StarTech USB Stereo Audio Adapter External Sound Card with SPDIF Digital Audio

2025-03-08T19:00:00

I bought this by chance .. my laptop's onboard sucked ! I have A UAD Apollo X4 and needed a cheap way to move data around Well Say No More ! This little Gem has it all adat digital I/O at this price ..well it works perfect I am ordering another One ! On A final note I only gave it 4 stars cause of the interface It does not do the unit Justice But at that price there is nothing more to say Jon 45+ yrs in the Bizz with 2 little awards ! Thanks .. Oh almost forgot Tech Support sounded like A Brit to me was 10 outa 10 !

StarTekh

Originally posted at

2023-12-01T19:00:00

I have A HP Envy23 all-in-one that I love. It is now 11 year old and the audio card went on the one piece mother board. I installed the external sound card add WOW....everything is better then before. I did in fact educate The Geek Squad, they said WOW also.

Michael600

Originally posted at

2022-08-20T20:00:00

Got this so my Imac could get my (G51 Surround Sound Speaker System) to work like it did with my Pc

Tutcat

Originally posted at

2022-06-06T20:00:00

We plugged this soundcard into an Intel NUC USB port and within five seconds could smell something burning. We unplugged it immediately, but within a minute the NUC had gone down. The sound card remained functional afterwards but the NUC was permanently damaged. We have not had the same problem with other sound cards or with this sound card on other computers. Unfortunately we were able to replicate the problem. Note that the sound card was fresh out of the box and the NUC had only been in operation for a day.

csullivan

Originally posted at

2022-05-25T20:00:00

The whole reason I use this USB sound card is that the Line in and Microphone could be activated at the same time. The disabling of this "feature" in the new driver is unacceptable. I have 2 computers and have my audio connected from the other computer and I use the mic at the same time.

SethN

Originally posted at

2022-03-21T20:00:00

I wasn't happy with the whole Realtek/Windows 10 thing & the fight to get a 5.1 speaker set working properly. I recently bought a set of Logitech Z607 speakers and have been disappointed with the output. There were flashes of goodness but it was inconsistent. The main complaint was the subwoofer seemed pretty capable but never seemed to get utilized. After hunting around a bit for sound cards, I came across this one. I just received it today, and following the advice posted by DaveE1 on this site got things plugged in & tuned up. Now the drum and bass actually has some bass (OK, the speaker set isn't great, but at least it's being fully utilized now.

thecosmictrickster

Originally posted at

2021-09-30T20:00:00

Sound is on par with the famous name PCIe card, best of all I don't have to uninstall drivers/software then reinstall every few boots like I did with that expensive card. Sound is def better than the OEM/Intel/Realtek offerings--not to mention it's a snap moving from 1pc to another (try that with an internal card)...I downloaded the StarTech zip file rather than the enclosed CD, installation was a breeze, the program has plenty of tweaks to keep me busy. i should have bought this usb StarTech years ago!

NeedCawfee

Originally posted at

2021-07-21T20:00:00

I had a connection issue. I contacted customer support and first chatted with "Chris". I am not computer savvy like I'd like to be, so he took over my computer and installed the software that was necessary. That didn't completely solve my problem, so I re-contacted them and got connected to "Justin". He troubleshooted my problem and figured out my issue was a setting on my computer. I am now enjoying fantastic sound form my laptop. This sound card is a MUST HAVE if you enjoy music!!

Howie

Originally posted at

2021-05-05T20:00:00

I just this box and, so far, it's been working great. I needed to download new drivers off of the Startech website to make it work with Windows 10, but once I did, no problems. I have a Dell laptop and I got some 5.1 speakers secondhand so I needed a USB solution to give me 5.1. This was exactly what I needed. The sound quality seems fine, although the speakers I'm using are not great. Works nice with games, Netflix. Very pleased.

jjk13

Originally posted at

2021-04-24T20:00:00

the audio station that comes with it decided it will no longer recognize 5.1 - no support articles, etc. speakers are fine, used different usb ports, uninstalled and reinstalled - only a few months old.

kurts

Originally posted at

2020-12-13T19:00:00

I got this to reuse a 7.1 surround sound system that was collecting dust in my loft. I plugged it in on my Win 10 machine (Version 1909) and it seemed to auto install. Problem is it would only output as "headphones" no options to output in any other way. I then installed the startech drivers from the website, still nothing. After half an hour of troubleshooting I contacted support, long story short you need to install the drivers from the Startech website which will install the app "Cmedia Xear Audio Centre", open the app, right click on the "Headphone" icon, select the second option "headphone settings" then in the top right select the drop down box that says "Headphone" then you can select "speaker" or "SPDIF Out" . once you select "speaker" the "headphone" icon will grey out and "Speakers" will be selected. You can then output in 5.1, 7.1 etc! No mention of this un-intuitive "feature" in the manual but support were great!

