7.1 Channel USB External Sound Card Audio Adapter

Works as Advertised, and is great for the Price! it took me a while to figure out how to install it, since there were no directions! It did not install automatically, i had to go through the files on the disk and find the ones that needed to be installed, which was kinda trial and error. But once i got it in correctly, it works well on my computer. The earphone hole on my laptop is loose and u have to wiggle it constantly to get sound. I knew it would eventually break it I kept at it. And on my Toshiba there is no easy access to fix the sound card, the whole comp needs to be opened up, And I'm not about to do that myself, and the cost of fixing it would be silly, so i bought this. I was going to get a more expensive one, but i was low on funds so i figured id get this one for a temp solution, which will probably now last as long as this product does. Hopefully a while. SOUND QUALITY SAME AS COMPUTER SOUND CARD. So if that is what u are looking for like me, i doubt u can do better than this price and it shipped here in two days. Fast. But i would suggest the maker send directions on how to install it. id put it here, but i don't remember what files on the c.d. eventually got it running. Oh, it is loose though, so u may want to buy an extension for your usb so it doesn't eventually get hit and break your usb port. Im going to get one.

From every review I have seen people have been mentioning that this device doesn't give 7.1 surround, or there's no driver. WELL HAVE NO FEAR!!!! To get the driver for this go to this website and type in dl-0326201 download, and extract with winrar or something similar. Plug in the device, then Install the appropriate version. restart your computer and then finally it will work! *side note: it installs for the exact usb you plug it into...* Overall after doing this from what I learned pro: 7.1 does work after installing the driver The driver software lets you edit about almost everything, location of the sound, either you want it closer etc, even if you don't have a sound card Con: the build quality is weak but it is manageable, I'm not to sure if it was just me but mine came in the clear plastic that the 5.1 usb sound cards come in which is a lot better quality than what the picture shows. Overall. This is a better purchase than the 5.1 or the syba 2.1 *which I both own*. ONLY if you are using it for the PC! if you are purchasing a usb sound card for the PS3, just purchase the 5.1 because it is cheaper

It's alright; it does help with faulty audio drivers for the computer but you're not going to get all that good of sound quality, at best the sound quality you'd find from DVDs; however it's still better than my motherboard's sound card. It could've been worse. It's build quality is meh, speed is alright, functionality wise is doing the job I need it for to help play audio, easy to instal and fits in the palm of my hand for it's size.

Funcional

I read the reviews and i finally decided to buy this product. I too have suffered a problem with the audio jack on my sound card, unfortunately this is a 5 year old toshiba satellite and its hard to find a replacement sound card for it. I still don't like the idea of USB sound cards just when you think about it...latency is my initial thought. Upon unboxing, it is a simple and flimsy device, since the sole purpose of this device is to replace my old sound card i decided to use a usb extension cable to fee up the surrounding space. I do agree with some reviewers that this can collapse on itslef after a few clicks and massive clicking of the volume button. If you are connecting it to speakers or volume controlled head sets place the device's volume on high and use the speaker volume to regulate the volume, this will prevent unnecessary pressure and will prolong the life expectancy of the product. Also you can still use your windows audio display panel to regulate the volume, if your laptop has that nifty little button that button is still defaulted to recognize the main sound card, i used it on my emachine and dell inspiron and the volume buttons work well on it to regulate. The quality does work nicely i've tested it out on a 7.1 encoded audio, and did a comparison on a standard dual speaker channel, on the device you hear more of the bass which is good and when the treble needs to come in it slices through and all the subtle mid's are blended. Unlike the standard dual channel which you can't distinguish any of the ranges. I used a sony MDR head set as well as my Creative Cambridge Sound works speakers (these are 10 year old speakers) to guage the sound quality. I haven't tested it yet on my Studio Monitors, although i am just scared to do it it might just catch on fire. I have split the function of my internal sound card and my usb device for the mic out put since the quality is much better on my sound card i have set them to work harmoniously. The mic function causes a loud annoying hiss and i can't stand that and it makes the audio hard to hear while a live call. So when i use YM or Skype i have the mic setting on my internal sound card and my speakers and ringers on the USB device, and when i did the test call i can hear the voice clearly. Note that various internet connection will vary and the quality will vary as well as the latency time. Another issue are BSOD in my experience then again my laptop has gone through hell in 5 years and i've abused my system so it could be unrelated but i've noticed when i unplug it my system tends to crash, however even if its even unplugged it still crashed so there fore i can confidently say that it far from being related. I don't new systems may be better able to handle it than my old pentium 4. There is this hissing noise i hear, which ...ehh for .99 cents i can't expect perfect quality. The casing is cheap plastic and cheap LED and circuit boards from probably Thailand. So what else do you expect you really get what you pay for. If your on a budget and don't really want to buy a expensive replacement sound card or a external device sound card this is the product for you. If your like me and are really into your audio quality then go find a person who has steady hands and a soldering iron and get the jack fixed, or buy a new replacement sound card or invest in the more elaborate and expensive external sound card. Bottom line this gets the job done and for a dollar hey its a low risk product[...]

