DigitalLife External USB 7.1/5.1 Sound Card Compatible with Windows 11, macOS 14/15

The blue LED is a comforting 'nag' :)

Bought a new D*** PC to discover, amongst other shortcomings, that it had no facility to input external audio. This device is an external usb sound card and using an app downloaded from their site, I found it to be very versatile with line and optical digital inputs. I only use it for stereo audio but it also has multi channel capabilities. The only down side of the purchase is Amazon's insistence on emailing me other sound card details I might be interested in. There may be a world in a multiverse where a pc must have a fashionable amount of sound cards. But until I live there, PLEASE Mr Amazon, tweek your algorythmes and stop the spam.

Plugged it into a Win11 box as a stopgap to replace a failing Creative Labs external (which was incredibly overpriced for what it was)It works, sound quality is fine, but for some reason the volume scale is between 0-50%, anything over 50% is the same as 50%.It's no quieter than the previous card; 50% here is the same as 100% on the older card, but it's awkward from a UI point of view.Using it in a 5.1 setup, and it "just works" otherwise though, so can't complain at the price.

Regretably, the optical input was not working.Audacity set to record from this USB device. With the optical cable plugged "in" all that is recorded is 2channel 'hiss' = see photo (a sharp roll off from 0-100Hz (0db to -66db), then gradual roll-off to -72db at 20kHz).With optical cable plugged back into my sound bar, music heard (at sound bar), whilst Audacity recorded 'silence' (center line in photo). Retruning the cable to device, VLC recorded the same 'hiss' again.I had to return the item for a refund.NB - the 'labels' on the device for the inputs and outputs comprise black raised text on a black box == making it VERY hard to read.

Purchased this item and within one week it was faulty. It simply stop sending 5.1 let alone 7.1 sound out. Tried it on several different machines both Mac and windows hoping it may rectify but no luck. Contacted the seller but no communication back. Rather disappointed quite frankly. Not worth wasting your time and effort purchasing as clearly poorly made and the company that made it don't care about it either.Update - the seller came back to me and replaced the faulty unit. They explained that they had some issue with their emails. Very pleased with their support

For me, the most useful feature of this soundcard interface is taking the soundcard sockets from my PC tower to the desktop. The connection is made by USB-B cable, it would make more sense to have USB-C in this day and age. If you are using for live music recording there may be a slight lag with USB-B.However, for my use where I often plug in different microphones, headphones or speakers into my PC, it is so much easier to have all these sockets on the desktop.This will of course work for laptops too, giving you the option of using surround sound theatre system. The device is also highly portable.INPUTS: 3.5mm jack, optical and mono or stereo 3.5mm microphone in, but no XLR.OUTPUT: 7.1 surround, 3.5mm jack and opticalOverall, the design can be better with the labels on the housing not in black! They are a bit difficult to see. This is selling at £27 at the time of review, it is a good piece of kit that makes your life easier. Plug and play, no messing about with software which is always welcoming.

It works with Windows 11

This sound interface came in a nice, small cardboard box along with a USB cable and a manual. The interface itself feels quite sturdy but is very light and the plastic feels a little cheap so probably wouldn't want to put much pressure on it or drop something heavy on it on your desk as I feel like it could break.I ordered this in order to help with cable management as I currently have 4 aux cables going to my PC which are hard to hide and difficult to remember where they go if I move my PC as they aren't labelled and I have to refer to my motherboard manual. This card helps out perfectly, I can just plug in the 1 USB cable to my PC and then all the aux cables can go into this sound card.This is better as I only have to unplug 1 cable from my PC and I know exactly where all the aux cables need to go and the ports on this interface are nicely labelled right on the plastic so no need to refer to the manual.It also has extra features that my motherboard does not such as left and right mic inputs which allows you to record sound in stereo. There is also S/PDIF in and out however I have not tried this yet.It is also useful as I can just easily swap the USB to other devices such as my laptop and it will play through my surround sound.On the top, there are 4 buttons which can be used for volume control and muting the mic. One slight annoyance however is that there are ports on 3 out of the 4 sides around the edge which means if you are using multiple sides, and you are almost certainly going to use at least 2 sides as the USB port is not on the side with any aux ports, it can be very difficult to cable manage. Therefore I decided to place mine under my desk to hide the cables however this means you cannot use the buttons on the sound interface.This isn't a huge issue however as I prefer to control the volume in windows anyway.Another small inconvenience is that the USB cable is a bit short at around 1m long however it is just a standard USB-A to USB-B cable so you can pick up a longer one for quite cheap.Overall though, I would definitely recommend if you are looking to reduce the amount of cables going to your PC or if you don't have 7.1 surround available on your PC for example if you have a laptop.

I did not expect much but I was really surprised that it works for what I need. Easy to use. Thumbs up

Added external sound card to micro pc.

werkt perfect. gekoppeld aan mini pc voor aansturen 7.1 set

Carte son externe exclusivement utilisée pour transférer des Minidiscs vers PC avec Audacity. Aucun problème rencontré

Sono rimasto senza parole. Settata in riproduzione a 24 bit 96000 Hz (il massimo delle sue possibilità hardware) l'ho collegata all'uscita audio via cavo a delle cuffie OneOdio Pro-C Studio con driver da 50 mm. Risultato: risoluzione audio da studio di registrazione. Non viene fornito alcun software se non i driver per windows (qualunque versione) ma potete usate in cascata qualsiasi equalizzatore hardware o software che vi piaccia. Non ho altro da aggiungere se non 10 e lode.