ASUS Xonar Essence STU DAC/Amp

[Frederik S]

ASUS's most recent DAC/amp gets put to the test. This time, the Xonar Essence One gets a new little brother in the Essence STU. The new STU is a sleek-looking, small foot-print DAC/amp with excellent specs. We put it to the test to see how it measures up to other similar solutions!

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[jagd]

250 Euro ? price seems a bit high for pc use i think , it would be nice if it had been compared against p/p king Fiio devices btw

 

[fullinfusion]

Sure love my TPA6120A2 chip capable of driving loads of up to 600 Ohm impedance

 

[Nordic]

I wonder how this compares to those lower end receivers. It is a heck of a lot smaller than them though.

 

[Frederik S]

Lower end receivers typically have very bad headphone outs. Most of the ones I have seen feature ancient headphone amplifier designs.

Some older integrated amplifiers and receivers have a step down circuit for the headphone out which sound alright. To be completely frank it is a waist of space and money getting a small receiver for headphone amplification you are simply much better off buying a cheap headphone DAC/Amp or just amp and running a mini-jack to RCA to it.

 

[Shou Miko]

maybe i found my audio card for a ITX build, since i can't have my GTX 670 4gb and Asus Xonar Essence STX in a ITX board at the same time ^^