My budget is enought to allow either of these cards and it's one or the other that I will buy, I have heavily researched others and both of these fit my needs I just don't know which of the two is better, and the cards are more for the Senhheiser HD 598 than the Astro's so if anybody could help me in terms of something's like a pros and cons list that would be great, because as I said I'm not that familiar with audio, the research I've done is based upon reviews that I've read, so I'm not sure about specs and which of the two is better. Also, I couldn't find a definitive answer about wether these two cards support surround sound which I get through the mixamp, not sure if that makes a difference, also where I purchase from the Essence STX is cheaper, still not sure which to get.