7.1 USB Sound Card - External Sound Card for Laptop with SPDIF Digital Audio - Sound Card for PC - Silver (ICUSBAUDIO7D)

I have a periodic need to record from an analog stereo source (line/headphone jack). Most (nearly all) new laptops lack a stereo mic/line input so a passive adapter wouldn't work. This device provides the connectivity I needed and works great with audacity in Windows. I have not tried it with Linux, but the advertised Linux compatibility was a factor in choosing this particular device as I will be migrating in a year or so. The star tech brand was a factor too. I've had good experiences with many of their devices over the years. I am very happy with the audio quality that I'm getting on my recordings, and have no intention of using the outputs, but you never know what you'll need to hook up in the future and this device seems to have some staying power support-wise and I've had good luck with Star tech equipment and adapters in the past (but they will eventually drop support because they are a business not a charity). I've had this about a year now and expect it to last and continue to function well.

I bought an HP EliteBook 755 G5 with a docking station and wanted to connect it to my existing Logitech 5.1 analog speakers. These speakers have three 3.5mm stereo jacks: Front speakers (green), Rear speakers (black), and Center/Subwoofer (orange). The laptop contains two built-in sound cards. One is only capable of 2.0 stereo and works through the 3.5" audio jacks. The other built-in sound card works only through the DisplayPort connection. For example, if you connect the laptop to a TV with audio capability or to an A/V receiver, that sound card handles that audio output. Since I have a monitor with no audio jacks or processing, I cannot take advantage of that built-in device. (There is another kind of product that could. I’ll talk about it at the end of this review.) I chose StarTech because I had luck with their products in the past. This external sound card is more expensive than the cheap Chinese ones on eBay and it supports 7.1 as well as 5.1. I did NOT have to use the driver CD. I have Windows 10 1809 and it recognized the card immediately. It shows up in the Device Manager as “USB Sound Device.” Don’t be alarmed if you check the properties and see a message under the “Events” tab claiming "Device requires further installation." If you look at the list, you will see that even though the entry in the list of Events might be the top one, the Timestamp is older than the entries below. This means that this message is normal and has no significant meaning at all, even though it can be confusing and previous Windows versions did not show something similar. Configuring the sound card for 5.1 (or 7.1) audio is simple. Go to the Control Panel and select Sound. Under the Playback tab, click on the “Speakers” for the USB Sound Device and click on the Configure button. Choose 5.1 and click the Test button to make sure everything is connected properly. Click Next. Make sure all optional speakers are selected. Click Next. If you have a satellite speaker system with a subwoofer like me, you do NOT have full-range speakers. You can verify this by plugging in the green plug into a 2.0 stereo source and listen to the sound quality. If it’s sorely missing bass, then they are NOT full-range speakers. Uncheck these options. (BTW, sometimes the front speakers are full-range, but the rear speakers are not. If the rear speakers are smaller than the fronts, uncheck the rear speakers only.) Click Finish. Another option I could have tried would have been to use a device that converts the digital audio supplied over HDMI to analog. Amazon sells such a device: SKSL HDMI Digital Audio Converter. However, I would have needed to buy a DisplayPort to HDMI cable. Also, I would have to get RCA to 3.5mm adapters, too. And, that option costs a lot more. UPDATE 2019-05-15: Just wanted to say the sound quality has been superb!

This device was working fine for about 2 months on a Windows 11 machine and then quit. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling in Device Manager and updating drivers, etc. The thing that fixed it was a powered USB hub, which is odd because it was the same USB port I had been using previously without issue. The price is right, and it functions well, but you might need a powered USB hub to go with it.

I am not able to get this devise to play anything but analog. I have a 5 chanel plus bass and it won't play any of the speakers except the center one. I paid to much for this not to work properly.

