Aluminum USB External Stereo Sound Adapter for Windows and Mac. Plug and Play No Drivers Needed. [Silver] (AU-EMAC)

This lovely metal encased USB external "sound card" pleasantly surprised me. The metal case is sturdy aluminum and not just a thin metal wrapping over plastic. The device uses a * single-chip * C-Media CM108 audio processor solution to handle the audio processing. Everything, and I mean everything, is handled on a single chip, including the 48 KHz DAC, USB hardware protocols, crystal clocking, synchronization, headphone amplification... everything. You can google more info on the C-Media CM108 chip to view all the technical specs. It's an impressive chip considering its low price and how well it can process digital audio. In summary, it was a simple plug-n-play operation to use it, no software required. I hooked it up to the USB port on my MacPro running OSX 10.9 and selected "USB Audio Device" in the "Sound" system prefs panel for audio output. What shocked me was the quality of the sound out of this little device, which was very good -- highly detailed but at the same time smooth and lush. No signs of any distortion or clipping became evident even when driving the audio output to its maximum limits. I think the quality of this detailed but smooth and lush sound may be due to the monolithic "one-chip" solution which keeps clocking time lags down to the bare minimum due to the ultra-short signal paths. I first tried the device with a pair of lightweight, inexpensive Panasonic headphones (32 ohms) and loved how well things sounded with a 320-kbps MP3 audio stream. OK, that was unexpectedly good, so time to push this one-chip CM108 solution a bit more to see what it can do. Next, I had it drive my large Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro headphones (250 ohms). At this level of impedance you typically need to start thinking about using a high powered, dedicated headphone amp that can fully "grab" the phones and make them perform to spec. While the sound coming out of the DT-990 Pros was a tad lacking, it wasn't as bad as I had expected. Very listenable with the bass just a little bit short in the area of fast attacks. No signs of any background hiss or distortion and plenty of volume, too. I'm impressed! Would I use this $7 USB audio device to power a pair of large, high-end headphones? No, that would be a disservice to what a pair of truly high-end headphone can deliver. However, for the $7 bucks I paid for this little gem, it's truly amazing. I'm going to see if it works on my Acer Chromebook, too, since it says that it supports Linux. If so, then it would be a way to get much better sound from an inexpensive Chromebook laptop. Downsides? Well, as one poster mentioned, it appears to only have a mono-microphone input. This may be a problem for people who want to use this device for making stereo recordings. Also, if you are into experimenting with Software Defined Radios (SDR), then the lack of stereo input means this device cannot handle an I/Q data input stream required to process SDR demodulation. Also, I noticed that the L/R channels appeared to be reversed in their positions. I suspect the L/R wires to the output jack may have been incorrectly connected by the assemblers in China. None of this is an issue if you you are just looking for a small, sturdy, high quality device to drive a pair of moderately priced headphones. It can do that in spades and does it extremely well. Highly recommended. UPDATE 12-05-2014: It works seamlessly with my Acer 720 Chromebook !!!! I simply plugged it into the USB 3.0 port on the right side of my Acer 720 Chromebook and then adjusted the volume level in "Settings". No software required. Sound immediately went from the internal sound jack to the analog output of this small USB audio device. I took the analog output of this USB device and then fed it into a small, dedicated headphone amp -- the Topping NX1 -- and then into my Koss DJ100 headphones. The sound was heavenly. If you are looking for an easy means of increasing the quality of the sound from an inexpensive Chromebook, I can verify that this device works without a hitch on an Acer 720 Chromebook. Sweet!

