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Creative Labs 70SB049000000 Sound Cards
Customer Reviews for Creative External Sound Blaster Live! SB0490 5.1 Channels 24-bit 48kHz in 5.1 mode and up to 96kHz in stereo mode USB Interface ... - Retail
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Review Summary (62 Reviews): Rating + 4
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10%
Very Poor Rating + 1 3ReviewsVery Poor
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Reviewer Product Review
prophet.
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/1/2008 3:48:54 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: this is a fantastic external sound card. it has high-quality audio, it works with every system i've plugged it into, and it is highly customizable with the software included.

Cons: it's external.

Other Thoughts: this is a usb2 device, so ignore the previous reviewer who complained about that.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

John
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
3/15/2008 10:22:03 AM

Rating + 2 Microphone input adds a lot of hiss; not worth it


Pros: USB, if you need that.

Cons: The microphone input is awful. Adds a lot of hiss, so I'm returning it.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

ran
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
1/31/2008 9:50:19 AM

Rating + 3 Good for basic audio needs


Pros: Allows expanding a laptop sound to 5.1 surround analog. Also support digital out.

Cons: USB 1.1, Stutters with high bandwidth audio.

Other Thoughts: If you need surround sound and you only listen to music, you can get this. If you play games or watch high definition videos, do not get this as the bandwidth limitations in USB 1.1 will cause audio buffer choke and everything goes bad (I mean everything as in you video stutters too as a result).

Not recoomended for anything except basic audio. For everything else. Personally I'm getting an Audigy 2 NX.

6 out of 9 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

PG13
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/9/2008 3:47:52 PM

Rating + 1 NO Idea


Pros: May be great but no idea

Cons: I have had this for 2 months and so far still can not get to work with 64bit Vista.

1 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Shadow
Tech Level: average
Ownership: more than 1 year
12/27/2007 4:21:08 PM

Rating + 5 great sound quality


Pros: good sound quality for headphones, perfect combination of base, etc.

Cons: old drivers (2003)

Other Thoughts: might not be same version i have

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

gope
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
12/11/2007 4:51:57 PM

Rating + 1 Horrible Product


Pros: Has lights. Volume control. Comes with cables.

Cons: Plays sound at around 4x the speed it should be playing. Conflicts with video codex and takes about 20 minutes of letting my music play before it corrects itself and plays at the correct speed.

Other Thoughts: The only reason I bought this was to connect it to a coax amp set up with 5.1 surround sound. Now I wish I had just bought Creative's Coax to Digital I/O connector. I wish newegg carries this product, I don't trust Creative.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

TG
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
10/13/2007 9:27:11 PM

Rating + 1 Not worthy


Pros: External, looks nice, easy to plug sound devices. Works with really long usb cables, volume and mic knobs in front for easy access, front digital volume control makes the mic volume control the only moving part.

Cons: Dont know what the fuss is about. This soundcard attempts to simulate extra clarity by natively boosting bass and treble, thereby leaving the midrange muddled and dampened on both on the analog and digital ports!!!!! Ticks me off bigtime because I am a serious music buff who deals with ambience and new age music more often. Get a cheaper soundcard with optical out which *DOESNT* do this treble boosting instead. I would strongly suggest the philips aurilium or even better- the M-audio audiophile 2496. After listening to the M-audio for 1 year, switching to this 'treble beast' is seriously annoying. At lower volume, I can hardly hear anything but sizzles. I am sure a lot of users who had posted good reviews about this product would agree with me once they do a direct comparison with a serious card.

3 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

the badge
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
9/20/2007 9:35:39 PM

Rating + 5 hey


Pros: I've had this product since about a week after it came out. It does everything it says. I've never needed to update the drivers. a perfect replacement for a laptop with a fried audio chip!

Cons: none with the card, just that a june bug fried my audio chip in my laptop.

Other Thoughts: I learned from trial and error that in order to get 5.1 from the SPDIF output, I had to make sure the software i was using (I.E. the dvd program, the video game, etc., etc.) was configured to run in 5.1 (default on just about everything was standard stereo). I've got to say that this may be one of the best audio cards available for laptops.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

AnXRockStar
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
8/7/2007 6:25:04 AM

Rating + 3 SPDIF Is Not 5.1!


