Question 1

compatible with windows 10?

Accepted Answer

I bought the StarTech   Icusboudi07D 7.1 USB sound adapter for my 3.4 GHZ Pentium 4 computer with 4 gigs of ram and, MSI 865PE  Neo2-V motherboard computer that I updated to Windows 7, 16 bit version. Win 7 did not support my Sound Blaster 5.1 surround sound card,  The StarTech USB sound adapter tried to work when connected but the overall poor performance of the Win 7 operating system on that computer made it unusable. Win 7 ran so slow  on the P4 computer I gave up and returned the StarTech USB sound adapter. I reinstalled Widows XP on that computer.

I later bought a MSI Z97 Gaming 3 motherboard with  Intel 4 core I5 4460 3,2 GHZ, 6MB Cache  and 16 gig of Ballistic Tacitacal DDR3-1866 (PC3-14900) CL9, 1.5V RAM and used the video built into the CPU and the MSI  built sound in the motherboard. I used a 64 bit version of  Widows 7 and it works very well.   I recently upgraded to 64 Bit clean install version of 64 Bit Widows 10 that also works well after I installed updated drivers available from MSI.

Question 2

Would this work well with a Razer Tiamat 7.1 Headset?

Accepted Answer

I really don't know the answer.  I bought it thinking my sound was out on the motherboard since that is the only thing that did not work but actually windows was messed up so I reloaded windows and the sound came back I kept the external sound device and use it on the computer since I bought it but really did not need it after all.  Anyway it works well and I would guess if the plug fits in the audio out hole it should work with any headset like it does the speakers.

Question 3

does the spdif in go to the analog out? I mean does the audio only come in through the USB port?

Accepted Answer

I don't know. I did not buy this item. FYI, since you wanted to know, of the 3 or 4 items I bought from startech, not a single one performed properly and were returned.  You are on your own. Watch out for Newegg, too - they won't honor a 30-day return on a replacement item (I stil have an HP disc drive that won't work properly that NE refused to take back(2nd unit; first was returned for replacement). My advice: go elsewhere for a different product.

Question 4

I want to record a stereo sound track on my laptop. The laptop has a mono microphone jack only. The stereo will be a voice channel (left) and a guitar channel (Right). Can I use this device to record in stereo separate channels so I can hear the guitar on one channel and the voice on the other?

Accepted Answer

Ernest,

I don't know the answer to your specific question.  I bought the device to burn LPs to CD in stereo and my laptop lacks a stereo jack but I'm able to burn CDs in stereo through a USP port.

Have you contacted the Tech folks at Star Tech?  They gave me good advice in selecting what device to purchase.

Sorry I can't answer your question specifically but I hope I helped.

Question 5

I need a USB audio adapter that can output DTS, Dolby ProLogic and Dolby Digital via SPDIF. Can this device out put 5.1 and 7.1 channel sound via the SPDIF out port in Windows 8.1? The manufacturer's website has contradicting info regarding this.

Accepted Answer

I don't know.  I RMA'd the device because it said it was Linux compatible and I couldn't get it to work in Linux.

Question 6

Just bought an ibuypower with low quality integrated sound.  I was wondering if this would work with a windows 8 machine or not?

Accepted Answer

works with my windows 8.1 system with the default drivers, didn't even need the CD. 1/8" (headphone jack) Surround works, have not tried the spdif.

Question 7

will this work with linux mint 18 ?

Accepted Answer

dont know...dont have linux

Question 8

my sound card in my computer is not working. will this work without an operating  sound card in my computer?

Accepted Answer

If you mean the sound on your mother board is not working, the answer is yes as you install it on the Mother board then install the software.

Question 9

Will this product be able to power a pair of audiophile headphones? If so, how many Ohms can you get out of the output.

Accepted Answer

If you are looking just for headphone output.  Look at the stereo/headphone-only units and add a headphone amp.

To answer this question best, we would need to know the impedance of your headphones.  StarTech hasn't published output voltage figures for this device, so there is no reason to beleive it's output is different than the CM6206 chip it is built around.  The output voltage of the CM6206 is 1.1Vrms which means it can drive about 50 ohms to a mediocre power level.  If your headset is nicely sesitive - like 102dB at 1mW  - they'll get reasonably loud, 119dB in this case.  If your phones have a high impedance - 600 ohms - or are not very sensitive, they will work but softly; get a headphone amp.

Question 10

How do you set up the unit to output in 5.1 and not stereo through the SPDIF output ?

Accepted Answer

SPDIF/TOSlink do not have sufficient bandwidth to pass 5.1. The only way to do so is to find a sound card that supports "Dolby Live" which takes the 5.1 channels and encodes them into Dolby Digital (AC3) and sends them out the SPDIF. The destination would need the ability to decode Dolby Digital (most modern AVRs can do so)

Brand	StarTech.com
Model	ICUSBAUDIO7D
Part	ICUSBAUDIO7D

Audio Chipset	C-Media - CM6206
Channels	7.1
Sample Rate	48KHz
Digital Audio	16-bit

SPDIF In	Optical
MIC In	Yes

Interface	USB
External Box	Yes
Operating Systems Supported	Windows 10 (32 / 64), 8 / 8.1 (32 / 64), 7 (32 / 64), Vista (32 / 64), XP (32 / 64), 2000 Windows Server 2008 R2, 2003 (32 / 64)

Dimensions	1.00" x 3.90" x 2.40"
Weight	0.50 lb.

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StarTech.com ICUSBAUDIO7D 7.1 Channels 16-bit 48KHz USB Interface Audio Adapter External Sound Card

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Item#: 9SIA1K689W2462