[section_title title=”Closer Look”]Closer Look
Looking at the ASUS U7 Echelon edition USB sound card from an overhead angle, the first thing that caught my eye was the “Echelon” digital camouflage. It has a really nice look to it and certainly screams “ready to kill” which is apt as it does serve a purpose for gaming with the ASUS Sonic Radar engine.
Size wise, the U7 Echelon is 13x8x2.5cm (LxWxH) which effectively makes it pocket sized in a way and the finish is superb; notably good for not being a fingerprint magnet.
The top of the U7 Echelon features a knob for the volume control; a quick twist to the left and you lower and a swift twist to the right and you get a higher volume. If you press the knob in, it switches between the different inputs which include Headphone, Speaker and S/PDIF; a really good use of space in my opinion.
On the rear, we have 2 x RCA phono connections, side/central/rear 3.5mm jacks, an S/PDIF and the USB connection for connecting it to your PC/Laptop. Plenty of options available in terms of connectivity although I was hoping to find a 3.5mm connection for front and speaker systems with just a singular 3.5mm jack. If you are like me and own a set of 2.1 speakers with a 3.5mm jack, then an RCA splitter will be required to make the most and while these can be very inexpensive, I would have liked to have seen one included; especially for the price.
The front isn’t devoid of connections either, as it features a 3.5mm headphone jack and a 3.5mm microphone/line in port. Sadly there is no 6.4mm jack available for those wanted to use high impedance headphones but you can however use them via a 6.4mm-3.5mm adapter.
The headphone jack is powered by the dedicated DAC and the U7 Echelon itself features a headphone amplifier to boost the volume of headphones with a low sensitivity.
On the right hand side, there is also an on the fly control for microphone volume; this is assuming you don’t use a USB microphone.
The base of the ASUS U7 Echelon edition USB sound card has the usual sticker which contains information about the model, brand, serial number and product number. As you can see by the white sticker, the U7 Echelon is made in China.
One interesting thing that is hard to see but if you look towards the top left of the base, there is a switch which allows you to switch between USB 1.0 and USB 2.0. When installing the drivers for the U7, it is recommended to have the switch in the USB 2.0 position. It is also worth noting that the U7 Echelon is MAC and OSX friendly!
