ASUS Xonar U7 Echelon Edition Review

The Asus Xonar U7 Echelon Edition ships in a compact camouflage style box with the name clearly marked, alongside an image of the product itself.

You can't fault ASUS for presentation. The gatefold style box opens up to display the Xonar U7 behind a plastic protective cover. Asus are keen to highlight the functionality of the ‘Sonic Radar' software suite.

Inside the box are the supplied accessories – which include:

• S/PDIF adapter x 1
• USB cable x 1
• Driver CD x 1
• User manual x 1

The Xonar U7 Echelon Edition measures 130 x 80 x 25 mm (LxWxH). We do like the finish, as it does not attract fingerprints and ensures that the unit looks clean at all times. You can not say this about the non ‘Echelon' version.

One side of the unit has ports for 7.1 audio, alongside RCA line level output connectors for an external preamplifier or amplifier. Next to these are the USB and dual coax/optical S/PDIF connectors.

The other side of the Xonar U7 Echelon has a headphone connector (driven by the dedicated DAC), and next to this is a microphone connector. If you have higher grade headphones with a 6.3mm connector, then be prepared to use a 6.3mm to 3.5mm adapter. There is also a black up/down volume switch beside the audio output connectors.

Underneath the unit, almost hidden from view, is a USB 1.0/ USB 2.0 Switch. Asus recommend using the switch in USB 2.0 mode when installing the drivers. Asus say ‘Use USB Audio 1.0 for plug and play. Use USB 2.0 on an Apple system'. Asus also add that in USB 1.0 mode the audio sample rate will be limited to 44.1Khz/48KHz @ 16 bit. We set the switch in USB 2.0 for the duration of this review.

Along the top of the unit, is a volume control which works on both OSX and Windows systems (we checked). If you click this, it will switch output between speakers and headphones.

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