StarTech.com USB Sound Card - 3.5mm Audio Adapter - External Sound Card - Black - External Sound Card (ICUSBAUDIOB)

Very easy installation.Working good .Wonderful sound

1. The product is no Dolbi, no 5.1 sound in SPDIf mode.2. Amazon refund policy is excellent. Thank you Amazon.

Super product, very nice 5.1 DTS effect, for 5.1 movie. and software gives more options for rotating 3d. sound ,for normal audio and videos

Best audiocard for pc and laptop. It has good sound but no Dolby.

Chinese

i m using this last 5 year... it is the best product from startech company... with 5 year warranty...it produces very good 5.1 sound that laptop can't produce. so any one that want to see movie in 5.1 audio can go for it but sure about movie that should be in 5.1 audio...

I wanted this to get SPDIF out from my PC to an old sound bar I was using. I opted for this as I thought the other ports would come in handy, and I had previously used StarTech products too.Rather than using the supplied CD I downloaded the drivers from their website, on the products page.The drivers also install a program called Xear Audio Centre, in this software you can change inputs/outputs and some EQ controls etc.To me it wasn't obvious how to change to SPDIF out, the option was greyed out in the software. Nothing was in the manual about this so went on live chat at StarTech, who were great. It turns out you need to right click on the active output and go to settings, this opens up a drop down box on the main screen so you can switch output between speakers/headphones/SPDIF out (see screen shot).The physical buttons on top of the USB soundcard allow easy quick access to volume control and mike mute. The SPDIF out is only 2.1. 7.1 is only available via the 3.5mm jacks.

CD with system told me “system not supported” . I went to StarTech company page for this item, under “support “ was able to download windows 10 driver, installed without issue. I called StartTech support To ask what to do then.Instructive and very knowledgable. From instructions guided through the following.How to use the windows 10 own native support for 5.1 and 7.1 to set up the system outputting 7.1 on all 4 Channel sockets.On the sound speaker icon on task bar, use that drop down to select “USB speakers”, then also from that same icon Open “sound systems” , then the Select “sound control panel” from the listing on the right (in blue).Here you will then see and be able to select from the output speaker options, the item “USB speakers”. Once selected click, “configure “ button on the lower left of that box.Here you can select the “7.1 surround sound” option, and a new window will open next to the first.By connecting a speaker or headphone Sequentially into each output socket, Individually “test” each channel by clicking on the Specific individual speaker mini icon in this new window.The Win 10 system for this was implemented in Sept 2019, but chipset manufacturer now states often That they do not provide Win10 drivers. Manufactures using this ship set do not explain Drivers are now native to Win10 since Sept. 2019. They do not appear to have updated their CDs, documentation or instructions to suit.I see from comments on this device and similar items, buyers Review and think it will not work on Win10, when in fact it will.

This seemed like a practical solution as my PC won't take a full size sound card and I suspect the onboard sounds are not the best. My sound system is based on an optical/SPDIF from the pc to the amp. I did read in reviews, but not in the makers description, that the SPDIF in and out is "through" only and assumed I was misunderstanding what was written but no, the optical in/out is connected to itself with no function on the sound card. What is the point of including this HiRes connector is it's just a dummy? This is mentioned in the small leaflet that comes in the box however. I also note from the instructions that the software was written for Win7 at the latest when the booklet was printed. Perhaps an update as it's still for sale?I'm not going to return this and I doubt I shall attempt to connect it either based on the customer experience of the software issues. My fault, read everything.An update, and I'm re rating it down to 1 star because there isn't a no stars score. I connected this to my pc and downloaded the drivers for win 10. The software installation couldn't find the hardware even though the computer recognised it and showed that a signal was being sent to the unit. Multiple attempts later, the entire music directory of mp3 and FLAC files on my pc can't be opened. On to utube so to check there. I have my headphones connected to the headphone socket (usb to computer) and, nothing. Just to have a go, I put the headphone socket into the 2.1 surround socket and hey presto, sound. Appalling sound and super loud with all the attenuation using the onboard vol controls, between 1 and 3, after that full volume all the way. This is irrelevant anyway because the 3.5mm jack sockets are so cheap that the plug wouldn't stay in. I uninstalled and repeated the process several times, always with the same results until the last time when I couldn't access any audio from the pc at all using the existing outboard amp (actually, the files couldn't be opened). It's fixed now after an hour of reinstalling audio and other drivers. What a complete and utter piece of sh......

So StarTech, I've used loads of their higher end kit in one of my jobs (professional live streams and recording) with some very expensive cameras, it all works out the box first time and is built like a tank...This on the other hand, well it doesn't deserve the StarTech branding. Cheap and tacky plastic casing, I can live with that, but the software, be prepared to trawl the internet for some half baked driver that's over 4 years old.The recommended software just straight up doesn't work. Have a dig around the internet and then find out the exact DAC inside to find some software... Well it kind of worked, I was predominantly after 5.1 over toslink optical to my Onkyo receiver... Well the most I could get with supported software was 2.1 PWM, not 5.1 Dolby/DTS.The only way I managed to get 5.1 Dolby was with uninstalling all drivers/software made for it and just letting windows 10 install some default audio drivers. And then the only way to get it to push 5.1 was through the troubleshooting options in win10, but as soon as you close it, it'll swap back to 2.1 PWM. Even forcing a 5.1 encoded MKV movie through VLC it wouldnt pass 5.1....So in conclusion dont buy. Save the 6+ hours I spent trying to get this working and go buy something else, perhaps a Asus or Soundblaster sound card...

I have an old Yamaha AV receiver that doesn't have HDMI. I was using a HDMI splitter for a while, but it didn't always work well. So I bought a Raspberry Pi 4 and this soundcard. After a few basic PulseAudio tweaks, this is actually pumping out 5.1 sound to my living room and stereo to my kitchen. My movies are in surround sound, and my music is upmixed to 5.1 (again, via pulseaudio). All of the other solutions I looked into required me to get rid of my Yamaha AV amp and Denon stereo amp, and replace them with an expensive "Network Receiver" like the Marantz. If I want to use the optical (spdif/toslink) to my Yamaha AV amp, I can. This "just works", sounds great, and was cheap.