Xonar U7 pipes HD audio over USB

Asus' lineup of Xonar audio products has been confined predominantly to PCI and PCI Express sound cards. The firm is slowly expanding its selection of USB offerings, though. The latest to join the family is the Xonar U7, which connects via USB and supports 24-bit/192kHz audio.

Asus says Cirrus Logic's CS4398 DAC handles digital-to-analog conversions for the new Xonar. The DAC is a two-channel unit, and the product announcement offers no indication of whether that DAC reserved for the front channel or employed multiple times to cover all eight of the Xonar's output channels. A headphone amp is ...