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

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.

Plug it into a USB port and you have very adequate sound. Works on Linux and Windows effortlessly.

I purchased this product to use with a Dell Latitude 7490 with 16Gb of RAM running Windows Home. The intention was to get better sound than the installed default sound drivers could provide for Pianoteq 6.70, which is driven through the laptop by a MIDI controller keyboard. The instructions for the sound adapter suggest that no installation is required and that Win10 will recognize the adapter as soon as its plugged in. This didnt happen for me. So I went to install the recommended software to control the adapter. The URL given for this software in the enclosed documentation generated a 404 Page not found error and did not redirect to the present location. Nor was it particularly easy to find the software by following the instructions on the Creative site. Eventually I found it and installed it. This did allow Win10 to find the adapter, but there followed about an hour of struggle with Pianoteq to get it to recognize the adapter. Then the latency proved to be unacceptable. I tried to find an ASIO driver for the actual adapter but didnt succeed. Eventually I uninstalled the Creative software and settled for Windows Audio Exclusive for the audio driver and the Sound Blaster for the output, though those choices seem to imply that Im actually still using the Windows driver. Right now, thats as far as Ive got. Im guessing Ill find answers to all these problems, but this was far from being a plug-and-play solution for me. This was much cheaper than other USB-driven external adapter options. Perhaps I need to return it and trade up. Creative could certainly do better when it comes to locating their accompanying software - a 404 error is not really good enough. My application for the adapter is not mainstream, so it may be that I should have anticipated problems. I hope to revise this review (and my rating) based on whether I manage to find an effective implementation.

UPDATE 6/20 I decided to plug this back on my computer to see if I was being too rough with the Play!3. $20 with an equalizer, surround, expander, and ability to add high gain cant be as bad as I wrote. It is that bad. Im using a HD tracks and a Status Audio CB-1 and a Fluance power speaker. I did buy a CLIPTHAT HiFi DAC/Headphone Amp for $14 bucks and it sounds approximately 25% better. The Creative has more power, but it is really garbage. Im only disappointed that my review are a few pages back. I wanted to use the CLIPTHAT on my phone and use the Creative on the computer. Nope, it is going back to the drawer. Dont buy this DAC/Amp. It is tempting to get a super bargain, its hot garbage. I dont know why anyone would write a positive review. On the positive note, it works. Its a DAC and the music files sounded better than a 7-year-old GeForce NVIDIA soundcard. The amp section isnt up to snuff for use for powered studio monitors. However, everyone should realize that a USB dongle doesnt have an effective headphone amp (maybe for earbuds, it would work). It was my mistake or temporary brain cramp. The SBX Pro Studio software sounds hollow and glitchy when you use higher levels. It has a surround, Crystalizer (expander), and Bass effects. Again, its a tiny USB dongle and only temporarily insanity would believe that it is anything other than poo. Its better to not use them, in my opinion. But, for $20, it works. Are they awesome like the other reviews? Maybe, but probably not. The reason I changed my review was Creatives Customer Service. They sent me an email to see if I was satisfied. I sent a no and said that I didnt like the SBX Pro Studio. I didnt make demands or for a refund; I just wanted them to know that it isnt great. The CS agent told me that it was an entry-level product and if I wanted pristine sound audio, (the ad said, Studio Quality Listening) I should have purchased a $120 DAC from Creative. What!?!? After 2 more emails, I am done with Creative. I assume that customer satisfaction is to buy (for 6X the price of the product I just bought!!!) more from them and continue sending emails until you get tired of writing. I could continue with their blather, but its not worth it for a $20. I would suggest that its not OK to buy this DAC, but its would be better to do more research for a less glitchy product (XTrem Pro X1 has a DAC/Amp with a Sabre chip for $30) and avoid customer service, except to return it. However, since Amazon has buried my 1-star review and has purchased this DAC, turn the volume to 65% in the Control Panel and turn off the SBX Crap-filled Studio. Be aware that Creative is going to change the soundcard during installing the DAC and, if (when) you update to a better DAC, it will have issues. It will need updates on your soundcard. Please, dont buy Creative stuff. The marketing is great and there are so many 4.5 star reviews that they are from fake reviewers. There are bad reviews, but I am a general trusting man and figured that the reviewers were expecting a $5,000 audiophile DAC. However, they are spot on and should have listened to them. I join with them to tell you to get from another company. I am grateful that I only lost $20 and learned the lesson that free stuff for Amazon reviews and YouTube reviewers are what theyre in the Creative world. I, certainly, will never buy any Creative product from this time forward. I hope you do the same, they suck.

muy bueno

Necesitaba tener una entrada adicional de sonido en mi macbook para poder evitar el loopback

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.

Very please just perfect plug and play no drivers no software thanks Creative

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.