Pros: What it actually does, it does quite well. Bundleware didn't totally take over my system.

Cons: Before purchasing, I downloaded the "manual" (just a help file), and since it was rater vague, called tech support. They assured me that the SPDIF output was indeed 5.1, necessary since my speakers only work via SPDIF. Tried latest software and drivers, ("latest" 2+ year old, that is), still nothing. If you set it to Digital Only, you don't get any options other than 2 speaker, if you don't, it allows you to set 5.1, but you only get sound from FL & FR. Also, the 24/96 is a little misleading. The hardware is in fact 24/96, but the signal is only 16/48... the "extra" insures greater accuracy of the existing signal and does make a difference, but it still is 16/48.

Other Thoughts: This is not really a con, just something to be aware of with any external sound card... if you use a device such as a TV tuner that has an internal audio connection (i.e. the CDA port) you'll have to figure out how to run a line to the box. (I already have a cable MacGuyverred up for the purpose)

4 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

dnoyeb
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
7/29/2007 10:12:54 AM

Rating + 2 Not a good buy


Pros: Plays music well.

Cons: First, the SB website claims you can use this for mp3, etc. But once you buy, they ask for money for mp3 software.
Second, it removes your speaker icon and places its own icon in the tray. You can add yours back.
Third, it stuttering in eve-online.
Fourth, it picks up cellphone noise.

Other Thoughts: Nice try, but this product will not work so long as it has these problems.

3 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Mannerisky
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/3/2007 7:33:07 AM

Rating + 3 Vista Support: Kinda.


Pros: Plugs right in, has 5.1 support.

Cons: All of the external tools: Graphic Equalizer, Speaker Settings, etc. provided by Creative do not recognize the device on Vista. The workaround is just to use Vista built-in features (described on Creative's site).

Other Thoughts: Occasionally when plugged into USB the device does not turn on. Replugging it in a couple times generaly fixes it.
This will be a great product when the issues with Vista are corrected.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Matt
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/10/2007 10:42:08 PM

Rating + 5 Still Going Strong


Pros: I've been using this product continuously for over a year now. I've channeled my 360 audio through it as well as my computer sound into both computer speakers as well as my home stereo system. Sounds Great, works great, no complaints

Cons: it wasn't free?

Other Thoughts: This box is a testament to the Live! series that came out so many years ago. I remember using the 5.1 platinum when it was cutting edge, and this little box is pretty much the same thing for well under half the cost. Can't go wrong with this box if you don't have the space for an expansion card in your home box.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

James
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
6/8/2007 2:09:33 PM

Rating + 5 Great Device For Laptops


Pros: Great sound quality, supports 5.1 channel Audio, have not had a problem yet.

Cons: The software that comes with it is terrible, do yourself a favor and do not install it.

Other Thoughts: I just got a HP DV9000 and there was no way to hook up my speakers to it, but this sound card does the trick, also sounds much better then a 70 dollar sound card I got for my PC.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/25/2007 9:23:10 AM

Rating + 5 Did the trick


Pros: Wanted to add 5.1 sound, front headphone/speaker jacks, and a volume knob to an older computer for cheap.

This worked great.

Cons: Some minor issues where there is no sound in the headphones. Unplugging and plugging in solves the problem. Unfortunately I had this issue when I was setting it up and thought it just wouldnt work.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/25/2007 8:26:18 AM

Rating + 3 Worked great for 1 year then quit


Pros: Works great with my Shuttle home theater PC running 5.1 Surround Sound with the Snapsteam or Theatertek software.

Cons: Going to get my 3rd one because they die after 1 year of continuous use. Even installed an external fan to blow on it thinking the first one died due to heat, but alas the second one died too.

Other Thoughts: This is still the best 5.1 external device available. So I guess I'll spend $50 a year so my system works this good.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Fuzzywuzzy
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/23/2007 12:37:26 PM

Rating + 2 Bad luck with device


Pros: Sadly nothing as I can't get the thing to work right on my computer.

Cons: Well after getting it, I installed it as specified, and well. Nothing worked right, videos skipped from normal speed to fast speed, sounds were scratchy and popping, everything sounded wrong.

