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

Pros: I've had this card for I think 3 years now and love it. The sound is great, it has tons of volume, and the EQ allows you to dial in the sound just how you like it.

Cons: After being put in and taken out of numerous builds over the years (and a lack of patience on my part) the power connector has become a little bit wobbly but again, that's more from me just trying to quickly rip parts out of the computer and not properly removing the connector

Overall Review: Like I said, I love this card. I've purchased some cheaper Xonars which were big upgrades over onboard audio but the DS/DG models just don't keep up with this card

Pros: Once issues are worked out, sounds great. Audio Center is easy to use to get everything balanced. Audio is very good, you'll think it's a more expensive card.

Cons: Drivers for Win7 x64 still need work. After initial install, and driver installation, sound was choppy with a massive echo. Had downloaded latest driver from the website as opposed to going off the provided disk. After a little research, found this to be helpful: Start->Run->MSCONFIG Click "Startup" tab, find HsMgr.exe, and uncheck the one that says "C:\Windows\syswow64\HsMgr.exe Envoke" This disables EAX for 32 bit applications, but it's either that, or deal with a massive echo and terrible crackling. After that, everything's been great. Will have to wait until Asus updates their software to properly use.

Overall Review: I know the cons look like most of the review, but after that, it sounds clear and loud. Using with my old Creative Gigawork S750, after replacing the on board audio for a new PC I purchased.

Pros: I never actually owned a dedicated sound card, always spending extra cash for bigger and better video cards and such. But this card is completly night and day over my onboard evga 680i sli motherboard and my logitech z-5300's

Cons: spent the entire day trying to get it recognized. Im running vista 64 with an evga 680i. After trying disabling/uninstalling various devices, updating vista, using the regedit hack from MS knowledge base, nothing worked. Turns out for some reason or another, my current bios v32 was causing that code 12 not enough resources problem thats been showing on the xonar dx2 reviews. After flashing down to bios v29 everything was fine. Its not technically the sound card causing the problems, its issues with the latest evga bios, hopefully they fix in their next release.

Overall Review: comparing my friends X-FI to this, the xonar sounded noticebly cleaner, great job asus

Pros: -Amazing quality of sound. -Completely silent, including the line-in port for mic and recording. -Handles any sample rate and 24bit resolution with no troubles. -Powerful drivers with lots of control (once you set them up properly). -Sounds great with 5.1 surround sound in games and HD movies -Partially takes load off of your CPU, especially for multi-channel sources. Using winamp, my CPU usage dropped from ~25-30% load during playback (for 24-bit 96k sample rate) to ~10-15%. I gained about 10fps in games (such as Arkham City) over motherboard audio. I didn't really understand what silence was until I got this card. Turning up the system volume to 100% yields no noise through headphones at all. Most people wont notice this, but I was really surprised at how crystal clear the audio is coming from this card rather than the motherboard audio.

Cons: -The driver software had problems the first two installations that I tried. For the installation that DID work, I used the CD that came with the card to install the older drivers, then updated from the ASUS website. -TO GET FRONT PANEL AUDIO WORKING, YOU HAVE TO SELECT "FP Headphones" IN THE ANALOG OUT FIELD. The card doesn't auto-detect when headphones are plugged in sadly, but it's not hard to get used to. Because I'm completely stupid, I had to figure this part out myself. If you can't get your headphones working, then double check you have this selected. -No color coding on the outputs on the back of the card. It has a cleaner look, but it's very hard to know for sure which output is which without looking at a diagram (especially when you're plugging in speakers in a dark room)

Overall Review: If you set up this card and some part of your audio experience isn't working, it's most likely user error and not a hardware error. I seriously haven't found a real flaw with the card itself, only with the driver software's confusing qualities. For recording, I can plug my guitar right into the front panel audio (with an adapter of course), and there is nearly no noise picked up in the process. I feel like my recording is studio-quality, especially when using the proper software. I don't have a 3.5mm microphone so I can't comment on the quality of VoiP or voice recording, though I would assume it is excellent as well.

