Late last year, we reviewed the DIAMOND Xtreme Sound 7.1 XS71HD, and found it to be a suitable replacement for onboard audio for a good price using a PCI-E slot. However there are certain cases where an internal upgrade isn't feasible. Perhaps you don't have the room for it due to existing hardware, or you simply couldn't be bothered to get in there and install a PCI-E card. A USB audio upgrade may be worth considering -it can even provide its own advantages over an internal upgrade as we'll see.

The product we?re looking at today is Diamond USB Xtreme Sound 7.1 XS71HDU, and while it has a very similar SKU to the former model, it has a quite a few different aspects which make it unique.

There are plenty of USB audio options out there, ranging from $4 to $400. Obviously you usually get what you pay for, and the products that pack the same impressive spec sheet as the XS71HDU are few and far between (and these are the ones that sit in the $400 range). The XS71HDU features 7.1 channel analog output, as well as digital input and output, and line-in and microphone ports. The impressive thing ? especially at this price range ? is that each input and output is fully capable of 24-bit 192 kHz audio. Until now, the only other options you had to achieve this kind of connectivity was to install an internal soundcard, or buy a very expensive one.