Other Thoughts: I did get this to run fine on another machine but for some odd reason it doesnt work right on mine. My computer is brand new too so I don't know.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Bagong Itlog Suke
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/4/2007 6:28:46 PM

Rating + 2 didnt work as a 5.1


Pros: its pretty good if it works as a 5.1

Cons: first i installed everything that is needed and then connect my 5.1 speakers it work for a couple of minutes i hear the sound from all of the speaker but then the rear stop working and i tried to connect my speaker on my tv and dvd and it work as a 5.1, so its the soundcard that isnt working, i returned it to newegg for a refund and im not sure if already got it

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Spikke
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/16/2007 2:40:52 PM

Rating + 5 Awesome For Laptops


Pros: Super easy install, nice options, awesome sound.

Cons: none that i've found

Other Thoughts: The sound on this thing blows away the on-board sound on my laptop. This was well worth the purchase.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

EchoSex
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
3/16/2007 3:33:43 AM

Rating + 4 Good... But with Oblivion? -.-


Pros: Well, as many have said - this card is great. The sound quality is very nice (especially if you're one of the millions using a simple 2.1 setup) and the fact that it's external is extra kudos.

I bought mine to deal with a problem on my ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe regarding a horrible, HORRIBLE "squealing" noise whenever I moved the mouse or a window. If you are having the same problem and are looking for a solution DO NOT BUY A NEW CARD!!! The fix to this audio problem is to simply mute the PC Speaker, or disconnect from your motherboard all together.

Cons: I'm having serious problems getting this to work nicely with The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion. Suffering horrible from "Stuttering." My belief is that it's simply because there's not enough USB Bandwidth to go around.. But I could be wrong.

Bucolic Buffalo said something ab out changing the values, but I tried that. Buc, if you're reading this, email me at EchoSex@comcast.net with help on how to get rid of that stuttering o.o;

Other Thoughts: You can often find goodies like this on sale. Bought mine at a close-out for $30. 96/24-bit for $30? Delicious :3

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Don
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/25/2007 7:16:48 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: Recieved this sound card 1 day after ordering & this seems to be common with New Egg! Card worked flawlessly right out of box without reading instructions. Record lots of music with my notebook and love the results.

Cons: None

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

Bucolic Buffalo
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/24/2007 6:21:09 AM

Rating + 5 Oh Yeah Baby!!


Pros: Using this with a ASUS P5B Deluxe. The on-board high definition sound sucks. A PCI card made the system unstable. This USB card is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Great sound out and really nice recording. No more pops and crackles feeding back into my stereo system. I have not even begun to explore all the possible features.

Cons: Not really a con. You must get your settings right. Some things are not so obvious. Do not enable Digital Output Only, turn CMSS Off, In the Creative surround Mixer Source panel ensure Wave is not muted, Line-In/Mic-In is muted, do not enable Monitoring.

Start with these and then experiment.

Other Thoughts: Here is how you fix the stuttering footsteps and weapons sounds in Oblivion.

Set this to 0 in your oblivion.ini file in My Documents/My Games/Oblivion folder

"bDSoundHWAcceleration=1 - If set to 1, uses hardware acceleration (i.e. your sound card) to reproduce audio. This provides the best audio quality, however if you are having problems such as odd crashes, you can try a value of 0 to disable hardware sound acceleration."

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

dthom
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/20/2007 4:36:08 PM

Rating + 4 After..


Pros: After year its still Kicking!

Cons: for $50 you can't ask for much more

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

ixyk
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/20/2007 7:50:41 AM

Rating + 4 Good, but DON'T install their software!


Pros: The sound quality is infinitely better than my laptop's built-in sound, using either digital or analog outputs. It's also nice how portable it is, and that it has BOTH optical and coaxial digital outputs.

Cons: If you want to take advantage of the full range of advertised features, you must install Creative's software. The basic drivers seem to be fine, but whatever you do DON'T INSTALL THE REST OF THE SOFTWARE. It is extremely bloated and takes the most time to install I've EVER seen. (Longer even than XP, I think...) Also, it just didn't seem to be very good so I removed it after less than an hour.

Other Thoughts: Occasional popping sounds can be heard (mostly from the left channel?), but it may be issues with the USB2.0 PCMCIA card I'm using...

