Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3

Asus not only makes tiny notebooks, they also do play a role where audio is concerned. The Taiwanese company will be rolling out its Xonar HDAV1.3 HDMI-ready sound card pretty soon, helping you offload audio processing from high-definition video. It is capable of decoding lossless audio formats from Blu-ray films (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio at 24-bit, 96-192 Khz included), delivering 7.1 surround sound (assuming you have the necessary audio system in place) when running on a PCI Express x1 slot. Chances are the Xonar HDAV1.3 will retail for more than $100, but if you rely mainly on your computer for entertainment, this could very well be a sound (no pun intended) investment.