Fashionably late .. two things nice about coming late to the party is that you know what everybodys wearing, and everybody notices your arrival.

The Asus Xonar D2X is a high-end sound card without equal for your enthusiast-level PC. Behold its over-the-top looks, marvel at its no-holds-barred features, and be captivated by the sound it makes. The D2X isn't for everyone, it's expensive, it's a showboat, and it wants power. But, it is without equal. You may find better, but certainly not an equal.

It took all of 5 seconds of listening to the Xonar D2X to know that it is our new reference sound card. This unseats the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude at the high end (not that we really keep track of these things) as our favorite all-around card to game, listen to music, and watch movies with. Well done. As always, though, with bad recordings or low bit-rate MP3, the D2X is merciless in revealing flaws.

This is high-def audio folks.