ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card

Pros: Been through three sound cards, including the famous Audigy2 platinum. This is the BEST SOUND QUALITY i've ever heard come out of my speakers. No matter what it is that I do, it sounds like it was meant to be played like this.

Cons: None other than whats below.

Overall Review: For 200 dollars, make sure you can fit this thing in your case. I have an Asus a8n32-sli version. Had to take my second nvidia 9600gt out to fit it... The north bridge heat pipe was in the way. So check to make sure you have about 6 inches free.

Pros: Good sound quality, lots of connections for not only home use but also professional use, some pretty nifty software on the CD, looks cool, and has been running in my computer for around 2 years without any hardware problems.

Cons: The drivers for this card are terrible. They supposedly work OK on 32-bit editions of Windows XP, but on Windows Vista and Windows 7 (especially the 64-bit editions) the drivers are horrible. I would believe that they managed to fix most of the 64-bit quality issues with driver updates over the years, but a lot of games still cause system crashes when you have the latest drivers from ASUS installed. I eventually got sick of certain games constantly crashing my computer due to driver faults, and I uninstalled the ASUS software and forced Windows to use the Auzentech X-Meridian drivers for my Xonar D2X card. That eliminated all issues (the X-Meridian uses the same C-Media chipset that the ASUS AV100 chip is based on) and the audio quality is great without all of the crashing, however it also means that I cannot use the ASUS software that allows you to tweak the card.

Overall Review: I gave this sound card 2 stars/eggs/whatever because of the terrible drivers from ASUS. If not for the horrifyingly buggy drivers, it would be worth at least 4 stars.