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Aloiv
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/19/2007 11:55:33 AM

Rating + 5 Wunderbar!


Pros: Does a great job of audio input and output control, records audio and great quality, and has good Midi Synth and Soundfont support! Nice for my newer laptop, since there's only an express card slot, and there's no soundcard for that. Works in linux too!

Cons: Only one input, takes up a USB slot, since it's not in the computer, it means that you'll have to drag it around with you as extra luggage if you have a laptop

Other Thoughts: I've never really liked the Creative software much. Rather than everything being in one place like you'd want it, you have to open separate applications to change audio settings, like effects, speakers, MIDI, etc. I didn't put it as a Con though, since you don't actually have to use said software

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Gene
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
2/9/2007 2:19:21 PM

Rating + 3 Sounded decent... until it broke.


Pros: If you need something to replace your laptop's horrifyingly bad onboard audio, this'll do a pretty good job.

Cons: Well, after about 9 months, the audio quality started to drop off considerably. It sounded almost like digital clipping at first, and eventually became completely unlistenable.

Other Thoughts: It's alright if you want 24-bit processing (not a bad idea if you do a lot of WAV-to-MP3 transcoding).

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/29/2006 7:28:27 PM

Rating + 5 Good Product


Pros: I've needed something to hook up my laptop to my 5.1 surround sound and this did the trick. Sound is very clear. A great product if you need an external sound solution. Ordered at 1am thursday, received it by Friday afternoon...Newegg rocks!

Cons: Doesn't output sound as loudly as when my 5.1 was hooked up to my desktop, but really not a huge deal.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Kat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/29/2006 12:28:43 PM

Rating + 5 Perfect for Laptops!


Pros: I got this for Hubby for Christmas and give it him early. He is loving life. The sound quality is excellent. Could not ask for better coming as a external sound card! Very easy to install.

Cons: No Problems yet. Other than I can not get him of the laptop from playing games now....

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A-Vick
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/7/2006 10:32:57 PM

Rating + 2 no digital surround sound!


Pros: Allows me to connect my notebook to my stereo receiver.

Cons: Doesn't let me do much else. The digital surround through coax is worthless. It always defaults back to 2.1 when it sends a digital to my receiver. Very disappointing.

Other Thoughts: I really hope Creative has some driver update that fixes this issue. Otherwise, the main reason I bought this card doesn't work, which means I wasted my money.

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

MbX
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/12/2006 8:49:34 AM

Rating + 3 No support for Vista.. yet


Pros: Bought this card to add S/PDIF to my computer so I can enjoy 5.1 audio when I hook up my PC to my home theater setup.

Good news: Device is automatically detected in XP MCE as Creative Sound Blaster Live 24-bit. S/PDIF support works well in Media Center, but cannot figure out how to make it work in media player and powerdvd.

Cons: NO VISTA SUPPORT. Tested it on RC2. It is detected as a USB audio device and 2 channel stereo works but that is not why I bought this card. No S/PDIF 5.1 support. Everyone is complaining on Creative Forums. Hopefully they will get their act together and release the drivers soon.

Other Thoughts: Most programs don't support S/PDIF output. For testing purposes, I used my S1m0ne dvd because it has DTS and Dolby 5.1 tracks. In Windows Media Player and PowerDVD I was only able to get Dolby Prologic II output. In media center and VLC, there is S/PDIF digital output support so I was able to get DTS/Dolby5.1 working in Media Center.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

SgtDisturbed
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
9/12/2006 2:52:02 AM

Rating + 5 For 50 bucks, I feel like I am straight jackin' it from Creative Labs


Pros: Ran out of PCI slots, needed good quality sound, and there it is, for less than 50 bucks, great sounds, and Creative has their Creative Mediasource plugins that dramatically improve sound quality through the hardware, NOT software. No snap, crackle, or pops, even at high levels of sound. Great for music, video, and games. Even better if you use Senheisser headphones (but that's a whole different product). Small, lightweight, and can use a remote (not included).

Cons: Not an XF-I, but hey, for 50 bucks, it packs punch.

