Need help choosing soundcard for stereo speaker setup

[merrymustu]

I have a pair of Altec Lansing VS2621 stereo speakers and though they belong to the low-end category of stereo speakers, I think they really play beautiful, loud, deep and clear sound which brings me to this dilemma - I am an audio enthusiast, like I always try to achieve the best possible sound, setting the perfect equalizer and all with my current setup that is using the above speakers with onboard audio ( I haven't heard many great things about onboard audio

). So will I notice any difference while using these speakers with an asus xonar essence stx than using them with an asus xonar dx???? I plan to buy the sennheiser hd 558s in the near future. Please advise guys!!! I would really like to have the headphone amp feature withe the stx card but does it make a noticeable difference over the xonar dx??? As of now, I am leaning towards buying the essence stx to avoid any kind of regret of not getting even better audio possible with these speakers.I listen to electronic, dubstep and trance music and prefer 2.1 channel over 5.1 or 7.1 channel since I won't be getting that type of setup anytime soon....

Thanks.

 

[trazomfr]

The big difference between an Asus Xonar DX and a Asus Xonar Essence ST / STX is only the quality of the headphone amplifier and the opportunity to change the AOP to adapt the sound to your liking.

If your use should only be listening with speakers, I will tell you to choose the DX without hesitation.

If using a headset do not hesitate for a ST / STX.

I'll just make a distinction between the Essence. The ST has two advantages over the STX:

Sound slightly better.

The ability to use kit speakers with an additional rack has planned for this but sold separately.