I have a home theater in which I have a media center computer; this uses a GNU/Linux operating system (Xubuntu). Its default sound is good (it has a TosLink output) but I wanted something better, to wit, USB sound output. (This review will be of most interest to those who also use Linux.) I received this StarTech.com 7.1 USB Audio Adapter External Sound Card with SPDIF Digital Audio Sound Cards ICUSBAUDIO7D yesterday and I now have it set up. Frankly, it is not quite as easy to use as one might think; this has nothing to do with the product itself which is nothing short of superb. Rather the difficulties are due to the nature of your computer and just how knowledgeable you are about changing parameters. The default in almost all computers is for the sound to be routed through the computer's internal sound card to the line or headphone output jack. These are analog jacks. The quality of the computer's sound card determines the quality of the sound you will hear. Unfortunately, most internal computer sound cards are mediocre. Of course there are some which are superlative but these are few and far between (not even to mention very expensive). This little inexpensive device allows complete bypassing of the computer's sound card in favor of your amplifier or receiver. If you have a high quality one, it and it alone will determine the quality of the sound you hear (of course this also depends upon the quality of that to which you are listening!). As stated, I use a GNU/Linux operating system on my media center computer located in my home theater (it is a ZaReason MediaBox 5330 model with the Intel i5 processor and 16 GB RAM). Hooking this device to a computer is very easy. You merely take the included USB cable, plug one end into your computer, and the other end into this device. Then you connect one end of a Toslink cable to the S/PDIF output on the back of this sound card and you plug the other end into the appropriate Toslink connection point on your amplifier/receiver. Will you then immediately hear digital sound? No. First you must go into your sound settings section and change the settings from the default analog to the appropriate USB digital setting. After you do this, will you then hear digital sound? Again, no. You must go into the sound settings section of the programs you use to play media. In my case, I use three: VLC Media Player, SM Player, and Audacious. Each of these has its own settings menu (in VLC's case, you'll want to use the advanced menu rather than the simple one). Once all of THOSE are set properly, will you THEN hear digital sound? You bet!!! And it's just great. The sound in my theater, whether playing music (FLAC files) via Audacious, or movies (videos), especially ones with "surround" tracks, through VLC or SM Player, is so much better than the analog (surround) sound I previously used as to make such a comparison meaningless. There is no comparison! My wife can easily hear the difference and I would guess that almost ANYONE would hear the difference. DTS (regular or lossless)? Not a problem. Dolby Digital (regular or lossless)? Not a problem. 7.1 output? Again, not a problem. Just a pleasure! Why would I need a device such as this? It is because my receiver, a Yamaha RX-Z9, was made just before the introduction of HDMI connections. If you have a receiver AND a computer with modern HDMI connections, you don't need this. One HDMI cable will carry picture as well as audio. But if you want digital sound output from your computer, with all of its advantages, and your computer does not have an HDMI output, and/or you have a receiver which does not have HDMI but DOES have digital audio connections, then this is your device. And, at 33 bucks or so, it won't break the bank! It also has analog outputs which carry up to 5.1 analog channels if your receiver has those inputs. Naturally it will also output straight stereo. It even has a headphone jack as well as an analog line input jack. It's quite a versatile instrument! By the way, the changes in audio configurations I mention above apply to ALL computers regardless of the operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.). It may be a bit trickier to use with a Windows computer (a CD with the necessary drivers for Windows is included; no special setup is required for Mac or Linux) but it still shouldn't be too difficult for fairly knowledgeable people. Its specifications claim it supports 16-bit 44.1/48 kHz sound output. But I can tell you that playing a 24-bit 48 kHz sound file sounds tremendous. I played a "record" downloaded from a company called Pristine Classical. It has several pieces within it: all of the experimental stereo recordings made by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony, recorded in 1954. I chose to buy the 24-bit 48 kHz FLAC file and I played it through this device just this morning. I need not say any more than that it sounded as if it had been recorded yesterday! For all practical purposes, no one need worry about any "limitations" in this unit's specifications. Just please take my advice: if you are comfortable about changing parameters within a computer, or, if you know someone who is, or even if you are willing to spend money to hire someone who can install this properly, then by all means buy this item if you have need for such a device. If you are not comfortable, for any reason, then merely use the default sound settings of your computer. Frankly, they are adequate for many people. But I truly am extremely happy I bought this StarTech device. (It is not the first item I have bought from this company; in my experience, their products are first-class in every way.) I give it my highest recommendation for anyone who has need for it. Thank you very much for reading this. Lawrence H. Bulk

