OK, getting pissed now. 7.1 analog on a Asus Xonar Essence is a joke without the H6. And the H6 is like a Unicomp Mini as far as I can tell.
When you mean 7.1 analog do you mean the headphone trick using windows, dolby, and speaker separation. Or do you mean an actual 7.1 speaker setup?
Ripster, why don't just slap external coaxial or optical S/PDIF DAC and be done with it? Your motherboard must have one such output most probably. In the worst case, it will have S/PDIF header somewhere, and you'll need (few dollar) S/PDIF Out bracket like this:
Because the sound card has support for the H6 daughterboard and it be a waste of money to install a optical out bracket using the motherboard onboard as source rather than the soundcard.
These high-price PC "sound cards" are a fad. One well going, it seems.
Since when are soundcards a "fad"? Soundcards have been around for years and years. Why relegate yourself to onboard audio when you can enhance something that is as important as the graphics properties of computer. Sound is very good for games, movies, and music.
In some cases in particular to the xonar ST/X a lot of people will recommend them over external equipment especially at the price range, sure external can be better but considering many don't want to spend a fortune a sound card can be a good bang-for-buck sound equipment.