On 29/04/14 17:08, Bill Unruh wrote: > > On Tue, 29 Apr 2014, michael norman wrote: > >> On 29/04/14 15:52, Balduin Waldmeister wrote: >>> Hello and THX for ALSA - I'm using it on Ubuntu/Linux Mint to get the >>> best out of my ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card and it just works >>> great. >>> >>> The new STX *II* has (on Windows at least) an interesting feature for >>> use with low impedance (< 32 ohm) headphones, see Impeccable headphone >>> amplification <http://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards/Essence_STX_II/> (below >>> "Exquisite headphone gain control" oh the linked ASUS site). >>> Unfortunately this is the only upgrade from STX -> STX *II* that I would >>> need regarding my low impedance headphones (22 - 25 ohm e.g., Denon >>> AH-D7100) and of course that's not worth buying a new and rather >>> expensive sound card. Furthermorde I'd need that feature on Linux and >>> not on Windows. >>> >>> So my question is whether it's possible to add the low impedance support >>> (16 - 32 ohm) to ALSA for use with the old STX? Currently it stops at >>> the normal gain setting (< 64 ohm). > > That has to do with the capabilities of the amplifier on board the sound > card, > not the settings of the card. The amplifier needs to be able to deliver > high > current and have a low output impedence-- ie it is a hardware issue. > Not at all sure what the impdence settings on the card would do. Maybe the > output impedence has a reactive part and thus one would get a bad frequency > response on lower impedence. That would indicate a badly designed output > stage. Having looked at the advertising that seems to be what it is. > Instead > of saying "we badly designed the output stage, and these settings are a > half > assed attempt to compensate" they make it sound like a positive feature. > And what's with the swappable op-amps, which "allow users to create > different > timbres and tonal combinations." which sounds nuts to me. A sound card > should > take the input and produce an output which was an exact copy of the > input. Not > something that "creates different timbres and tonal combinations." > > Note that buying a separate headphone amp for the soundcard might be the > way > to go, rather than buying a new soundcard. > > > Lets be quite clear here the Essence STX was specifically designed for music listening particularly on headphones see the ASUS site http://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Xonar_Essence_STX/ In my experience it does everything they say it does. None of what you say makes any sense related to the OPs question Michael. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Accelerate Dev Cycles with Automated Cross-Browser Testing - For FREE Instantly run your Selenium tests across 300+ browser/OS combos. Get unparalleled scalability from the best Selenium testing platform available. Simple to use. Nothing to install. Get started now for free." http://p.sf.net/sfu/SauceLabs _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