Updated 5/11/15: Audio quality may actually be worse than your current setup, something I've noticed for a while but finally got around to writing here. Strong highs and clamped lows can make your music, videos, or games sound sharper and weaker, depending on what you're playing and your headphones. This isn't immediately noticeable and is clearly not severe enough to turn me or others off, but this should be taken into consideration. All other impressions still stand about 2 months later. --- + Build quality feels solid and compact with nice presentation + Virtually no setup required to use + Customer service is excellent (details below) - (Update 5/11/15) Sound quality can be worse than current motherboards/sound cards with weak bass and sharper treble - No custom Sabrent drivers to customize sound input/output processing This has a nicer metallic presentation and build quality than what is expected from the plastic, black one Sabrent also offers. It is fairly large, certainly larger than I could picture from the images (which are not, by any means, inaccurate), whereas the plastic version looks more combat. Otherwise, make sure you have a USB port that won't conflict with anything used exclusively by wireless receivers or external hard drives, though a USB extension cable is conveniently provided if needed. The sound quality going in and out initially sounds exactly as it should be: it doesn't sound any better or worse than it should for 48 KHz stereo output and 44.1 KHz mono input. Depending on what you're listening to and your previous setup for sound, you may find that this outputs noticeably worse. For a cheap and reliable device of this nature, this shouldn't be an issue to most though (since audiophiles should seek repair or sound card replacement). However, there are alternative sound adapters that may have better audio quality if this is something that is unacceptable to you. I do wish that there were a driver provided that extends the software-side functionality of this adapter since Windows' only option is Automatic Gain Control, but I appreciate that it can be easily initialized and plug-and-played. To say the least, this is absolutely phenomenal given the price, compared to several other general-purpose USB audio adapters that I also considered. Do note that faulty units with swapped L/R stereo channels still seem to be out there. I received the order quickly from Store4PC, and was disappointed to find that the issue echoed in many reviews appeared in the one I was shipped and that posts about the problem already being fixed didn't apply. However, I sent one email about the issue to [email protected], who posts on virtually every negative review about product defects. I didn't see any signs of follow-up from other customers, but the experience was actually very painless and helpful. I received a reply almost exactly 24 hours later notifying that a replacement would be shipped immediately. I received the replacement unit as quickly as the original one from the same seller, barring the weekend wait. The replacement fixes the swapped channels and looks and functions exactly the same otherwise! Very surprising and pleasant experience with this product and company. Will continue to update if there are any abnormal issues with longevity or build quality, but it appears to be a very solid product that is very easy to recommend.

I have an HP ENVY 15 with Windows 10 which puts out phenomenal sound out of the external speakers, but plugging into the headphone jack creates terrible fluctuation in sound. This can be attributed to the Beats Audio driver and HP not updating their driver to fix this horrible flaw. I didn't want to have to continuously switch drivers via Device Manager every time I wanted to plug in my headphones to my laptop. So, I decided to look into getting an USB external sound adapter. I decided to purchase this one because of its reviews, and it worked just as reviews have mentioned. The driver installs the moment it is plugged in, and it's essentially plug-and-play after the installed driver.. The sound quality is great as I've used it for listening to movies and music. I have not used the mic, and probably won't since I only bought this for its headphone connectivity. I only have two minor issues with this sound adapter. First, it installs separate drivers for each USB port it is plugged into. I have 3 USB ports; for every port I plug this USB sound adapter, it creates a driver for it in Device Manager. This can possibly create a conflict between sound drivers. Also, it does not sit flush in my laptop on the USB port I want to use. On my ENVY, there's one USB port on the right side of the laptop--the port I want to use for plugging it into. Because of its body shape when plugged into the left side, which has 2 USB ports, the USB sound adapter would block the other USB port. Because of these two minor issues, I deduct a star. Otherwise, it serves its purpose very well for me.

