Just wondering if anyone can give incite on how different a snowkite specific board rides vs a normal snowboard. Do they make a difference in edge control, upwindability? Will they work better in some conditions over a regular snowboard? I've been trying to fight a crappy crust and wondering if a different board would help in these conditions. It seems that eventually our snow turns this way every year, so it would be nice to have a weapon to fight against it.

The major difference is in sidecut, while a good sidecut is great for downhill, it's harder to hold a line or go upwind when kiting. Also, you want a true twin-tip with a centered binding, which is rare to find except in park/pipe boards(but park/pipe boards usually have crazy big sidecut).

Had a great go on a Decosse custom kite snowboard last year, the asymetrical one, maybe exactly what you are looking for.... http://www.decossecustoms.com/snowkite

Looking for info on Aboards, where is Kober! :D

That Decosse looks nice, I've never used an Asymetrical board before. I've been eyeing up Aboards reverse for a while, it sounds like it may provide a similar feel to my skate banana, but with added edge control and upwind ability. Maybe a guy can get lucky and get one on a good deal at end of season.

Yeah I am eying just about any of the Decosse now ;D

.... Not sure how much difference it is to ride with snowboards specific board but when I see people more in control when riding one ....
... I use most of time reverse chamber board that is true twin tip and I like it a lot , but you don't have much edge to work with and it works well only on hard surface , on soft snow I prefer traditional board .... For next season I am planning to get one of Aboards .... did not decide on model yet .... wondering how differently it rides ..... There is few new Aboards from last season posted on ebay for a good price if you want to look at it .... and here is website for a company :
http://www.aboards.eu/public/