freaking awesome looking audio deal and external too..Id like to see a review if possible.

those look like a short stack of pet food bowls.

I wonder how hard it would be to make it three usb connectors or some firewires to try to have to same bandwidth as a pci bus for this thing?

i wonder how this will compare with the Creative X-fi X-Mod

pretty cool

TXchargeri wonder how this will compare with the Creative X-fi X-Mod

pretty cool

Well the X-Mod was mainly for MP3 players and not computers. I like the concept of the Xonar U1 a bit better though.

Xonar? Audio "Processor"?

Dude, I seriously don't think the Asus Xonar to be an audio "processor" though that's what the company chooses to call. I'd call it an audio "chipset". I really don't think Xonar has native signal processesing capabilities like the EMU 10K or X-Fi series audio "processors". TrustedRevies claims that the Asus chipset was developed "with help from" C-Media in this review. To me the chip looks oh so similar to the CMI-8788 Oxygen HD. Now if you leave aside the fact that it depends on the CPU for its processing, the 8788 is a superb chipset, output quality-wise. The Auzentec X-Meridian "was" a rock-solid sound-card. I loved every bit of it.:respect:

JacKz5oWell the X-Mod was mainly for MP3 players and not computers. I like the concept of the Xonar U1 a bit better though.

the X-mod was actually made for laptops but because there were so many features cut off it it didnt really get any 'worthwhile' reviews. but yeah it is more for mp3's as it lacked EAX support which i think is a waste of time & effort gone into producing it. On the other hand, they still have the laptop PCI-E version of the XFi which does have support for pretty much everything eax included (so i think)

Xonar U1 sounds pretty interesting from a laptop owners POV. most of us run with the bog standard realtek HD crap. If I didnt already have myself a set of Antec Lansing XT1's I would have possibly consderd a Xonar U1 as I do use my laptop alot for gaming, movies & music.................around other peoples houses :P free electricity n Wi-Fi ftw