Other Thoughts: If you are like me and ran out of PCI slots with a wireless network card, a fan module that hooks into 2 slot ports, and a neon light switch (or whatever useless cr@p you manage to chuck in), this is the perfect sound device. I haven't tried it's surround sound capabilities, but with 2 speakers and a sub, or good headphones, those gem is perfect, and is recognized easily by Windows XP and you are running it as soon as it automatically sets up. You WILL want to update the drivers, and download Creative Mediasource and Creative Mediasource Plugins, to add effects and speaker controls. This way, you have one-click audio recording, and a media player that beats Windows Media Player any day of the week (plays all video/audio, with the right codecs [it searches for the ones you already have so you don't have to download them more than once], but doesn't play DVDs, I don't think). Anyway, Creative Labs is the best, so go with them.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

unkmar
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/5/2006 4:41:40 PM

Rating + 4 Excellent tool


Pros: Works great.
Excellent tool for testing Digital Speakers.
Great for when your Onboard sound dies.

Cons: Not true Surrond Sound.
I'm not into sound that much, so it doesn't matter to me.

Other Thoughts: I don't know what you should get if you want TRUE Surround Sound.
Adding internal sound cards will usually get them destroyed, when the onboard has is failed or is damaged.

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Steve-o
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/22/2006 7:55:11 PM

Rating + 5 Awesome


Pros: Sounds MUCH better than onboard laptop sound and it's USB powered so when I want to plug it into my stereo out in the living room I don't have to lug out two power chords. The sound quality is quite good, perhaps nothing extraordinary but it's the best I've heard (along with a pair of Grado SR60's), at least from headphones.

Cons: If you have a wireless card in your comptuter/laptop and place this thing too close to it, you will hear clicking. The cure is to place it farther away, until the clicks go away.

Other Thoughts: Good sound at a budget price.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Theodat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/20/2006 11:43:24 AM

Rating + 4 Sok


Pros: Acer Ferrari 4006
2mb Ram
This has really increased the sound output of Laptop. Games and MP3's sound allot better. I hooked this up to a 2.1 system with some Bose speakers and it sounds great. Fairly easy install (I have Windows X64, had to download the drivers from the internet but hey at least they were available.) For the money I think it was a good buy.

Cons: Had to play with settings for microphone. In Ventrilo the mic had some static when I first started using it. I actually had to switch to a cheaper headset with a less sensitive mic, seems to have fixed the problem. Documentation is not that useful. Take care and make sure you install what you want because I could not uninstall any of the software that came with it once it was installed (the uninstall problem was on my other laptop that has regular windows)

Other Thoughts: Works with X64 Windows!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Ethanol
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/14/2006 5:17:41 PM

Rating + 5 Love it!


Pros: Love this, I can plug it into my desktop at home, laptop, or any PC to get great sound!!!

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Highly recommend

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AKKM3D
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/3/2006 10:09:05 PM

Rating + 3 it was alright


Pros: Worked great when i first had it,going on one year. Features are very good.

Cons: well just recently it stopped working, i would be listening to music etc. and it would all the sudden just stop working, had to reinstall drivers and software and then worked, then the like next day i turn on my computer and BAM no sound=\ did same thing again and didnt work, soo it basically stopped working?soo it just sits in the box=\

Other Thoughts: was good, then stopped working,biggest waste of money=\

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

mordy
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/23/2006 8:43:30 AM

Rating + 4 excellent choice for extenal system


Pros: well, it is what it is - a 5.1 audio sound card which would work well with 5.1 sound systems. CMSS hardware button is nice too

Cons: this thing is power hungry, leave it in your laptop and it will eat up all your USB resources - i'm buying an external hub for this. also, if it gets disconnected from the USB - you will need to wait two minute before the product is picked of by windows again.

Other Thoughts: most sound and music is only stereo - two channels, right and left - so you won't be hearing too much from the back speakers unless you enable one of the CMSS features which distribute the sound equally along the left and right side (or however you want it)

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Sparky
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
4/20/2006 11:07:37 PM

Rating + 4 Works well


Pros: An excellent solution if you have no available PCI busses. Sounds great, but better for music in stereo than 5.1. The 5.1 for movies and games is really good though. For desktops its perfect but for notebooks I would get the Audigy 2 ZS Notebook which has slightly better performance.