Talk about easy and inexpensive for DJ work, PA work, music in general. Let's you pull audio from a computer through a USB port. Plus you can use it for mic input as well. Just select mic input or audio out put, plug in a cable to your mixer and Voila! Sound! And good quality too. No more worn out crackly, will it work now, don't touch that cord with earphone or line out on your desktop/laptop. Got 1 free USB port (2.0 is better but will work with less)? You are in business. I have one running now, buying 2 more as backups. Wish they were manufactured slightly stronger. No worries. At this price, buy a bag full.

This ex-gadget now goes back to its original 0-star status (sorry, I couldn't select 0 stars, but that's what I would give it at this point). After only three days, this thing DIED!!! I worked well for three days, but now it is just a thumb-size piece of junk. Don't buy it!!! Below are my previous two reviews of it, now both history. =========================================== This product now gets 5 stars from me, but for some reason I can't change my previous 1-star rating, please judge accordingly. I wrote the following negative review before spending almost an hour figuring out how to use it. In brief, when you plug it in to a USB port, Windows (Win7 Home Premium in my case) finds it and installs the software/driver for it. Then, when you right-click on the speaker icon in the Tray (Notification area) and then click on Playback devices, you will see two speaker icons in the "Sound" dialog box instead of the former one. Now here's the important part: you've got to right-click on your PC's native speaker icon (in my case Realtek High Definition Audio) and then click on _Disable_, after which the older icon will become grayed out. (I've posted a screenshot at [...] If you don't do this, both adapters will fight for dominance and you'll get a howl or horrible sound pulsations in your ears when you plug in your earphones to the jack in the USB adapter. Next, make the "Generic USB Audio Device" speaker icon the default by right-clicking and choosing "Make default" from the options. Then you can adjust the sound in your earphones by right-clicking on the icon and choosing Configure. Finally, click on OK to finish the setup and exit the Sound dialog box. I wish they had included instructions with this gadget; it would have made things really easy. By the way, the sound in my earphones, after setting this up properly, is great, much better than from my original sound adapter, when listening to sources that incorporate multi-speaker sound sources, so I fully recommend it. =================================== My previous (original) review, which should now be disregarded, is as follows: This little "adapter" that gets such glowing reviews from other users will not get one kind word from me. I've done the following repeatedly and always get the same non-results: I plug the adapter into a front USB port. The Win 7 system installs the software and says it is ready for use. I plug my stereo earphones plug into the earphone-designated jack in the adapter. Result: I get nothing but squeals, and LOUD electronic echoing noise from my earphones!!!!! There are no setup instructions from the mfr. (HAHA! They imply that none are needed!) Well, I for one can't get this thing to work, but I've done just as everyone else says they did -- Plug it in, plug in your earphones and sit back and enjoy the wonderful sound. THAT HAS NOT HAPPENED! Does anyone have any words of wisdom for this problem? Some specific setup and adjustment instructions would be helpful, but there aren't any! Can anyone offer any help?

This new external sound card came at the very time when I had to be extremely careful with the use of the old, broken one. A test of this Virtual 7.1 Channel Sound has relieved me of all the trouble of trying the old. This device is convenient: Just plug it in, and it starts to work. What comes next, is the sound from the laptop. When your internal sound card doesn't work well, this one can meet your need. What's most important, it's inexpensive, or cheap. Though the delivery takes ten days, it is still a deal, considering the long distance between Ningbo, China and Farmington, Maine, USA.