14 DAY TRIAL // There are a great many audio cards swarming the market, but not many can claim to have the same level of popularity and widespread adoption that Auzentech's X-Meridian 7.1 enjoyed. Basically, this card became one of the more capable and popular sound solutions on sale, and it has now been redesigned as the X-Meridian 2G 7.1. The term 2G stands for second-generation and, obviously, hints at an even better audio quality and a wider feature set compared to its predecessor.
Auzentech, some time ago, entered an agreement with Creative, for the supply of X-Fi chipsets, but was soon faced with a shortage of C-Media CMI8788 Oxygen HD chipsets. These chips were the central part of the original X-Meridian and, thus, the company was forced to halt production of such audio cards. Now, with those issues finally gone, or at least on the mend, the outfit was able to once again use them in its products.
The X-Meridian 2G 7.1 has the CMI8788 Oxygen HD chip paired with a number of enthusiast-grade AKM AK4396 DACs, all channel-independent. The audio card also features high-quality electrolytic capacitors, which enable the output to sound natural. Furthermore, the manufacturer threw user-replaceable OPAMP chips into the mix, as well as solid-state capacitors for power-distribution and digital output. This boosts stability and reliability. As for how the card will fit into personal computers, Auzentech decided to use the regular PCI interface.
The fact that the legacy PCI connection is chosen may not sit perfectly well with some of the more high-end consumers, but adding a PCI-E bridge chip would have increased latencies. Guru3D managed to get an exclusive preview of the adapter and also found out that its price won't be as steep as some may expect. It will be sold for $159.99 and will make its appearance in August.