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

The sound card is good, but it is not functional for me in particular, since it has both ports very close together and I need to use them both.

Im not using this the way most people are, so take that into account. Basically, I have several systems. All but one: Realtek audio. When CPU usage gets too high (I dont mean like 99%. I mean 40% maybe) or I do just shy of anything involving multiple windows playing audio in Firefox it goes robotic and choppy to the level that theres more chop than actual sound. Basically unusable even after doing all the fixes you can find and this is a budget gaming laptop with a Core i5 8th gen so theres no excuse for that. On the other hand, my $150 from over a year ago potato laptop has perfect sound. Therefore I bought this to replace Realtek. Short version: it doesnt do any of those things. Plug it in, wait a few minutes while things get set up, and audio problems are fixed. The sound quality is great, yes, but thats also a function of changing my headphones along with getting this. In short, if youre having problems with your onboard audio that just dont want to go away give up and get this.

Bought this stick for a cost effective way to have good recording quality and be able to use it on multiple devices. The quality definitely beats the other USB audio devices I own that were between the $10-$17 range. To me its definitely worth the extra cost. Its still really cheap nowdays because of the Play!4 that offers better quality and a wider compatibility. Pros: - the expected SB playback and recording quality that beats cheaper competition - very attractive pricing - plug and play on all our windows (10/11) PCs chromebook and mac - virtual surround works well in games and adds a lot to titles like War Thunder Cons: - could have a line input - recording limited to 24-bit / 48khz - playback is limited to 24-bit / 96 kHz - no physical mute button or volume control (doest bother me but worth nothing the Play!4 has mute and EQ buttons)

Like other reviewers, this is an excellent choice when picking a USB audio adapter after failure of on-motherboard audio on a Windows desktop PC. This Creative SB adapter delivers great sound at a nice price. Unlike cheaper USB audio units, this SB adapter is quiet during PC bootup and shutdown -- other inexpensive units can produce loud popping noises as the USB gets power, loads driver, etc. Recommended.

I use this for basically everything on my computer. I watch YouTube, play games, and even make beats on the side. All that goes through this sound card (since my computers audio jacks randomly stopped working one day). Anyway, the sound is pretty good. I like the built in equalizer in the software. It is very useful because I have studio headphones (which are tuned flat for music production). So to make them sound good when listening to music, they need an eq. So that is a very nice feature, and I use it all the time. There is one major issue I found with this sound card: lag. There is noticable lag, so when you do something on the computer, you wont hear it instantly. There is maybe a .1 second lag. So I would not recommend this for gaming or audio production. However, it is just fine for music listening and watching videos. (Basic computer stuff).

If youre a musician with a love for analog gear like me, you might have a PA mixer that youd like to record with but no way to plug it into your computer without getting some crazy hum from the mic jack in your computer. I record on a Yamaha MG 10/2 and run a Red/White stereo out from the recording jack on the mixer into the mic input on the Sound Blaster. I also run an auxiliary cable back from the speaker jack on the Sound Blaster into one of the channels on the mixer so that I can use it to play beats and backing tracks from my laptop. The sound quality is far superior to any other recording set up Ive used so far. If your mixer has USB out you can probably skip the Sound Blaster, but if you like older analog equipment this thing is a lifesaver for recording. As other reviews have stated, you have to download the software from the companys website and then turn off all of the settings they add, but once you do that you get a very clean signal from whatever youre plugging into the Sound Blaster. This is a great external soundcard if you want to bring your analog mixing set up into the 21st century without spending a ton of money that you could be spending on 9 volt batteries and guitar strings. 5/5

Funciona al 100%

My onboard motherboad sound went out years ago and installed an internal sound card. Well 7 years later, that card went out also. Was at a loss, until I read that pc technology has moved up since the last 7 years and just a simple card on a tiny dongle has been around for some time now. Hooked it up, and playing pc games again!

Great Product.. Plug and Play

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.