Diamond USB Xtreme Sound 7.1 Channel Digital Audio Adapter Review

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USB audio adapters have been around for quite a while, and over the years, technology has allowed these devices to deliver amazing sound for the price.

Diamond (while being a leading vendor of Radeon graphics solutions) carries a full portfolio of audio solutions. Whether they are PCI, PCIe, or USB, Diamond offers a solution to fit your needs. The XS71HDU we have in-house today is a compact USB solution offering True 7.1 24-bit audio. Compatibility of the unit extends to modern Windows operating systems, along with OS X, and Linux.

MSRP for the Diamond XS71HDU is set at $59.99, with a one-year warranty.

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Scope of delivery for the XS71HDU includes a driver disc, USB cable, and RCA cables.

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The Diamond XS71HDU carries an elegant, professional aesthetic. The top of the unit carries a large volume control.

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The side of the unit houses the headphone output, along with mic inputs, and line in.

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Outputs of the device include rear, center/SW, and front audio through RCA jacks.

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Moving to the next side, we find optical input and output, and the USB connection.

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Here we have the driver installation for the XS71HDU.

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After a quick reboot, we launch the software for the XS71HDU, and as you can see, we are running at 24-bit, 192Khz.

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While going through the menus in the software, you can right-click on the outputs to allow selection of many enhancements.

The Diamond XS71HDU is one of those devices that enables another level of sound to emit from your PC. For those of you that have been using standard motherboard audio, this device can take that sound, and clean and enhance it all while giving you an external box with a volume control. It's hard to explain, but that setup I used was running an optical cable out to the box, then running my True 5.1 speaker setup from the box. Using it this way, I felt like the sound was much clearer and the bass reproduction was quite good. Build quality of the unit was exceptional, I really liked the aesthetics of the unit, and the plastics used is indeed durable.

Performance, as I mentioned slightly above, was quite good. I enjoyed the ability to experiment with the audio settings. Of course, I am not an audiophile like some of you may be, so the ability to enhance the treble and clean up the bass was more than welcomed.

Overall, I really love the XS71HDU for the compact and stylish device it is. It is certainly one product you will continue to find on my desk.

MSRP of the Diamond XS71HDU is set at $59.99, with a one-year warranty. Current market pricing can be found below.

PRICING: You can find the DIAMOND USB XTREME SOUND 24-BIT 7.1 CHANNEL DIGITAL AUDIO ADAPTER for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The DIAMOND USB XTREME SOUND 24-BIT 7.1 CHANNEL DIGITAL AUDIO ADAPTER retails for $59.99 at Amazon.

Canada: The DIAMOND USB XTREME SOUND 24-BIT 7.1 CHANNEL DIGITAL AUDIO ADAPTER retails for CDN$81.64 at Amazon Canada.

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