The vague looking cone-shaped device below is the Asus Xonar U1.
Xonar U1 is a USB device that has audio capabilities. It has a D/A (Digital to Analog) converter, Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX) and DirectSound hardware acceleration, 5.1-channel audio, MIC, and a headphone jack. The device has ambient noise suppression up to 20db. It'll be supported only on Windows XP and Vista OS. There's no word yet on its pricing and date of availability.