Speaker System Used: Edifier S5.1 240 Watt 5.1 system
Headphones Used: Generic audio monitoring cans

a. Music
I found the sound quality produced by this card to be superb. Compared to some others, the Xonar 7.1 has an almost “analog tube” quality to its sound signature. The soundstage is very wide and deep. Vocals are prominent and clear, the low bass is defined and the highs are very fluid and dynamic. The overall sound character of this soundcard is very balanced and “warm”. I recorded a few tracks through my mixer using a Shure microphone and a Marshall Guitar amplifier and the recorded tracks were very good and I found this card more than acceptable for home recording tasks.

b. Movies
Watching movies with this card is a real treat. I used the cards preset for movies which consisted of Dolby Virtual 7.1 speaker shifter and No user EQ. The sound of the tested movies was spectacular with this card. I also tested the card using headphone when playing movies. The inclusion of Dolby Headphone is a great feature and is one of the best headphone technologies around. I could hear action from every direction with normal headphones. The headphone sound was excellent.

Tested Movies:
Saving Private Ryan: Omaha Beach Landing Sequence
Star Wars EP II: Battle Sequences
Star Wars Ep. III: Intro Flying Sequence

c. Gaming
This card supports EAX 1 and 2 only. I played a few games with built in audio engines such as Miles 2D positional Audio. All the games I tested sounded great. Using EAX or not this card sounds amazing in games. Directional audio was great, sounds were crisp and clear and the card had great bass response when needed. I also tested Dolby Headphones while gaming. This technology was originally designed for movies but works great for gaming. Some gamers can’t live without EAX and some can’t stand EAX, the choice is personal. The cards sounded great in the games tested. I noticed abrupt environment changes from the older EAX routines but when in the middle of action such things don’t seem to matter as much.

Games Tested:
Call of Duty
Call OF Duty II –Using both EAX 2 and Miles 2D engine
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Splinter Cell
Medal of Honor: Allied Assualt