Tiny device, massive improvement! :)
Bought a new desk top PC, which had an inferior sound card built in, that was too tinny and way too quiet. I'm hard of hearing, but love my music, and i like it loud. Which means i play my music at volumes considerably much higher than the average able hearing person! So it's a good job i live in the back of beyond!
I'm not technically minded, so i wouldn't have the first clue about how to change it for a better one, and i can't be bothered to take to a specialist, given where i live (in the sticks!), so did some research and learnt about these external plug in cards. This one appeared to have good reviews, so having never bought or used an external sound card booster before..didn't know what to expect, took the plunge. And was pleasantly surprised. It's a tiny device, but it has improved the sound quality & volume considerably. Simple to connect, just plug into any USB slot on PC, laptop etc....then plug it to external speakers or headphones, or in my case, both..and away you go....works straight out of the packaging. I still need to improve the volume a little more in my case, some songs still a little too quiet for my liking, perhaps a new set of powered speakers or an external amp plug to the sound card, might fix that. Otherwise, it's a decent sound card, with decent levels of bass (but not too much), high range, but perhaps just lacking slightly on the mid range tones. I do suffer from some range hearing loss, so to an average able hearing person, this would be more than sufficient.
The only minor gripe i have to say about it....is that each time i turn off and on the PC, the PC reverts back to the inbuilt sound card and cuts this one off, requiring me to go into the sound settings to re-select it again. I have since fixed that minor issue by not turning the PC off, just put to 'sleep mode' when not in use.
I cannot say how this one compares to another sound card, but for the modest amount of money i paid for it, it has improved the sound considerably....perhaps with an adjustable powered amp added to it..it'll be perfect...for me! :)
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