[dsio]

The stereo out jack on my old sound card died (EMU card) so I went back to an X-Fi for a few weeks, only to put up with crackling during gaming.

Tried the onboard from the Rampage again and it didn't crackle, but did sound terrible.

So I figured I'd try something different. Purchased for AU$235 an ASUS Xonar D2X (PCI-Express).

Just had it installed about an hour ago but so far:

Linux support is perfect.
Windows drivers and utilities are excellent, far beyond the usual Creative bog-job.
Audio quality is sublime. Having had an EMU, I already had a very low opinion of the X-Fi's sound quality which was only made worse by the crackling noises while gaming and general poor driver quality. This card though, the Xonar D2X, is a step up again from the EMU, and wipes the floor with the X-Fi (genuine X-Fi, not a "extremegamer" one). Really is refreshing to see an alternative brand to Creative doing a good job competing and beating the dominant power.

The package is exceptional as well, with RMAA, Cakewalk, and every cable and adapter you could possibly want included.

Another nice feature: each of the jacks at the back shines a bright colored led out the back, so if you're looking for a jack behind your computer you run your finger over them, covering them up until you find the one you want. Its an excellent feature as well.

So far only gripes are small ones, such as the fact that its a big, full sized card (the size of a mid-range graphics card) but only uses a PCI-E 1X slot, so doesn't anchor much, and it does need an external power supply from a floppy connector.

But very much worth it to be honest. Very, very happy with the purchase. Top job ASUS did, as you would expect from any ASUS premium product.