Creative Labs 70SB049000000 USB SoundBlaster Live 24-Bit External Sound Card

PROS 1) Price-At under $50, it is similarly priced to other products but is of way better quality. 2) Quality-DVD sound through my 4.1 PC speaker system is great; no distortion, crackles, etc. 3) Connections-All the inputs and outputs you'll need and the volume dial is nice. 4) Software-Sound configuration software is intuitive and works seamlessly with the hardware. CON 1) Installation-The installation did hang at the very end when trying to update DirectX. May have to do with the fact that it was trying to update with a version older than I had. However, once I ctrl-alt-deleted the non responding window, the installation finished fine. OVERALL This is a great product that finally gives purpose to the 4.1 speaker system I bought to use at home on my laptop. Even though my speakers are pretty low end (only 45 watts--see my other reviews for specific CA model), overall sound in movies is awesome and the surround speakers are distinct. This is the second USB external 5.1 sound box I have bought in as many weeks. The last one from PPA, which was only a few dollars cheaper than this, had terrible connections to the speaker system--creating a crackle when the cords were moved. What made it unbearable was that after watching about a half-hour of a movie, the sound got really bad with pops and distortion and could only be remedied by dis- and re-connecting the USB connection. (This is a problem I've read from other lower-end external sound cards). The Creative SB Live! External has none of these problems. It's a great value for seriously upgrading a laptop's audio for 4/5.1 surround--especially if you don't want to shell out the $80-$100 for the Audigy PCMCIA card.

Its one of the few USB solutions for 5.1 in the notebook-laptop and does all the good work but it has som cons 2 it. Its a usb 1.1 and not 2.0 so its slow if you run multiple programs on the PC while listening to 5.1 audio and video and then the sound's not continous, its good if u listen to 2.1 audio though. AND drivers are not available for MAC OS , so MB and MBP owners stay away from this product till drivers are available. The sound quality is very good but not top notch and should work fine with basic 5.1 speakers. Remember when watchin 5.1 movies jus don do anything else... Njoy !!

This Creative SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit USB external soundcard rocks! No kidding. I've had a lot of experience with different soundcard/speaker setups, and this is the best "card" yet. The 24-bit is noticible over 16-bit, which is the standard for onboard soundcards. If you have a nice speaker system (I use a Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Sound System, which I HIGHLY recommend!), then you want the highest possible quality soundcard to output the best sound. Also, if you're listening to MP3's or WMA's like I use primarily, make sure to encode the music in a high-bitrate for optimum sound quality and clarity to match your kickin' soundcard and speaker system (I use 192kbps WMA Pro 9.2, which is FAR superior to standard 128kbps MP3's you find on the internet). For my computer setup, I have a laptop (no secondary desktop) and a docking station. I couldn't stand the crappy 16-bit onboard audio from my laptop to go with my Klipsch ProMedia's or my Sennheiser HD280Pro headphones (which are amazing!); that is why I HAD to get a nice 24-bit external card for my laptop setup. I don't regret the purchase! Don't settle for anything less than Creative for a new soundcard, but don't go with their speaker systems.... they're overpriced and underpowered compared to the other systems out there. Overall, the card is amazing, the external controls on the box are VERY nice, the gold-plated headphone and microphone jacks keep the signal very clean, and it offers both Digital Optical and SPDIF (coaxial) outputs to connect to a home theater receiver (instead of directly to headphones or PC speakers), and has jacks for a full 5.1 surround sound PC speaker setup (although I only use the "front" jack for my 2.1 speakers). The software is VERY nice and easy to use; it even recognizes automatically what type of output you have plugged in, whether it be headphones, PC speakers, or a digital receiver. The software also contains CMSS to simulate a 5.1 signal from any stereo signal, such as a CD or MP3's, which works decently in my past experience with Creative. The only "con" that I've found is that this sound card is USB 1.1, instead of the modern "standard" USB 2.0, which means that the bandwidth to the soundcard can become restricted. The only problem this causes is if you are trying to monitor the microphone input with the 24-bit 96kHz option enabled; it automatically reduces the bitrate output to 16-bit and gives you a warning that the microphone monitoring has ate-up all the bandwidth and that it is now unable to symultaneously output in 24-bits. This isn't a big deal, as you can switch the output back to 24-bits after you've finished with microphone monitoring. I rarely use a microphone, so it's not too big of a deal. BUY THIS PRODUCT! I'm telling you, you won't find a better external USB 24-bit 96kHz sound card out there, especially for only $50, unless Creative releases a USB 2.0 version.

I bought this soundcard for DVD. When I got it and tested it by mp3 files, I was really surprised. The sound quality is almost closed to CD. If you are not a extreme Hi-Fi fan, this sound card is apparently a great solution. You won't regret. Another benefit is you don't have to buy standard WinDVD if you have decoder in you home theatre system. If you wanna get 5.1 output from WinDVD, you will have to buy the standard version. Those WinDVDs come with your laptop don't support 5.1 output. This sound card offers you a free solution. You can check "only use digital(s/pdif)" in WinDVD and you can get 5.1 sound! However, the prerequisite is your speakers have a decoder. The only problem I have with this sound card is when I checked "digital output(s/pdif)" in the configuration panel, I found it only supported 2.1 speakers. I was struggling with this problem until I did some research on creative website. The answer is "It doesn't matter". You can still get 5.1 output from s/pdif even it says it's "2.1". It's a little bit confusing for a average computer user. Hence, the software is not perfectly designed. That's why I gave 4 stars to this card. All in all, great sound quality. Not expensive. Never regret!!