I have a Windows 7 desktop computer with small desktop speakers that I use when I want internet sound. My full sized component stereo with 4 large speakers is on the other side of the room. I was thinking about buying a second sound card, ($35 to $150), to send music to my stereo when I stumbled upon this clever USB device. I bought this along with a 25 ft stereo cable and plugging one end of that into the green jack on the Sabrent and the other end into a mini-to-RCA plug cable adaptor. I plugged that into a 'line in' input on the rear of the receiver. Now I have access to a dedicated hard drive with 103 GB of music. When I want to hear the internet sounds, I unplug this USB sound card. When I want to send the music to the receiver, I simply plug this into the USB jack on the front of the computer, turn on the stereo, choose the music I want to hear and instantly there it is! It sounds quite good for it's size & cost. Unfortunately, there is no way to use the desktop speakers without unplugging this device first -not really a big deal, though. Before I found this, I was also looking into buying a DVD player with a USB input so I could put my music on thumb drives and send them to the stereo that way, but I couldn't find one that would show my songs on the DVD front display. I was also tired of buying and fumbling with tiny, portable mp3 players to hold my collection. Luckily, that's when I found this device. Being able to view the folders holding my songs on my monitor is great and this device made that possible for a small amount of money. Would a $150 sound card sound better? Possibly. But for under $8, my mp3s, (most 320kbs), sound great and I have no need to spend more on an external sound card. Thanks China! Would I but this device again? Yes!

I bought this product because my son is quite the little gamer and unfortunately he has a very large touch-screen PC on a desk that's much too small. We are constantly buying new, expensive headphones on a yearly basis for him because all of the ports for headphones (and some of the USB ports) are on the sides of the computer that are smushed up against the desk. So when he attempts to plug headphones in, the cord is smashed and the headphones cords quickly wear out, break, or snap off altogether. Since I'm really attached to my grandmother's desk...we just keep stupidly replacing the headphones. We tired the wireless, but the sound is always laggy and the mics aren't good for gaming. So I finally realized "why don't I just buy one of these so that he can plug both the mic jack and the earphone jack into the back and we can save ourselves a lot of money on buying new headphones? I wish I'd have thought of this before. There are USB ports on both the back and sides of the PC, so we plugged this into the back and the problem is solved! There was nothing to set up, no annoying software or driver. The computer quickly recognized the "new device" and it was working in seconds. The quality of the item is great. The aluminum stell is sturdy and attractive and the design takes up as little space as possible. The quality of sound and microphone on a variety of sets we have wasn't harmed at all by plugging them into this device rather than directly into the computer. I was very impressed that I couldn't discern a difference or interruption in quality and plan to purchase more of these for the laptops in our home. For now I'll just have to borrow it from my son when he's feeling generous. I have no Cons or complaints about this product...it's a great purchase and works just as I had hoped it would!

I wish I would have tried this thing earlier. I bought a laptop a while back without realizing that it had no proper line in / line out jacks and instead a headset mic/headset trrs which can't be used as traditional sound card jacks. A fundamental error. I ended up buying an EZCAP audio in jack. I figured I could use the Esiinkin bluetooth (delay issue playing guitar) or the projection Miracast to merge the output from my Line 6 Pod Pocket. What clusterpluck all that was. So I figured I would try the Sabrent Aluminum USB External Stereo Sound Adapter for Windows after looking at a bunch of other stuff. (see pictures for setup components) I got less lag record vs playback audio (about 130 milliseconds as far as I can tell from recording the tuner on the pod with my phone to capture both the guitar string strike sound and speaker output of the laptop/USB). Playing the guitar simultaneous with the shortened loop ready backing track works but I really don't think even the slight delay is good enough for "jamming") (btw - search dopez tracks "Rock Ballad Backing Track in Em" for a great example). The output from the Guitar effect (see pics) stereo output works with the mic input at the same time plugging in a stereo line in from the Pod Pocket but not sure it is not just mono out, but it sounds good over the backing track loop. Finally, the levels for both the backing track (output) and the guitar (input) appear on the same Sound Control using for the device so I can easily control the balance (mix) of the jam session. This is also easily done with Windows Volume Properties mixer. But the lag/delay is not workable. After all the wasted approaches, this usb audio input/output was pretty seamless, it was seven dollars and got it in two days. I had also bought a cheaper one but it seems to have the same delay on Windows 10. But, I did get the Sabrent to work with a pretty new Android Tablet that has a headphone/line to plug the Sabrent into. Checked with a recording app and the input working is working too. Then, found a free App called n-Track app (see 2nd picture) that monitors both input and output at the same time to less at the same time with my phone using the tablet as a source. The Sabrent, my Android Tablet (and phone I think) with N-track (free version) looks to be easy with no delay thought it took me a while to figure out the interface. Took a bit and had to get past some really stupid tech complexities, but ended up a $7 Sabrent and a free Android App and seems to work like a charm.

