looking for advice on buying a card

[Dmitri Seletski <drjoms@gmail.com>]

Hello Guys
I am thinking to buy pci express sound card. Nothing fancy, just
something with dolby surround 7.1 and decent sound quality, rather
inexpensive, i am not audiophile.

I have noticed that there are not that many sound cards out there which
have descent support in Linux(unlike many forums claim). I have had
MAJOR problems with pci xfi card from creative labs(fatality gamers
edition), my buddy still has a lot of problem with it, like major issues
with input. No mic - no skype or other voip, you know yourself...

I have found source of asus xonar dx(namely ebay), it is not that
expensive compared to many other pci express cards out there, still is
expensive enough, from alsa matrix it appears to be quite descent.
Question is, is it worth buying? Is it painful to get it
running?(probably nothing unusual, matter of loading module), does it
work fully(does microphone work, does surround sound 7.1 work?)?
 Is there something better for similar money?(EUR 73 or £65 or $97)
Please do not propose incompletely supported cards(while i wouldn't mind
submitting issues to mail lists if i come across bugs, i wouldn't want
product that doesn't work)

I appreciate any comments.

Thank you in advance.
Dmitri