Cons: Wish it was 96kHz in 5.1 but works well anyway.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

OrlandoTommy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/28/2006 9:53:34 AM

Rating + 5 Very Nice...


Pros: Great Sound Quality, Good Bass, Excellent for a Office Environment.

Cons: Not a gaming type system.

Other Thoughts: Perfect set up for me in my office, loud enough to hear crisp highs and good bass.

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Peter Joseph
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
3/28/2006 7:12:23 AM

Rating + 4 Shedding some light on the pop/cracking


Pros: I have an IBM T30 laptop and its not made for multimedia purposes so of course I wasnt getting the best sound quality. This external card is a great alternative. Its sexy looking, does the job, and the sound quality is great. Very very happy that I can listen to my music and watch dvds without hearing background noises whenever my computer does something.

Cons: Im not a really big guy on bundled software and like always, Creative packs it. Further more, Im not a big fan of software that adds more software to your startup. Im on a laptop so last I need is more software to hog up more resources and being on Windows XP certainly doesnt help. Just go to MSCONFIG and take disable it. As far as the software itself goes, the only thing I use is the equalizer, and diagnostic tools. Everything else you can set up via XP control panel. Also, Im not a big fan of Creative's GO! media player. Just not as simple as winamp and even windows media player. I recommend installing everything so you can play around with all of its features then later uninstall what you dont like.

As far as the hardware goes, it would be nice if they had a headphone jack in the back for you to hook up computer speakers rather than having to plug them in the front coming from behind. Just looks really annoying.

Other Thoughts: OK I nearly had a heart attack when I heard popping and cracking because this is why I wanted to get this in the first place. Here is what I did to remedy the problem:

If you are using a wireless card, move the soundcard away from it. Ever heard your car speakers pop and crack whenever you get a call on the cell phone? Same thing.

Second, I had the soundcard plugged into a D-LINK USB 2.- PCMCIA card so I unplugged it and plugged it into my laptop's USB 1.1 slot in the back. It still works great and I'm gonna test tonight if there is any difference in speed/quality when ripping cds using the 1.1 slot. If anything, I can always use the PCMCIA card for ripping purposes because I hear absolutely no popping or cracking when its plugged into USB 1.1. Maybe I have a defective USB 2.0 card, but it works great my webcam.

NO MORE popping and cracking and the sound card works great!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/26/2006 1:09:12 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: USB Powered, driverless installation for any XP system.
Plug it into a USB cable and within seconds you hear the "ding-dong" USB sound. Beautiful. Crystal Clear Quality. Gold-plated connections.
At less than fifty bucks, this is a steal!

Cons: None so far.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
3/19/2006 3:08:11 PM

Rating + 4


Pros: Great for a laptop. Haven't had a bit of trouble with it and the software that comes with it is very nice for the price.

Cons: I wouldn't recommend this over some cheaper internal sound cards for a desktop but if you don't have any pci slots available I guess it is still worth it

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pdmillar
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/17/2006 8:14:23 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: Works under ALSA on Linux! No detectable background noise at any volume setting. USB-powered, doesn't require an external AC adapter.

Cons: No S/PDIF input, just a bit larger than I would like it to be, only two ADC channels. None of these are particularly disadvantageous.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/15/2006 1:35:51 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: This is the third one I bought. It works great as an alternative to a PCI card/a way to add 5.1 sound to a laptop.

Cons: Creative support tries (and they were very attentive to my problem), but they were unable to help me get one of these working on a Windows 2000 box that didn't want to take it.

Other Thoughts: Still a good product that does its job.

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MaJoR_Coke
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/27/2006 1:08:57 PM

Rating + 5 Good stuff


Pros: I got a new Dell i9300 laptop... and had old speakers that were halfblown out. So i bought the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 surround sound speakers. But they were not sounding right because the dell didnt have a decent sound card. So i bought this one, and it works great!

Cons: No cons. This one is better than the version above it for normal users. Mainly because the next version above it gives you a remote control... and i already have 10+ remotes and dont need another one ^_^

Other Thoughts: Get this is you want your 5.1 surround sound to work right with a laptop. If you got a desktop you can buy a cheaper better internal sound card.

