.

 

So you know more than everyone there and everywhere else?

 

I'm not saying the ST is the greatest thing but to say it's trash is a downright lie. 

 

You don't have any noise you pick up on your headphones using on board? You might need your hearing checked because it's there. Crank the volume up and tell me how amazing on board is because it sounds like crap. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

So you know more than everyone there and everywhere else?

 

I'm not saying the ST is the greatest thing but to say it's trash is a downright lie. 

 

You don't have any noise you pick up on your headphones using on board? You might need your hearing checked because it's there. Crank the volume up and tell me how amazing on board is because it sounds like crap. 

 

Lmao, I own an audio business so I do know what I'm talking about. Hearing is fine.

 

I have high impedance headphones, they don't pick up on noise as easily as other lower end headphones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Lmao, I own an audio business so I do know what I'm talking about. Hearing is fine.

 

I have high impedance headphones, they don't pick up on noise as easily as other lower end headphones.

So right there you just proved my point. If you have low impedance headphones sound cards are worth it. Also, high impedance doesn't always mean they are better than us lower end folks. You can find 600ohm headhones for fairly cheap, doesn't mean they are good. 

 

If you own your own audio business you must be going out of business recommending people to not use anything. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

So right there you just proved my point. If you have low impedance headphones sound cards are worth it. Also, high impedance doesn't always mean they are better than us lower end folks. You can find 600ohm headhones for fairly cheap, doesn't mean they are good. 

 

If you own your own audio business you must be going out of business recommending people to not use anything. 

 

:rolleyes:

 

Everything you just said was 100% wrong. I suggest you read the audio FAQ to learn a bit more on how audio works and what is good and what's not.

 

My business is growing by 100% every year, we aren't going out of business for the foreseeable future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

So you know more than everyone there and everywhere else?

 

I'm not saying the ST is the greatest thing but to say it's trash is a downright lie. 

 

You don't have any noise you pick up on your headphones using on board? You might need your hearing checked because it's there. Crank the volume up and tell me how amazing on board is because it sounds like crap. 

I am using onboard,  When I crank the volume as loud as I can get it I can just barely hear the noise floor.  If you can hear it without turning everything up to silly levels  then you have a dodgy mobo or something in your case is causing interference. 

 

Just so you know I have to turn the media player volume right down and the win volume right up, otherwise it is too loud to hear anything.  That is how a good sound solution should be.

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

So right there you just proved my point. If you have low impedance headphones sound cards are worth it. Also, high impedance doesn't always mean they are better than us lower end folks. You can find 600ohm headhones for fairly cheap, doesn't mean they are good. 

 

If you own your own audio business you must be going out of business recommending people to not use anything. 

 

If you have low impedance headphones you should NOT get a sound card due to their high output impedance. Same reason why most headphones sound like garbage on tube amps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

:rolleyes:

 

Everything you just said was 100% wrong. I suggest you read the audio FAQ to learn a bit more on how audio works and what is good and what's not.

 

My business is growing by 100% every year, we aren't going out of business for the foreseeable future.

Well I guess it's easy to sell people on smoke and mirrors. I had no idea that selling stuff means you're an expert. I think that just means you sell stuff if I'm not mistaken. I can go ahead and open a business selling wigs, doesn't mean I know anything about it. I don't dispute you know audio but I believe you are over-exaggerating what you're saying.

 

As far as hearing noise, I never heard it till I got my 598's. Every thing else sounded fine! Once I got the STX it went away.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

If you have low impedance headphones you should NOT get a sound card due to their high output impedance. Same reason why most headphones sound like garbage on tube amps.

That's only if you use the amp. The misinformation is just insane! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well I guess it's easy to sell people on smoke and mirrors. I had no idea that selling stuff means you're an expert. I think that just means you sell stuff if I'm not mistaken. I can go ahead and open a business selling wigs, doesn't mean I know anything about it. I don't dispute you know audio but I believe you are over-exaggerating what you're saying.

 

As far as hearing noise, I never heard it till I got my 598's. Every thing else sounded fine! Once I got the STX it went away.  

which means you had a bad mobo or something else in your case was causing interference. not that the STX is better.

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

That's only if you use the amp. The misinformation is just insane! 

NO, that is just wrong.  I suggest you go learn about audio and impedance matching before you come hear and start telling people they are wrong.

 

ANY device that drives headphones has an amp in it.

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well I guess it's easy to sell people on smoke and mirrors. I had no idea that selling stuff means you're an expert. I think that just means you sell stuff if I'm not mistaken. I can go ahead and open a business selling wigs, doesn't mean I know anything about it. I don't dispute you know audio but I believe you are over-exaggerating what you're saying.

 

As far as hearing noise, I never heard it till I got my 598's. Every thing else sounded fine! Once I got the STX it went away.  

 

I said nothing about selling anything here. I advertise very little, most of my products sell from word of mouth. No smoke and mirrors here, considering my lines of amps/dac's have the word objective in them.

 

I'm not over-exaggerating anything. I speak facts and nothing but. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

NO, that is just wrong.  I suggest you go learn about audio and impedance matching before you come hear and start telling people they are wrong.

 

ANY device that drives headphones has an amp in it.

No crap it has an amp, it's disabled. You go into settings and it gives you a warning before you can enable it. Don't argue with me when you haven't used the product. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


×