The current soundcard landscape offers many options to the PC audio enthusiast. There are extremely high quality units loaded with features available for people knowing what they want and willing to pay for it but there isn't much out there for the more budget-minded user. The customers new to the audio market may frown at these offerings with higher prices and loads of features and look for something a bit more simple and closer to their budget. With all the competition between companies battling for supremacy in the soundcard industry as of late, there is one very significant market that has been left almost vacant: the entry level market. This market is for people new to sound devices and unsure of how much they would like to invest their hard-earned cash. They know they want better sound, would like a soundcard in the same general league as the enthusiast but with a more reasonable price tag and feature set. Seems like they are asking for the impossible, doesn't it?

Well, ASUS has heard the call for a product aimed at this market and they are back from the drawing boards and off to market with another addition to their new line of PC soundcards: The Xonar 7.1 DX. ASUS recently started to apply their considerable design talents to cement a solid name and reputation for themselves among PC audio fans with high spec, high quality soundcards. The new Xonar DX 7.1 is clearly aimed at the entry level markets with a lower price tag and no-frills added bundle.

This new PCI-E interfaced offering has full 24/192 Full duplex support, full Dolby processing technologies such as Pro-Logic IIx, Dolby Headphone, Dolby Virtual Speaker and Dolby Digital Live output support for connection to home theater audio receivers and digital speakers systems. ASUS has further announced the introduction of the GX 2.0 driver set which is said to substantially improve the sound quality and immersion for PC gamers using the newer Windows Vista operating system. For such a relatively new venture into the soundcard market, ASUS is quickly learning the ropes and bringing their users high quality soundcards with wanted features, needed options and high quality output. The soundcard market is enjoying a resurgence in quality and is quickly moving from afterthought to the forefront of design decisions for PC builders. ASUS has become a major player in this new audio market and previous offerings from this manufacturer have been solid, great sounding audio devices that are gaining a very large fan base among HTPC users and audiophiles alike.

Today we have the newest Xonar 7.1 DX in our HWC audio lab, and we are ready to run this card through the gamut. Can this card bring something new to the PC audio market? Can this card compare to its big brothers and offerings from the other powerhouses in PC audio while offering an excellent price? Test, check, check...1…2…1…2, Ready, Let’s begin….