Question 1

What is better for gaming this or the sonar essence?

Accepted Answer

Depends on your needs and setup. Phoebus has 7.1 outputs where as the Xonar Essence STX only has stereo and uses virtual surround sound. If you plan to use a headset with the card and not an actual surround sound then either card would work (phoebus does virtual surround sound as well), and it comes down to which driver suite you prefer. The Xonar Essence is better suited for high quality music while the Phoebus has a few gaming features (microphone noise canceling, support for older game titles.) You should know though that Asus has stated on the ROG forums that they will not be releasing drivers for the Xonar Essence STX for Windows 8.1 if you use that OS. "There will be no 8.1 drivers for the STX. An updated model will be released that works with the default UAA driver for WHQL compliance. Without that update MS won't allow WHQL. It's one of the ICs on the card that needs updating. Just how MS is unfortunately."

Question 2

What are some headset that would go well with this card?
I didnt want to buy some cheap ones cheap, but wanted to use the most out of this card as much as possible.
Thanks

Accepted Answer

If money is no issue at all go for the Beyerdynamic MMX 300 its an awesome headset very comfortable and quality is great, the module that comes with thr soundcard is works great with these headset due to the fact that the MMX 300 dont come with a volume/mute feature built on it

Questions & Answers