Pros: By FAR the very best sound card I have ever used with Linux (Mint 10/Ubuntu). No feedback, distortion, or pops. Small card and is PCIE, so there are many mounting options in a cramped situation with few open places for cards like mine. Drivers and interface are excellent in Windows 7 and have a nice EQ and bass crossover plus different surround options. Much better than Realtek on-board audio.

Cons: My wife got upset that I paid more than $15 for a sound card. But I worked overtime that week and think I deserve to splurge on some nice tech.

Overall Review: In Linux I enable the surround feature in Also by going through the terminal, but card was plug and play, Linux came with the drivers all set up in advance.

Pros: Very good sound quality, a noticeable improvement over my onboard sound, in both games, music playback, and playing my Xbox 360 with audio played through my PC.

Cons: The card doesn't automatically switch to front panel output when you plug in your headphones, and, as such, also doesn't mute the back panel. You have to go into the driver (easy enough through the task bar icon) and switch it there. Not a dealbreaker, but it seems like a stupid oversight on an otherwise excellent product, hence the one star deduction.

Overall Review: Worth the cash if you appreciate quality audio without static, buzzing, or hissing. Crisp, clear sound at a solid price. I'm sure the higher end cards would do better, but this is definitely an improvement over onboard.

Pros: I purchased this card for a new system I recently built. I had originally planned to install a much more expensive card, but after reading every tech review I could find on this card I decided to give the Xonar DX a try, just to see if it would live up to all the hype. After installing this card, I can honestly say that I was not disappointed. I was very impressed that a card in this price range could deliver an audio quality equivalent to, or at least very close to, higher end cards. Installation was a breeze, with no surprises. No driver issues and no unwanted snaps, crackles, or pops.

Cons: I have only been using this card for 3 days and, so far, I have no complaints. I've read most of the reviews on here and, while I agree with a lot of the cons that were mentioned, most of them aren't really cons against the card itself. They are just those things that some of us wish were different, like the included software. Sure, it could have been better, but it doesn't detract from the audio output quality of the card.

Overall Review: Before you buy, read the spec sheet (and the reviews) on this card so you'll know what to expect and what not to expect...it's all right there. Everyone's system setup is different, so you may or may not have driver or sound quality issues after installing this card. If you are among those who are less than satisfied with the performance of this card, keep in mind that there are many other factors to consider before blaming the card. Take a good look at your system setup. Don't expect it to deliver something that it isn't capable of. This is a very good card for the price. It will enhance your audio experience even if you have a simple 2-speaker setup, but you can't really appreciate the 'magic' this card performs until you plug it into a 5.1 speaker system. If you want the audio quality of higher end cards without the high price tag, I recommend this card.

