Ran across this and thought you might be interested.
http://www.futurelooks.com/asus-xonar-essence-stx-headphone-amp-sound-card-reviewed/
Veech wrote:
I have a system that CW built a couple years ago (which still rocks
btw, thanks Chris!) based around the then new nVidia 680i SLI board.
At the time I was more interested in gaming than audio, so I went with
the Creative X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty board with the front panel
break-out box.
Now, I'm going to invest in a pair of high-end speakers and a couple
of mono-block amps, and am discovering that Creative is one of the
worst cards for audiophile listening. I am looking at
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProFire610.html as an option, an
external sound card (and more).
Question is, do you folks think I will have any issues with conflicts
with the Creative card if I get a secondary card, wither external or
internal? It works fine for me for gaming and I don't have any great
need to dump it, but I do have a great need to find a high-quality
audio sound card.
