Auzen X-Meridian 7.1 2g soundcard review

Front

We can see the higher quality audio capacitors used for the opamps and look at those beefy caps used near the PCI interface.  Those were not seen on the original XM design so there are some noticeable upgrades over the generation one card.  This card has a very clean layout and it is great to see there is space between the opamps for larger aftermarket opamps modules.

Rear

On the rear of the card of the card Auzentech added a legend for the opamp modders in the group.  The designers added simple lines to the silkscreen from each output to its corresponding opamp socket. 

Very simple yet this idea easily allows the user to locate which opamp they want to change.  All the internal I/O interfaces are easily marked also which is handy when connecting up a new card.

Input and Output

Front left to right we have: Mic in, Line in, Front out, Surround out, Center/LFE, Back surround out, Digital in and Digital output.  The digital I/O on this card share similarities with the original and some other Auzentech cards in that the jacks are combo jacks.  They offer coaxial S/Pdif I/O as they are and when using the included adapters offer an optical connection.