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 bought this to bypass my laptops bad headphone jack. Works great without extra software (in windows 11 that is.) The adapter sometimes stops works for no obvious reason; could be from being plugged into an unpowered usb hub. The software (Sound Blaster PLAY! 3 Control Panel) is functionally just an equalizer with some effects and has nothing that justified keeping it installed.

Funciona al 100%

Originally I bought this tiny DAC to improve PS4 sound output and IT DID significantly!! **BEWARE**, you need PC (Windows 10/11 only, Mac is not supported) to install creative app and update its firmware to get full benefits it offers. Here is my story, when I received the product I immediately plug it into my PS4 to test it following instruction. The actual sound coming from my headset was REALLY LOW, actually lower than original. So I unplugged it and then went to my PC to update its firmware. I downloaded the firmware and installed it accordingly. I thought this should do the trick, NOOO it did not. When I plugged it back to PS4, it was acting weird by disconnecting itself and blinking. I surely thought I BRICKED it. I wend back to PC again and this time, I downloaded & installed Creative App for Windows. The creative app immediately recognized my device after unplugging/plugging and there was a setting for update its firmware. I did the update process again through app and I tested it on my PC for sounds and noise cancelling features. I did end up NOT using noise cancelling features since it seems these settings distort sound output on my headset, but overall sound quality was better than the original. Then finally I went back in to test with PS4, it WORKED!! New volume control, EQ, muting button, and everything worked well. The new volume control which comes with a new firmware is A MUST HAVE for making PS4s ouput as loud as possible. Im pretty sure it will work on PS5 as well when I finally get ONE!

I got this to facilitate using my Sony XM5 headphones on PC/WIN through 3.5mm cable. It worked immedately after plugging it in, and the available software on their website allowed me to tweak the equalizer and other options. Im extremely pleased to use my favorite headphones on PC without the headaches of bluetooth on Windows. Listening to my music library (FLAC) and game sound is great. Excellent value.

Wasnt too sure about this because of the things I read about it not working or sounding too great on windows machines. I went ahead and purchased it as I needed one the next day. Connected to my Ubuntu system just fine and sounded great and it also works and sounds GREAT on all 3 of my laptops! One Dell and 2 HPs.

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

Solid all around and produces great sound as soon as you plug it into anything, Im very happy with this. Its a cheap fix (and upgrade!) for my mostly broken built-in headphone jack and I would buy it again in an instant. Unfortunately it comes with a few enhancements enabled by default, all of which sound terrible if you are picky about audio at all, and you of course have to install the custom drivers to change this. The drivers/UI are fine (heavily custom UI of course (why???), but its easily enough understood), but it is a bit of an annoyance. It seems like this setting might stick once changed, from other reviews, but I havent yet tested that.

The sound is great if your audio and mic are separate. However, if you use the TRRS (audio+mic) jack, there is a constant static noise. I verified this with 3 pairs of headphones. So you need to use an audio splitter to split TRRS into TRS (audio) and TS (mic) to avoid the static.

I run my macbook pro through a Dell 38 monitor (U3818DW). Its an amazing setup. Only drawback is that you cant control your speakers with the keyboard unless you plug them directly into the headphone jack on the side MBP. Forget that. Its so nice having all video, internet, charging and other peripherals working just by plugging in the USB-C connection that comes with the monitor. A USB audio adapter ensures the audio works through that connection too. Only drawback is that Ive tried 2 different USB sound adapters and neither of them worked. My monitor is using firmware ver. M2B106 which is the latest version for that monitor. This Sound Blaster adapter works perfectly. Volume and quality are excellent. No lag. As a side FYI, dont attempt the firmware update to the monitor on your own if yours doesnt have it. My first attempt torched the monitor and by the admission of Dells own tech support, the only fix was to replace the monitor. Once they did it worked super well.

For some reason the device turns off around 20% volume (not the minimum). Not sure why. Same experience on a different computer with a different piece. It is weird and annoying but not a deal breaker for me.