***4.5 Stars*** I have a 13" Mid 2009 Macbook Pro running 10.9.5 Mavericks and this little thing works great on it. The aluminum casing for this is what got me to buy it since I wanted something that felt sturdy. After replacing my battery and cleaning the dust off inside my laptop, the sound was very low for earphones, even at max volume. That probably happened to a tiny mistake I made while cleaning. Instead of taking it to Apple to fix my sound issue, I opted for this instead. They would charge crazy amounts just to fix a tiny little thing for sure. I'm listening to music with my earphones as I type this out. 2 very minor things that could be annoying, one of which happens sometimes. I'll include that in the cons list here at the bottom. Honestly, those 2 things don't bother me at all. Pros: + Comes with an small white extension. Great so that it doesn't block your other USB port(s). I completely missed this and bought an extra cable. + Sound is great, if not better + Aluminum casing + Clearly labeled ports + Matches the aluminum finish of Macbooks + Better than taking my laptop to Apple's "Genius Bar" and having them fix it Cons: - [*1] Sometimes I have to select "USB Audio Device" as the output after powering on my Macbook. Easily done from desktop screen. - [*2] Left/Right audio channels are switched. Easily fixed on OSX Macbooks (and likely desktops as well). Not sure about Windows though. - Unless you're using the included small USB extension cable, it will block your other USB port(s) --------Notes-------- [*1] 1) Hold the "ALT/Option Key" and then click on the speaker icon on the top bar of your desktop screen 2) Under "Output Device," select "USB Audio Adapter" to output the sound to your earphones [*2] 1) Plug in this USB Sound Adapter 2) Click on Spotlight (top-right magnifying glass icon) and search "Audio MIDI Setup" 3) In the window that appears, make sure "USB Audio Device" is selected. If not, click it to select it. 4) Click "Configure Speakers..." on the bottom right corner of the window. Another window will appear that shows "Left Front" and "Right Front" buttons. Underneath each should be drop downs selections that include #1 and #2. You can click Left/Right Front to test the sound, which should be reversed at the moment. 5) Set "Left Front" with #2 and "Right Front" with #1. Click the buttons to confirm that the sound is now outputting to the correct earphone speakers. 6) Click "Apply" and then click "Done" 7) If you use the USB ports interchangeably, repeat steps 1-6 for the other USB port(s) on your computer. It saves the setting for the port you originally configured, but it won't recognize it on the other port(s) if you haven't configured that as well.