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C-Dogg
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/6/2006 4:55:33 PM

Rating + 4 Good product for the money


Pros: Better than most onboard audio.
Good 3D game support.
Hardware EQ great for music.

Cons: Sound modes limited by standard speed USB.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this due to my onboard Envy24T sounding less than spectacular in games on my Shuttle SN26P. The Envy is great for music and movies, but hardware 3D support in games is garbled and sounds like you're underwater or something. My old computer had an Audigy2 and sounded much better. While this USB SoundBlaster doesnt sound quite as good as an Audigy2 for games or movies, to me this actually sounds better for music (as music is only 16-bit anyway). This does support 24-bit, but only up to 4.1. 5.1 is 16-bit only. This will also support 96 Khz audio, but only in stereo, not in any of the surround modes. My Shuttle does not have any PCI slots (has dual PCIe x16) so this was really the only way to go. It works like I hoped it would and will be good enough until an external X-Fi gets released :)

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

aaron
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
1/28/2006 8:03:14 PM

Rating + 4 Better than Nothing


Pros: This is far better than on-board sound from the laptop... and is self powered from USB 2 and alllows for optical, coax, headphones, and your regular 5.1 sound

Cons: I also have a desktop with creative sound blaster Audigy LS, and have a Logitech Z-5500 5.1 surround sound, there is a huge difference between the desktop and laptop (desktop is far better.) The point is that if you have a desktop, stick with the pci slot, but if you have a laptop this is a great product!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Okeefe
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
12/29/2005 1:36:54 PM

Rating + 3 Good, but not great


Pros: -Great for those without an available pci slot
-good 5.1 sound

Cons: -not made for audio production, the LOWEST sample rate I could get with this card without destroying the sound was 2048!!

Other Thoughts: good fro those who dont intend to do really anything professional.
System:
AMD 64 3500+
1 gig o' kingston
radeon 9800 pro

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

STeve
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
12/29/2005 8:23:09 AM

Rating + 4 24-bit at 96kHz? NOT!


Pros: Compact. Attractive. Easily accessible in/out ports from desktop.

Cons: Although Creative is aware of the inability to do so (can be found if you look closely at their website), the product specs indicate that 24-bit/96kHz ability exists with this product. However, due the the limited bandwidth of the USB 1.1 connection, it ain't gonna happen.

Other Thoughts: Other than that, its a great little unit. The software bundle alone is almost worth the purchase price. Too bad it didn't also include some DVD-ware.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

kevin
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/26/2005 7:29:21 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: Provides great 5.1 surround sound for my laptop. Very small and portable.

Cons: A few times it would switch back to stereo sound when I opened certain media players.

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fat_danny
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/23/2005 8:55:50 PM

Rating + 5 Surprisingly simple to Install


Pros: WOW! A Creative product that didn't require at least an hour to configure....I'm impressed. This thing was installed in less than 5 minutes. Of course, always download the latet drivers, NEVER install the out-dated drivers on the CD. It's sounds awesome too.

Cons: none? nope, none.

Other Thoughts: Nice work Creative.

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aznyoshi707
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
12/18/2005 8:16:09 PM

Rating + 3 good, but some things to take into consideration


Pros: surround sound capabilities, nice clean crisp sound

Cons: when watching DivX movies, this card LOVES to crash. this means interrupting the movie and unplugging the usb cord, waiting some time, and re-opening the program. Also loves to crash randomly while listening to music with Creative's Mediasource player.

Other Thoughts: I got this card to improve sound on my laptop, and to allow me to use my 5.1 speaker setup, and it is great for that purpose. unfortunately, watching divx movies has become a pain, and i would actually rather switch to onboard audio just because it is more reliable (conexant ac97)
other than the divx issue, the card is great, and light, so I can carry it with me, in my laptop bag.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/13/2005 4:49:18 PM

Rating + 2 Good sound quality but rear speakers still wont work


Pros: The sound quality is good for the speakers that will work correctly with it. I would give it a 5 if the rear speakers worked but the reason I bought it in the first place was for surround sound.

