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Love the fact that I can run my old 5.1 Logitech through usb of a new mini computer that doesn’t have a sound output. Would recommend it to anyone.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Refurbished
Not sure how it got all that positive reviews, but anyway. The most important part - audio quality - is terrible (analog), my laptop's built-in sound card is much much better. Second, optical out - only stereo, don't know why, but for some reason I thought that would be 5.1 channel. Third, volume controls are not smooth and produce noise when I try to rotate them. Optical out didn't work on Windows XP, but did work on Windows 10 (driver's issue, I believe). Tested with Yamaha receiver and KOSS headphones. So, the only usable mode is optical stereo under W10. Conclusion: NOT recommended.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Refurbished
I've read many good things about this external true surround sound USB sound card, but it's really too bad it doesn't work fully under Windows 10. In W10, the analogue outputs do work without any driver installation. But this is only useful if your sound system has separate 3.5mm jacks for front, surround/rear, and center/sub. This is mostly the case with computer speakers so that might work for you. Keep in mind that it doesn't have any driver/software support from Zalman so you won't be able to adjust the balance between the channels. If you're thinking about using this to hook up to a more traditional/better performing surround sound system using the S/PDIF output, you're going to have a bad time in Windows 10. The device does have a S/PDIF output, including both a digital 3.5mm jack and an optical/TOSLINK port (both use the same 3.5mm connector so you would need one of those cheap adapters for optical output). But there is no driver support anywhere. Zalman has ended support for this since Windows 7 (some say XP!) and I haven't been able to find drivers from other manufacturers (the processing chip is a Sonix but that's a rare one to use these days). I've also tried all the available drivers from Zalman's website, including V1 and V2 packages. So unless you're using this with computer speakers with analogue inputs, this guy won't do you any good. Note, however, this is regarding the V1 version of the device. Supposedly, the V2 version (which looks identical but uses different chips internally) does indeed support Windows 7 and higher, including 10. But having experienced the lack of support from Zalman overall, I'm not opting to try again. This will just have to join my bin of old electronics that I keep thinking I'll have use for it some day but really would never touch again. Hope this helps you from increasing your bin inventory.Read full review
Verified purchase: No
Windows 10 compatible! Plug it in first, then use the install disc (if provided, needed for optical 5.1), do the install, if there is a compatibility issue, use the vista or XP setting. It will require a restart. After restart go into device manager, update *USB sound device* with the drivers in the VISTA folder on the disc. Set your player to SPDIF/HDMI passthrough (check marking or turning on DD/DTS), and you can use the optical out with purchased adapter, and you have Dolby Digital/DTS 5.1 Only cons, regular audio isn't great, but I bought it just for the DD/DTS ability.
Verified purchase: No
I wanted a small external usb sound card for my linux/xbmc multimedia center. Stereo sound is working out of the box, 5.1 wont (no AC5.1 driver/setting found at the moment). Channel mapping is working with alsa (rear speakers output the same sound as the front speakers). It fits my needs.