DaveE1

Originally posted at

2020-10-17T20:00:00

I have my own preamp and needed something to digitize line-level signal. Startech does it fairly well, with excellent low-frequency response - which is great for my application.

dlld

Originally posted at

2020-09-24T20:00:00

I am here writing again because i left a decent review of this little device. It almost didnt work for my DJing applications as the line in port didnt work. They contacted me and i was able to work out EVERYTHING on how to get this item to work. I would recommend buying this product and if you have issues, contact their customer support. They were very helpful and amazing at their jobs. I thought this was going to be some cheap product that would only partially work but they have put work into this device and drivers even for Windows 10. Please. Get this thing if your sound card doesnt work.

3V0_Official

Originally posted at

2020-09-20T20:00:00

I've had this for about 3 months now and it works great as my PC's built in sound card did not work at all when I built it. The quality of the sound is great, however there are some caveats. I am using Windows 10 as an operating system. The drivers are not on the disc for Windows 10 and on the website, the drivers do not fix the issues that are present. Line in doesnt work, the speaker output doesnt work, and the microphone inputs are annoying to deal with as i am a DJ and need ONE direct line in, but since the line in doesnt work, I have to split the audio in two ways just to get Stereo sound, and even when i do set it up, every little sound going through the inputs will sound clipped and too loud on the outputs no matter WAHT KIND of adjusting you do in software. I have not tested the fiber-optic inputs/outputs so I can not give a definitive response on that front. However if we can get a driver update to make sure that this device works wholeheartedly, this review will go STRAIGHT to 5 stars. The only output that works are for the headphones and while the quality is great and it does partially what i need it to do, the lack of Windows 10 driver support and the fact that i can not use a Line input for my DJ mixes takes this to a 3 star. Practical and usable, but you will need something better to record any form of audio with it.

3V0_0fficial

Originally posted at

2020-06-09T20:00:00

Great device - however the new 2020 Windows 10 Build 2004 the device stopped working - no audio - uninstall - re-install drivers / usb audio drivers - still no audio - device appears in sound control panel and device manger.

chuckit

Originally posted at

2020-06-06T20:00:00

i bought this item for my pc who doesn't have a very good sound card, this product is the response for that work beautyful but the software for windows 10 is difficult to install or is missing and my sound card it's not working the way should be

alevi

Originally posted at

2020-04-14T20:00:00

this item is pretty much useless when using the spdif output as it only supports 2 channels

JimandWilson

Originally posted at

2020-03-11T20:00:00

I have a Surface Pro Book and I have two docking stations, one for my car and one for my office. I have the Logitech 5.1 surround system and I bought this switch to utilize this system. This thing was fairly straight forward to hook up. I have the best surround sound I have ever had including my full desktop systems with Soundblaster cards. The tech support is awesome so If you cannot figure it out, call them and you will not be disappointed.

colburnk

Originally posted at

2019-11-27T19:00:00

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.

Impressed

Originally posted at

2019-11-04T19:00:00

Win 10 only works with stereo. It only seems to use 2 channels making the product pointless. The software from cmedia 2012 doesn't seem to do any difference. Im using SPDIF in

Navyseai

Originally posted at

2019-10-26T20:00:00

Bought recently as a new computer I was building had limited 3-jack sound integrated. Wanted to use my Altec Lansing 4.1 speaker system with new build. This Startech card solved my problem! Installed card, Windows recognized and installed drivers, hooked up speakers and the sound is awwesome! Couldn't be happier.

Chawoobie

Originally posted at

2019-10-19T20:00:00

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.

orion39

Originally posted at

2019-10-15T20:00:00

I have never been able to get anything other that 16 bit 2 channel audio out of this useless device. Installing the latest drivers from startech is a waste of time as the drivers are from 2012.

ripped_off_by_startech

Originally posted at

2019-10-04T20:00:00

This device cannot and will not output anything more that stereo 2 channel.

jim988283

Originally posted at

2019-08-28T20:00:00

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.

candotude

Originally posted at

2019-07-11T20:00:00

I bought this item 2 days ago. Since the DVD in the package only support the OS up to Windows 7, I downloaded the separate driver from this website. Installation of the driver seems to be fine. But, the device only output 2 channels of the sound only. I tried to fix this problem by 'USB Multi-Channel Audio Device' program. Still, it only stream the sound through 'front' aux output even I have set the analog output as 4, 6, or 8.

JEddie

Originally posted at

2019-07-06T20:00:00

Bought this card to take advantage of my Logitech Z506 5.1 Surround audio, however the drivers have not been necessary in my case since windows handles this device so far without problems

Schwarz2503

Originally posted at

2019-06-07T20:00:00

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

Roman C.

Originally posted at

2019-05-10T20:00:00

I have used this device since Feb 2016. It works great when the drivers are correct. However Microsoft updates keep messing up the drivers and it's next to impossible to restore the driver settings. Until a better driver install is available, I suggest avoiding this product or be ready to waste hours upon hours installing drivers.

j_j

Originally posted at

2019-04-22T20:00:00

We need an external sound card to ship with our sound systems because many internal sound cards are too noisy. We have tested 27 external cards. Many are cheap unbranded Chinese knock-offs. This was by far the best sound card we found. It has a C-Media CM108 chip. It has excellent gain and low noise. It is expensive however.

JoeK

Originally posted at