SOUND BLASTER LIVE! EXTERNAL USB 24BIT 5.1 CMSS

by Creative Labs

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 4 x 7 inches ; 1.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• ASIN: B00030099O
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #55 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > Internal Sound Cards
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 28, 2006

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Billed as the easiest way to upgrade from basic built-in PC sound to home-theater audio, Creative's USB SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit external sound card is an affordable stand-alone audio interface for your PC that hooks up to your computer via a single, simple USB 1.1 connection (cable supplied). The card offers analog inputs for a microphone and an audio component (CD player, DVD player, etc.) and outputs including optical and coaxial digital-audio jacks and a trio of minijack analog audio outs that you can use with 5.1-channel surround-sound speaker systems. Your music and games will never be the same.

Now you can create MP3s from your CDs easier than ever and digitize your old cassettes and LP records, cleaning up the sound as you do so using Creative's supplied software. (Be aware, however, that LP record playback requires, in addition to a turntable and cartridge, an outboard phono stage or an integrated amplifier equipped with a phono preamplifier; the USB SoundBlaster Live! accepts only line-level analog inputs.)

The unit's onboard 24-bit Advanced HD and EAX Advanced HD technologies encode and decode (record and play back) audio at up to 24-bit, 96 kHz resolution, though you must disable realtime audio monitoring at the highest settings due to limitations in the USB 1.1 data-throughput spec.

Creative Multi Speaker Surround (CMSS) multispeaker technology lets you "upmix" stereo sources to 5.1-channel surround sound. The software includes a professional-quality panning and mixing algorithm, front and rear balance controls, muting, and panning control for mixer sources.

Realistic EAX reverb, panning, and elevation effects bring your music and games to life. The kit also includes advanced time-scaling (which allows variable playback duration without altering the pitch of your original content), an audio clean-up feature (which removes noise and clicks from playback of vinyl disk or cassette recordings), bass boost, smart volume management, and a multi-band graphic equalizer.

Use of the sound card is as simple as plugging it into any available USB port: there's no power adapter required. The card has an infrared receiver for use with an optional Creative remote control, which will let you operate your computer from the comfort of your sofa or bed, at a distance of up to 13 feet.

What's in the Box
USB SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit external sound card, a USB cable, a quick-start guide, and an Installation CD (containing drivers for Windows XP, SP1, and 2000, SP4; Creative Software Applications Suite; and a user's guide).

Product Description

This ultra-affordable upgrade allows you to start enjoying an audio experience and quality thats not possible with basic on-board audio thanks to 24-Bit ADVANCED HD and EAX ADVANCED HD technologies. Your music will never have sounded better and youll even be able to convert your old tapes or vinyl to digital audio. Finally your games will come alive while youre also immersed in 5.1 surround sound. All this in a simple USB solution that installs in a snap!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great sound, June 24, 2005

By 

Romeo Faison (DUDLEY, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SOUND BLASTER LIVE! EXTERNAL USB 24BIT 5.1 CMSS (Personal Computers)

When I ordered this external sound card, I was skeptical, but when I received this card,hooked it up,it sounded fantastic. I had realtek onboard sound. I disabled it in the device manager tab, before i downloaded the drivers for the sound blaster live card, and without any problems. I'm running windows XP, with service pack 2. There is a big difference, no hiss, or distortion,and you can turn the speakers up louder, without sacraficing clarity. I would not hesitate to buy this card, even though you can't get updated drivers, the ones that come with the CD is just fine, and they are certified by Microsoft. Thank You for reading this. And remember, you can always switch from one sound card to the other.

42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SoundBlaster External Sound Card ROCKS!, November 12, 2005

By 

Thursday Trader (Rock Hill, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SOUND BLASTER LIVE! EXTERNAL USB 24BIT 5.1 CMSS (Personal Computers)

An outstanding and innovative product. What's cool about this product is that you can place it anywhere near your computer, allowing you to have all your sound ports/jacks and volume controls within quick and easy reach: With its microphone port, in/out line ports, speaker ports, and multiple other ports, you can connect just about any type of audio device directly to the SoundBlaster External Card.

The multiple media software applications that are included free (on one CD) is alone worth the price you pay for the sound card. With the SoundBlaster External hardware and the included recording software, you can record anything (CDs, casettes, old vinyl records, your own live voice and music) and easily convert it to a digital audio file. From there you can use the editing software to clean-up and enhance your recording. Once you have saved your sound file, here are some ideas for you: email the sound file, or convert the file to an mp3 for use on a portable music player, or burn the file onto a CD: All of these you can do with the SoundBlaster External Sound Card. And, oh yes, the SoundBlaster External will make your computer sound absolutely great!

For the very best functionality, be certain to get the updated driver to the SoundBlaster Live External Card at the Creative.com website:

http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Adequate for listening/playback, unacceptable for recording!, July 5, 2006

By 

Crosstie Walker (Morgantown, WV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SOUND BLASTER LIVE! EXTERNAL USB 24BIT 5.1 CMSS (Personal Computers)

This is a handy device to have if you are unsatisfied with your stock soundcard (or have no soundcard at all). Its handy USB plug-and-play connection and variety of inputs/outputs can expand or enhance your multimedia options. Sound is adequate to good and fidelity was noticeably better than the stock card in my Dell Inspiron 9100.

Like many other musicians, I have been exploring the possibilities of home recording, taking advantage of the huge leaps in technology (hardware, software, editing/mixing) and the accompanying huge drops in recording-related expenses, i.e., studio time. My main PC is the aforementioned Dell. It's a heavy beast with plenty of hardware guts and speed...definitely in the desktop replacement category. As such, outboard USB or PCMCIA are the only options for add-on devices.

Unfortunately, this SoundBlaster product didn't make the grade in the recording arena, at least using Adobe Audition.

The first hurdle was constant 'out of USB bandwidth' error messages. This may not entirely be the fault of the SoundBlaster but it did become a deal-breaker.

The second hurdle was latency. USB 2.0 features respectable transfer rates but doing any overdubbing/multitracking was impossible. The click track lagged behind the guide track, which lagged behind the other existing track(s). In short, it was impossible to synchronize anything and I didn't fancy nudging tracks back and forth in an attempt to synch them up.

To be fair, Creative aims this product at a certain market segment and recommends the Audigy line for recording and more intricate functionality. So...I took their advice and exchanged for the SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS which has worked like a champ in all departments: sound quality, speed and of course no USB bother!