Cette carte audio externe est pile ce que je recherchais. Le pris est correct (des cartes similaires chez Creative coûtent plus de 100 euros en moyenne). Le bouton sur le boîtier est un plus, même si je ne m'en sers pas, ça fait quand même trois possibilités de moduler le son (réglages Windows, le bouton sur les enceintes et ces boutons sur le boîtier). Le son est très bon puisque j'ai un système 5.1. Cela m'a permis de récupérer du son sur un PC où la carte son interne et intégré à la carte mère a lâché. Le produit est arrivé dans les délais annoncés et bien emballé. Ce fut une joie que de retrouver du son sur mon PC.

I loved this audio card it worked perfectly. I connected my old pin5.1 speakers to my Alienware pc.

Mi serviva una scheda audio, stabile, per pilotare almeno 3/4 canali audio separati di output, per un impianto da 6/8 bass shaker; Lo fa, ed anche bene; - i segnali sono puliti, molto più potenti della scheda audio Realtek; - altre schede audio esterne hanno ceduto dopo 1-2 giorni di utilizzo, ed è stato un tribulare tra resi e rimborsi per via del tempo perso; - Invece questa scheda audio, leggermente più costosa, è stabile, sta facendo il suo dovere, precisa e potente; -Ottima come sostituta di una scheda audio interna; è plug & play 7.1; io l'ho connessa ad una Usb 3cavi tutti inclusi nella confezione, insieme al cd di installazione; -Importante: ricordatevi di disabilitare l'audio Realtek di Windows 10; altrimenti questa scheda, non può prendere il controllo totale dell'audio del vostro Pc, ed è quello che vi serve per poter accedere a tutti i canali; - Forse esteticamente non è il massimo e sembra plasticosa; anzi a dire il vero è bruttina, (mi ricorda Blender di futurama) ma se funziona e anche bene, non mi importa dell' estetica; anzi mi sono affezionato; - Vale tutti i soldi che costa; meno di 60 euro; Dopo un mese di utilizzo, funziona, sembra instancabile; Non scalda in nessun modo; in pieno esercizio lavora a temperatura ambiente; Vedremo quanto dura; Per ora un prodotto serio, e funzionale; Dopo 1 anno continua a pilotare i bass shaker della mia postazione con efficienza, Consiglio vivamente Saluti Rio

For the price, thought it's bound to be an awkward product to use or will have mess around to get it working. I was so wrong, it installed within minutes, found drivers and correct software and worked immediately. Only issue was that optical isn't enabled from standard and seemed like it didn't work however to enable you need to right click the source then enable and that's it. Well worth the money and has tons of connectivity, spec for the price was even better than the Creative external soundcards with optical out... Defo buy it, great product... One other thing though is that the usb cable is only about a metre long so if desktop on the floor you'll likely need a USB extention cable so not the end of the world.

Mi placa base tiene algún tipo de problema con la salida trasera, de manera que sólo se oye un canal de esa salida. Así, opté por comprar una tarjeta de sonido externa (ya se sabe que ahora ya no se puede montar nada dentro de la caja, con lo que ocupan las gráficas). Antes de éste, compré otro modelo genérico muy habitual por Amazon. Aparte de requerir instalación de software (no reconocido por Windows 10), una de las salidas no funcionaba, así que lo devolví y le puse la review que se merece. Opté a continuación por este StarTech y ha sido una experiencia mucho mejor. Conectado y detectado directamente, sin drivers ni software. El nuevo dispositivo de audio aparece y funciona sin más. De la calidad de audio no puedo hablar porque lo uso para mandar efectos de telemetría a los bodyshakers de mi asiento de simulador. En ese sentido, funciona como es de esperar, con su canal frontal, trasero y central. Ahora tan sólo hace falta que siga así durante mucho tiempo.