Elite Bastards posted a review on the ASUS Xonar D2 sound card which is based around the CMI 8788 chip.

While the Xonar D2 can't match Auzentech's nose for analogue audio quality, thus giving the latter's parts the edge for audiophiles, it does have a greater aesthetic appeal, given its sleek EMI shield and fancy coloured LEDs to show users where to plug their audio jacks. If this kind of thing isn't important to you, then I'll be the first to admit it's all rather unnecessary, but if you're one of those people who values the look of your system as well as its functionality, then you might appreciate ASUS' efforts in making the sound card look sexy after so many years of just being a dull, green lump of silicon.

Where the Xonar D2 really stands out for me however is with its bundle. From both a software and hardware perspective, ASUS' offering is quite simply superb, and manages to cater to most of the possible scenarios for users of this card. Compared to the simple "throw a mini-optical cable in the box" approach of other manufacturers, seeing a full complement of phono to 3.5mm jack cables, together with MIDI cables and a handful of useful audio editing and playback applications is a breath of fresh air. Again, it might not be needed by all users, but if you're new to the world of putting together a Home Theater PC or hooking up a multi-channel surround sound audio system, then this kind of attention to detail could prove to be a real boon. Couple that with ASUS' efforts at making their driver control panel as friendly-looking and graphically intuitive as possible, and those LEDs on the rear of the board again, and you begin to see that they are clearly looking to make the entire installation and set up process of the Xonar as simple and user friendly as possible. Considering how not everybody is au fait with audio technology and terminology, this can only be considered a very good thing.