Quote Originally Posted by Bradan View Post
I see you have Hd 595.

You would very much appreciate the amp built into the Xonar Essence STX.

edit: the forte has a amp too

Important
The xonar stx has a 1/4" jack like your 595's (big headphone jack, no stupid connector) -->STX is better
The xonar has an adjustable output impedance, the forte has 330ohm out (hd595 = 50ohm) -->STX is better
The xonar has a 110db SNR vs 109b SNR (Very close) -->STX is better
The xonar has really weak EAX suppourt (I've heard its buggy) --> Forte is better

The EAX is what it comes down to. Name the games you play that suppourt EAX, and justify the loss of the other advantages.
You also have to use creatives downloadable app to regain EAX suppourt in vista, in addition to creative's drivers, and manually add games to gain suppourt.
http://xfi.blogspot.com/2007/06/alch...i-edition.html
Thank you for the very accurate and useful post.

From some pictures i saw, it seemed that they had the same headphone amp, but I must be wrong.

I dont play much, but i hate when there is stutter in audio in crowded areas. I play only MMOs, single person RPG and strategy games. I'm currently playing fallout 3.

Overall, the prioriry is 60% music while surfing/writing/etc and 40% gaming.
I'd like more feedback about the Asus Essence.