Pros: Where to start. First, I have owned just about every major variant of sound card since the days of the original Sound Blaster 8 bit ISA. I have since owned C-Media based cards, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, Sound Blaster X-Fi, Auzentech X-Fi Forte, not to mention another variation of THIS card, the Xonar DSX, plus my most recent try...the Sound Blaster Z. So, you could say I have had some experience. I am not a true audiophile, but I am picky about my sound, and I am a FPS gamer. When looking for a sound card, you are left with a lot of choices. Depending on what you want, your choice might be easy. Or, in my case, difficult. I want it all. I want a mode where I can listen to my Trance/Techno/Dance in stereo with no sound processing so my Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers can put out the sound they were meant to, and I want the ability to have 3D sound over headphones. Oh, and I want it with awesome sound quality and rock stable drivers for $100 or less. Don't ask much, do I? In my quest, I FINALLY found what I am looking for. I thought I had it with the Sound Blaster Z, and nearly so....except for the Z driver issues, such as cut-off Windows start-up sounds and more instability than I care for, plus a slow driver interface. Creative will NEVER truly get it right. I gave them chance after chance after chance. Enter the Xonar DX. What, you ask, separates it from the DSX and DGX? Why did I not keep that DSX? Simple...the DSX and DGX don't meet my requirements. The DGX does not have the sound quality I demand. The DSX cannot do virtual 3D positioning over analog (eg, headphones)...it requires it to be done via digital out. The DX meets my demands, but lacks a dedicated amplified headphone out port. I had to make one trade-off in that respect, but it was worth it. I now have SPECTACULAR 2.1 audio over my Klipsch speakers...as good or better than the Sound Blaster Z. I now have very good 3D positional audio, using Dolby Headphone. I have a Hi-Fi mode (like the Creative Sound Blaster Z "Stereo Direct") where there is no sound processing going on at all...just nice clean 24bit/192KHz piped out. I now have one more thing...rock solid drivers that are fast. Here are the enumerated pros, after having used this card for about two weeks: 1. Extremely high quality hardware. All solid capacitors. Neutral high quality DACs, with some real bass behind them. 2. Stable drivers, and I mean STABLE. 3. Awesome sound, as close to audiophile-level for the money. 4. Tons of digital in and out options with basically every Dolby Digital technology supported, which I don't use currently. 5. Highly configurable driver interface. 6. Bundled RightMark Audio Analyzer utility comes with the card, and using a 3.5mm loopback cable (not included) you can measuring sound quality like the professionals do. 7. Reasonable pricing, considering it is $20 cheaper than the Sound Blaster Z base card and is more stable.

Cons: Every sound solution is going to have a con. Some of the cons are going to be related to what it COULD NOT give you, and perhaps what it DID NOT give you yet was promised. I can say with all sincerity that everything ASUS promised they delivered upon. I discovered no operational annoyances related to how the card was designed or how the drivers are written. However, having freshly come from the Sound Blaster Z card, I do have some comparison-based feature cons that I wish the Xonar DX would come with. 1. No dedicated amplified headphone out port. You have the choice of unplugging your speaker system, which requires giving your computer the old reach around or using the FP header. I opted for the FP header, with trepidation, since I was sure I would get a drop in sound quality...I did not fortunately. But you might. Depends on your case, EMI, and other factors you might not even have control over. 2. NO JACK SENSING AT ALL. Plug in the device, and then you will need to know how to use the driver interface to configure it for PROPER use. Not a huge deal, since jack sensing sometimes does not work right anyway, but this is still a con. There is a longer learning curve. Perhaps this is good...it will teach people to read about their hardware more... Other cons: 1. Driver interface (feature-wise) has a learning curve, which really does require you read the manual. Don't assume you will get the most from this card by simply pressing one of the preset-mode buttons. You won't. 2. Card requires a older floppy drive style power supply connection. Apparently the 75W the PCI-E interface supplies is not enough. You must exercise care and caution inserting the connector...do not force it in or out. Insert and remove at a 45 deg angle! This is how the connector was designed and had folks below read their Quick Start Guides they would not have a power connection issue or broken card. The card comes with the required floppy connector to 4-pin MOLEX adapter. I highly recommend plugging in the floppy connector on the card FIRST before you seat the card in the PCI-E slot just to be sure you don't accidentally force it and bend or break something. None of the cons here are deal breakers. Most of it is FYI, in fact. Not true cons.

Overall Review: My rig: MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING, v. 17.0 BIOS Crucial Ballistix Tactical DDR3-1866 9-9-9-27, 16 GB (4 X 4GB sticks), 1.5V Core i7-3770K Corsair H110 water cooler Samsung 840 Pro SSD, 256 GB as OS/Primary Samsung 830 SSD, 256GB as secondary gaming-only EVGA GTX 780 Super Clocked Edition video card WD Blue 1TB as mass storage ASUS Xonar DX sound card ASUS DVD/RW Seasonic X-Series 650W, Gold Certified modular PSU Logitech G400 iOne X-Armor Cherry MX Brown mechanical keyboard Klipsch Promedia 2.1 system and Razor ORCA cans Viewsonic AH-IPS LED backlit 27" display VX2770Smh Cooler Master HAF XM case Windows 7 64 bit OEM SP1