Asus Xonar Essence STX PCIe Sound CardItem#: A455-2630  |  Model#: XONAR ESSENCE STX

Fantastic sound, and works on Windows 8!

I had tried a few headsets (Corsair, Logitech, Razer) but in one form or another they were lacking. I decided I wanted to get the best sound possible (within my budget), especially for gaming, so I bought this sound card. First of all, it is pricey. But for me, that was the only con. The sound is SO MUCH better than what I had before. I can hear footsteps in games and I know what direction they are coming from. I was a bit worried that the drivers would be an issue since I am on Windows 8. The bad thing is that the drivers from ASUS didn't work. But I found Xonar Uni Drivers that someone has been working on and keeping them up to date and with these the sound card works flawlessly. I paired it with good headphones and a nice mic for great quality voice comm. Music and Movies sound great! I can hear things in songs I had not heard before.

great sound card

This is a great sound card if you are willing to spend the money. The build in amplifier function is why I chose this card. I use it with quality headphones that need 300 ohms input. The performance has been awesome. Like most driver CD's this one was out of date (Vista Drivers!). The Asus site had up to date Windows 7 64bit drivers and they installed in a snap.

Is death to my computer

I hate to write a review like this but this has to be the most problematic computer part I have ever bought. I couldn't figure out what was randomly crashing my computer for nearly a week. The drivers wont install correctly and once I finally get the files to install off the CD my computer dies as if it just contracted full blown AIDS. It wont open programs or even shut down. I can't even open the control panel to uninstall the software, even after removing the card. Also, the card does not fit securely in the motherboard. The slot screw causes it sit unevenly. It may be just a faulty card. Still, very irritating. I'm sending it back for sure!

Wow!

I had been on the fence about this sound card, it had some nice reviews and looked great, but the cost put me off. I came into some Christmas cash and decided to splurge. WOW - this card was worth it. I didn't notice a huge difference on my home stereo setup - a little more depth of sound. The huge wow for me was during my gaming sessions with my head phones off. Currently immerssed in Skyrim, the experience is completely different with the headphones compared to my regular sound blaster card. I highly recommend this card to all the head phone geeks out there!

Nice sound ever

Good product

looks cool but all static

bought this sound card to install in a computer for a professional dj... well it doesnt work and crashed the computer... went with the audio 2 dj usb sound card and now no problems...

Great sound card!

Great sound card. The audio quality is amazing. However, the Asus drivers packaged with it on the CD are incredibly old and do not work with Win7 x64. They actually caused my computer to crash and freeze every time I booted. Don't install CD drivers, make sure you download latest version from ASUS site.

Just a superb audio card !

I bought this card after reading reviews and having a good listen first hand. It's just a superior audio card! With my HD600's attached the effects of the card are incredibly believable when watching movies at the computer. But I bought this card primarily because of it's ability to reproduce music accurately on my home system. I'm not much into surround sound so I didn't need such a card but I have a PC connected to a couple of BIG Adcom amplifiers and a pair of KEF 105.2 Reference Loudspeakers and it's just total bliss. It costs more than any Creative card but it's a completely different beast. Don't buy it if you're going to listen to mp3 files on bad computer speakers. This is a card that will serve a fine audio system very well. I LOVE IT!

Great Buy

Powerful sound features; provides great sound for music and movies. must seek out drives when using Windows 7. Overall I'm satisfied.

I love it

windows 7 64 bit with no problems at all. Sounds anazing...