Cons: The rear speakers of my 5.1 surround sound will not work with this sound card for my laptop but the speakers all work for my PC's internal sound card. Also, Creative tech support seems to have no idea what is wrong with it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Nugatory
Tech Level:
Ownership:
10/19/2005 9:50:31 AM

Rating + 5 Outstanding Sound


Comments: Amazing quality! I got this for my laptop as its sound is full of digital noise. I couldn't be happier with it.

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L33tzor n00bzor
Tech Level:
Ownership:
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/5/2005 9:44:24 AM

Rating + 5 Great Soundcard


Comments: I've always had onboard sound... until i baught this. This soundcard is awesome compared to onboard. No crackling, no unwanted noise at all! Im an overclocker so when i mess with the FSB, it messes with the onboard sound. But now, there is no problem with the sound. It is perfect. 5 of 5 for this beauty.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level:
Ownership:
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/10/2005 8:50:43 PM

Rating + 5 Excellent Buy


Comments: I have had this for about two weeks now. Setup is very easy and my speakers connected to this very easily, seeing as how they are both from Creative. Sound in all applications is phenominal and the device itself is very small and discreet.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

RH Customs
Tech Level:
Ownership:
8/26/2005 5:08:29 PM

Rating + 5 Notebook soundcard..........


Comments: Excellent product, using it as a my sound card for my laptop (Compaq Presario v2205) works great. Works really well doing 5.1 conversion through optical or coax to my reciver. Yet another excellent product from Creative Labs.

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tobarstep
Tech Level:
Ownership:
6/5/2005 8:08:03 AM

Rating + 5 Great value


Comments: This is probably the single greatest purchase I've ever made for my computer. It works like a champ. The Creative MediaSource software is OK. It takes some getting used to. I use it for playback of music files as I can't seem to get MS Media Player to sound very good over the 5.1 speaker setup. I still use other software for ripping and burning.

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N/A
Tech Level:
Ownership:
6/1/2005 2:27:06 PM

Rating + 5 great sound


Comments: I bought this to replace the onboard sound on my shuttle and the difference is incredible. I'm not an audiophile of any sort but I do listen to hours of music on my computer every day, and I can't tell the difference in sound quality between this and the audigy 2 i had on my old system. Great value, convenient, and great sound.

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SupaFoo
Tech Level:
Ownership:
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/16/2005 7:23:55 PM

Rating + 5


Comments: this car is great, i bought it because i wanted a creative product to use with my new 5.1 speakers and the speakers didnt come with a headphone jack. i just put this box on my desk and everyting was solved. the sound is really good. i do agree with the last reviewer though that the optical on the front is a bit odd... but other than that no complaints

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level:
Ownership:
5/5/2005 3:07:16 AM

Rating + 3 whaa?


Comments: good sounding card. problem = mic is shared with line in. discomfort for a gamer. must unplug the line in to use the mic. not cool! oh, the cmss thing is a joke too, whatever. also, why did they put the optical output on the front? weird. the sound really is not bad at all though.

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torax
Tech Level:
Ownership:
3/5/2005 12:44:46 PM

Rating + 5


Comments: This is a great little unit. I play guitar and sing with a violinist at coffee shops around town and was looking for a good, inexpensive way to record our shows and ideas. This was the solution that I was looking for.

I previously was plugging in the mixing board that I have directly into my laptop and then using soundforge 7.0 to record. The sound on my laptop is absolutely awful (as it is with most laptops). We're talking hissing, squeeking, cracking, popping, hard drive noise, you name it.... I couldn't stand it any longer, so I got this. It's USB powered, so you don't have to mess with any extra power cables and boxes, it's small, so it fits very well into my laptop bag, and the sound is amazing! I have also brought this system to larger venues and recorded my friends' full bands in the same way. Now, I can record my shows and play them for people without having to give a disclaimer for the terrible sounds caused by my laptop. It's nice too to just be sitting at home and record my ideas with ease. I highly recommend this card if you are looking for an inexpensive way to record well onto your laptop.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

sheltonn
Tech Level:
Ownership:
2/27/2005 10:41:37 AM

Rating + 5 Trouble-free portable sound


Comments: I bought this because I have a server with only one PCI slot. I was afraid of having trouble with a regular sound card working with my PCI-X slots. I plugged this in and it worked without a problem. I can always attach it to my laptop or another PC if I ever need to.

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