Wiggles like a loose tooth, ultra-feeble sound quality. Yes, it records and plays back audio, but if you're looking for good quality sound, this is NOT the device for you. Quick rant first: why the hell do I have to even use something like this in the first place for a "Pro" laptop (MacBook Pro). In today's era of people being able to do anything and everything on their computers, including working on digital audio projects, how in God's green earth does a "Pro" laptop get made that *doesn't* have a friggin' audio input? Apple, you suck. You seriously suck. Royally. You used to be great, but now you're a joke of a company. Now, on to the product: Annoyance #1: I plugged it in, and one of the first things I noticed is how it wiggles like a loose tooth in the USB port. I have all kinds of USB devices and cables that I've plugged into my machine, before... why is it that this thing doesn't have a snug fit? While it's nice that they kindly include a short USB extension cable in the box, that thing wiggles too. So, there's that. Annoyance #2 was just trying to get the thing to work. I plugged a mono mic I had (which had a 1/4" jack on it), into a stereo adapter that takes 1/4" (F) and resizes it to 1/8" (M), which is the size of a standard microphone jack for computers. No audio was received. I tried my iPhone headphones, which have a microphone included in them, and that didn't work either. I then fairly got my knickers all in a knot because I concluded that I had just wasted $8+ on a useless piece of junk... but in a last ditch effort, I gave the thing to my friend to see if he could get it to work (on his PC). And guess what, he did manage to get it to work, using an old junky mic left over from a computer that was purchased 15+ years ago. So, I took the unit, and the same mic he used, and I went back to my MacBook "Pro" (again, Apple blows these days), and it ended up working for me too. In comparing the jack on the mic that worked to the first mic arrangement I tried, *they looked identical*. Ok, so that's annoyance #2: apparently certain mics/inputs work, and others don't, even though they look pretty damned the same as one another. Annoyance #3: Ok, so now that I know that the thing DOES actually work (sort of), it was time for me to try it out using other input cables. I tried with the one cable that I was originally intending to use it for (I was going to use it to record audio out from a mixer), and yay, the thing worked. So, I recorded a bit of a track from a record, and played it back to hear what it sounded like. And guess what? Bleh... it sounded like crap. The quality of this thing is seriously feeble. I mean, it does record audio... if you use the right input or cable or whatever the hell... but the audio itself and the fidelity of the input itself is really poor. It blows. If you're just looking for a way to get audio into your computer, and you don't care about fidelity, then this thing may be for you... if you can get it to work with your inputs and mics and cables. If you care about fidelity, don't even bother. I mean, it's just an $8 adapter, so maybe I'm expecting too much. However, you'd think that with something so simple, and with something that only uses a few different pieces and materials, they'd at least get the sound quality right. But they don't. I'd rather have my $8 right now. I won't be buying anything else from Sabrent, that's for sure. EDIT: As I'm playing around with this thing more and more, I'm finding out that it records in MONO. It's not even a stereo input! Only the output is stereo! You have got to be kidding me. Maybe I'm missing a setting somewhere in the OS, but I seriously doubt it. Downgrading even more stars now, for this review. This sucks. :(

Bought this for my Arctis 3 headset for my PC, because the microphone was buzzing very loudly at higher levels. Plugged this in, set the levels, and NO MORE BUZZING! For this I have to give it a 5/5

La verdad es que por el precio que tiene funciona perfectamente, me compré unos auriculares para el ordenador y el microfono no había forma de hacerlo funcionar con el jack único e incluso con el adaptador para separarlo en micro y auriculares que trae. Fue ponerlo con este adaptador a USB y todo solucionado y sin complicaiones, es conectar y lo reconoce perfectamente. Los acabados son buenos y no tengo ninguna queja sobre su calidad, aunque es cierto que los auriculares solo lo utilizo para conversaciones por lo que no necesitaría gran calidad.

Hoewel in de beschrijving van Amazon voor dit product staat dat ook luidsprekers er op werken, is dat niet het geval. Deze adapter is alleen geschikt voor een koptelefoon.

I do quite a bit of audio recording but my MacBook Air sadly lacks an analogue input. Plugging this little USB dongle in gives the immediate addition of an analogue input and analogue output. This device is immediately recognised and selectable from recording software, Audio MIDI Setup and System Preferences. Both input and output can be used simultaneously. Nice audio quality, very clean, but does prefer quite a strong input voltage. Having said that most audio devices these days have adequately powerful outputs to drive past this. Solid quality, very nice packaging, and the inclusion of a USB extension cable makes it a whole lot more flexible. Worth twice the price in my opinion. FYI, pink is input and green is output, which I believe is the convention for most computers (I'm a Mac user so I have no experience of Microsoft-based PCs).

i haven't used or tested to some certain extend, but so far it seems quite good. I have no idea about its durability, time will tell, but now, i am pretty sure the sound is quite good...