Customer Reviews

I had bought two new laptops running Windows 10 both, however, only had a single audio socket for a headset and not proper stereo line inputs. As a result when trying to record my old LP records I would get prominent tick, tick, tick sounds with the music quietly underneath it. I eventually found and ordered a StarTech Stereo Audio USB External Sound Card with SPDIF Digital Audio. After a bit of changing inputs and setting the input as a USB microphone and output as the laptop's normal speakers the sound is perfect again. The search was not easy as I didn't really know what to look for - many USB adapters are not stereo, and this is. I got mine from Span.com as I'm in the UK.

For those trying to get optical 5.1 surround sound out of your newer Mac, this is the sound card to buy! I recently replaced my older 2011 iMac and the only thing I missed about the old computer was the built-in 3.5mm analog/digital output that supported encoded Dolby AC3/DTS 5.1 surround sound passthrough. To avoid changing out my old receiver, which still provides great surround sound, I needed an optical TOSLINK SPDIF output to play my iTunes movies. I just had to select "Prefer AC3 Passthrough" as the output in iTunes or the new Apple TV app in macOS Catalina Beta.

I bought this card recently from Amazon. It resolved 2 problems that I was having with my integrated sound card. Music playback was fine with my integrated sound card, but the volume for internet news broadcast was low. Then I had to turn my volume up high and I had a problem with hum. This card resolved both problems. I would say that my volume for the internet new has been doubled. Also, StarTech has many unique components. Their assistance when inquiring about products, is outstanding.

This is a very small (it surprised me, I thought it would be a lot bigger) external USB sound card with lets you have great sound for both headphones and for normal cheap microphones (more so than if you connect them to your microphone in on your motherboard sound card (or any internal sound cards I've ever tried). If you need great sound for your PC or laptop and you're on a budget (and even if you're not on a budget), this is the one for you.

I run a tri-amp system that predominantly plays all channel stereo from my .flac library. I am most definitely an audiophile and there is certainly a SQ improvement using this device. I have a 3.5mm spdif to optical audio hooked straight to amp 1 as opposed to laptop media port (? Is that what it's called) to HDMI to TV then optical out to amp 1. I recommend setting the main volume to 85% player at 100% then adjust amps from there. Last night I set up Dolby Atmos for headphones free trial plugin, enabled 7.1 virtual surround and hooked my velodyne cans to this device. I was blown away with the AC3-encoded Valerian and the city of 1000 planets swarming around the headphones. Top notch product, startech. Hurry up and make an android app/plugin so I can enjoy my .flacs on my LG g5 with neutron! Also, send me some devices to review on my blog. You guys rock!

My internal sound card died, and I decided to give this a try. The first thing I noticed was the headphones that seemed to have no bass were great. Plenty of volume. Software for customizing more would be nice, but for the quality it produces is not really needed.

This seems like a great product but I get an error when I try to install on my windows 10 laptop. Because I cannot install the driver, I have to plug in the device then plug headphones into it in order to hear any sound. Wish they would update for windows 10.

Have 2 of these, Microsoft for same reason made installation is tad fiddly - its pnp & then reboot to install correct drivers. USB Advanced Audio Device and USB PnP Sound device If you use portable Kodi you also need to select correct device after reboot.

I purchased this adapter a month or so ago with the primary goal of getting an optical output out of my Windows 10 PC. It works like a charm. Obviously, I was looking to get high quality output. This too was delivered.

Connect and choose "USB Advanced Audio Device," then "Encoded Digital Audio" for AC3 output from iTunes. No apparent Safari (Plex, etc.) support, YET.