Creative Labs Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Sound Adapter for Windows and Mac. Plug and Play (No Drivers Required). Upgrade to 24-Bit 96Khz Playback

This is a little more expensive than some of the most basic USB sound devices, and you get what you pay for. I had a way cheaper USB single-jack sound card on a laptop with no mic port, and sound was choppy, it chewed up a lot of CPU cycles, and there was little fine tuning you can do. In typical Creative fashion, this device doesnt suffer any of these issues. It is super simple to install, the software provides for some decent tweaking and it just plain works. Its larger than many similar devices, but the hardware inside that keeps it from chewing up unnecessary cycles and keeping the audio clean justify the size, in my opinion. Highly recommend this for port-strapped systems.

The sound is great if your audio and mic are separate. However, if you use the TRRS (audio+mic) jack, there is a constant static noise. I verified this with 3 pairs of headphones. So you need to use an audio splitter to split TRRS into TRS (audio) and TS (mic) to avoid the static.

The price is right on this one. The sound quality is better than your average motherboard. Its super easy to use. It supposedly can drive a 600 Ohm set of cans, but I dont have any to test with. It does sound better if you put it at that setting, but youre likely to damage your headphones permanently if they cant handle that.

This little device surprised me, it sounds even better than my Sound Blaster Audigy Rx card, which costs twice as much. Originally I bought it just to use it on my phone but now I use it on both my pc and my phone.

I installed this USB sound card plug and play on my Windows desktop. I immediately heard an improvement over the computers stock sound card, better clarity, more solid bass, wider soundstage. But I mainly bought the card to help me listen to my headphones at a stronger volume level and with just plug and play I got minimal volume increase. You need to download the Sound Blaster Play! 3 software (App). Then click on the Speaker/Headphones tab and at the bottom select High Gain. That gave me substantially more volume. Now I can listen to my power-hungry headphones and get a good listening volume.

I bought this to use with a PS5 since its marketed as compatible, but there is a low volume issue where all but the easiest to drive headphones will be way too quiet. I saw a Reddit thread where a Creative employee said this was a known issue and they may be working on a firmware fix. Sony consoles have had this issue for years with external DACs needing special firmware to function properly, so I dont know why a company like Creative wouldnt have done testing on it since they have plenty of gaming focused products that do work like the G6. Im not sure if I want to wait for a possible update or just return it and try something else. Apart from that its a good dongle for its price point. Using it on my PC the sound quality is solid (pretty much on par with my $10 HTC dongle, not quite as good as my Fiio K5 Pro which is much more expensive). I dont hear any noise and it can drive all the headphones I own well. There are a lot of sound adjustments in the App but I turned them all off. All in all I would say its worth buying if you need better audio for a laptop on the cheap, but if your goal is PS4/PS5 use I would look elsewhere for the time being.

Since I started working remotely I have been using cheap USB-C to headset adapters. They last from as little as 3 days to a couple of weeks before just stopping working. I actually had a couple that were dead from the moment they arrived! I decided to buy this product because it has name-brand recognition and I am so glad that I did. It works reliably and I can use it either on my phone or laptop with a wired headset. I have had no complaints about the microphone sound quality and I really like the red light confirm that I am muted. The software that you can optionally use with the adapter is a little spotty. When I last tried it, there were too many quirks and bugs, but I really dont need it to use the adapter for my purposes. I travel a fair amount for work, and this adapter has already survived several trips. I much prefer wired headsets due to not needing a battery or charging with bluetooth headsets - wired headsets are often cheaper too. I frequently work 16+ hour days and dont want to deal with a headset going dead. Also wired boom microphones seem to work better than bluetooth ones for the same price-point.

Thank You Creative for this Sound Blaster ,I wondered if 96/24 bit would be noticable I got it August 2019 and it is truly amazing I can set it if I want to use it differently ,it is very customizable and my Sony AW-45 is also 96/24 and it was over $150 but this is the one I still keep on my Computer it replaces the not great Sound Card from my NUC or Dell Inspiron Duo sounds great now ,for the price it is amazing I would advise anyone who doesnt have DAC yet to get this one for $20 I see DAC running for $100 for 192/24 bit and when you get to 768/36 bit over $200 even Thousand plus I have a DAC now that is stronger but this one is for my Computer still Creative is a very good Company I would and have told a couple friends about it and definitely advise it ,I do not think Computers have good sound cards but this becomes the Computers sound card Thank You rsdno Update ***** This has lasted and sounds almost like my much lamented Kunlun ,it does take 15 or 20 minutes to set up but Creative almost gave me a gift for the price and that is great deal but this helped me to enjoy youtube and I hear music made specifically for a movie or TV it sounds awesome so if you dont have DAC or want your PC to sound great this Creative for well under $30 is a great buy and great sound but use the control panel and instructions rsdno

The Sound Blaster Play! is a compact and portable sound card that can be easily plugged into your computers USB port. It has a sleek and stylish design, and its small form factor makes it easy to carry around with you wherever you go. The sound card is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems, and can be used with a variety of devices including headphones, speakers, and microphones. One of the main features of the Sound Blaster Play! is its high-quality digital-to-analog converter (DAC), which helps to improve the overall sound quality of your audio. It also has a built-in amplifier, which can provide additional power to your headphones or speakers, resulting in a clearer and more detailed sound. Users have reported that the sound quality is noticeably better when using the Sound Blaster Play! compared to their computers built-in audio. The Sound Blaster Play! also includes a variety of software features, such as the Sound Blaster Command software, which allows you to customize the audio settings to your liking. The software also includes a range of audio effects and enhancements, such as virtual surround sound, EQ adjustments, and noise reduction. In summary, the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Play! is a great option for anyone looking to improve the audio quality of their computer or laptop. Its compact and portable design, high-quality DAC and built-in amplifier, and customizable software features make it a great value for its price.

I have several sets of headsets for gaming, and a problem I had with all of them was that I could never get the microphones set at a good level. All of them had to be turned up to 100% in control panel with mic boost on just so you could hear your voice, and they tended to sound horrible with tons of background noise. After my 3rd set of headphones, I started thinking, maybe its not the headphones at all, but the built in sound card in my computer. I went searching for external sound cards, and came across the Sound Blaster Play 3. For 16 bucks, you cant go wrong, so I figured I would give it a shot. Im now hitting myself for waiting so long! First, it makes your microphone work so much better with no background noise. I have the mic level set to 75%, and it is so much louder and clearer! 2nd, the driver lets you use sidetone with your headphones. This was a feature that was not built into several of my headsets, but you can turn it on with the software. 3rd, the sound is night and day better with this Sound Blaster than my built in sound card. Really impressed with this product, and I recommend it highly! Worth every penny.