Sabrent USB-SND8 8-Channel 3D USB 2.0 External 7.1 Surround Sound Box with Digital Output

One hell of a sound device. Running on Windows 7 it was an auto install and sounds fantastic. With my linux install, I always had a problem with my regular sound card. With the Sabrent USB device, it was again an auto install and has worked like a charm. Great answer to the problem of adding sound when you have run out of pci slots, and performs just as good if not better than many of the lower priced sound cards!!!!

The so-called manual is typically short on clarity and information. After much experimentation I got the rear L/R speakers to work for very true surround sound. I found the volume setting much too sensitive: with the controller at low, the volume is already moderately loud, despite attenuation in Windows. Otherwise the device is very good, and the sound equal to my old 5.1 Sound Blaster Audigy card that cost me many times more. For tech support, you need to make a costly long distance call. Sabrent would not offer me tech support by e-mail.I don't know what I'll do with the 31.5" TosLink cable as it's too short for anything I can think of. But all-in-all, the product is well-worth the price; and I like the convenience of being able to plug in my earphones with the device sitting on my desk. Nice. And it works fine on my laptop at the office. When I build my next computer, I won't need to fiddle with card installation and making a bracket fit the chassis.If anyone needs a clean 4.1, 5.1, or 7.1 AC3 audio file to test surround sound, I'll be happy to share one that I created at Audacity101.

I have an Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 motherboard and the on-board sound has always been an issue where it will pick up a variety of interference. I decided to look for a USB sound solution that would give me at least true 5.1 surround sound and that's when I came across this Sabrent unit. It was well below the price on the Creative USB soundcards so I decided to give it a try and am very happy that I did.I plugged the unit into a USB slot and downloaded the latest drivers and installed them. Ran my optical cable to my surround speaker system and I was up and running. No more electronic interference and as of yet no system glitches when playing back audio at all. The sound quality is very good and I'd say a pretty substantial improvement over my motherboard's sound.I tried the unit briefly with headphones and the sound was excellent with more than enough volume.It's amazing at this price point to have both analog and digital outputs and if you still have a need for analog mic inputs you'll find two of them on this device. This item does include an optical cable, but it's very short so if you need more than a foot or two you'll want to order a longer cable.The bottom line is I don't believe you can beat this for the price if you're looking for a USB soundcard. The setup was painless and the sound quality is excellent.

As somebody mentioned, it has a ton of options to configure. Good, but product now sits beside my speakers (5.1ch Philips) but not connected.Suddenly, in the middle of a movie, the audio gets all cranky and static-y, the only way you can get back normal audio is to disconnect the USB connection and reconnect. What happens, though, is that your USB audio disappears while disconnected and all the players just don't get on. Either you have start watching all over the online-video or close the media center and reopen. Tried changing cables and all, but nope, no luck.Really, is it worth that hassle?? Nope.But otherwise, the device drivers install fine on vista without a problem. The software is good too, just that the noise factor didn't allow me to enjoy it for long.Usage: barely a month.May be because I bought a used item??Oh and it doesn't have the name Sabrent on it ANYWHERE!!!!

Ok, I've now owned two of these. The first one works okay, although there is a strange driver confliction that most people will never notice: If you use it at the same time as the ASUS Sound Driver (running speakers through a monitor's HDMI input), you will have all of your computers' USB ports disconnecting and reconnecting on a random basis. I also have experienced the inability to use a microphone through the box at the same time as using headphones. This is a problem others have noticed as well.My 2nd one arrived DOA. I have submitted for an RMA and will report back on the results.