StarTech.com 7.1 USB Sound Card – External Sound Card for Laptop with SPDIF Digital Audio – Sound Card for PC – Silver (ICUSBAUDIO7D)
$52.99
Last updated on July 16, 2024 2:51 pm Details
- EASY INSTALLATION: The digital audio adapter is easy to install with plug and play support in Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems.
- 7.1 SOUND CARD: This 1.7 USB sound card turns your laptop or desktop PC into a 7.1-channel home theater-ready sound system through a single USB 2.0 connection.
- System ram type: ddr3_sdram
- Package Dimensions: 16.8 L x 3.2 H x 14.4 W (centimeters)
Specification: StarTech.com 7.1 USB Sound Card – External Sound Card for Laptop with SPDIF Digital Audio – Sound Card for PC – Silver (ICUSBAUDIO7D)
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11 reviews for StarTech.com 7.1 USB Sound Card – External Sound Card for Laptop with SPDIF Digital Audio – Sound Card for PC – Silver (ICUSBAUDIO7D)
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StarTech.com 7.1 USB Sound Card – External Sound Card for Laptop with SPDIF Digital Audio – Sound Card for PC – Silver (ICUSBAUDIO7D)
$52.99
Indyref2 for Scotland –
CD with system told me “system not supported” . I went to StarTech company page for this item, under “support “ was able to download windows 10 driver, installed without issue. I called StartTech support To ask what to do then.
Instructive and very knowledgable. From instructions guided through the following.
How to use the windows 10 own native support for 5.1 and 7.1 to set up the system outputting 7.1 on all 4 Channel sockets.
On the sound speaker icon on task bar, use that drop down to select “USB speakers”, then also from that same icon Open “sound systems” , then the Select “sound control panel” from the listing on the right (in blue).
Here you will then see and be able to select from the output speaker options, the item “USB speakers”. Once selected click, “configure “ button on the lower left of that box.
Here you can select the “7.1 surround sound” option, and a new window will open next to the first.
By connecting a speaker or headphone Sequentially into each output socket, Individually “test” each channel by clicking on the Specific individual speaker mini icon in this new window.
The Win 10 system for this was implemented in Sept 2019, but chipset manufacturer now states often That they do not provide Win10 drivers. Manufactures using this ship set do not explain Drivers are now native to Win10 since Sept. 2019. They do not appear to have updated their CDs, documentation or instructions to suit.
I see from comments on this device and similar items, buyers Review and think it will not work on Win10, when in fact it will.
roopster –
Due to a Windows Update, I lost the sound on my motherboard… tried everything possible, but to no avail. I even attempted installing a new sound card but even that wouldn’t work. I was getting sound through my video card via digital sources, but I have an analogue Logitech 5.1 speaker set with a great sub-woofer. After hours of frustration trying to fix the problem, I finally purchased this nice little device.
It is plugged into one of my USB 3.0 outlets, (the unit itself is USB 2.0), and without installing any new drivers, (I am running Windows 10 professional) I once again have lovely clear sound, just like it was before the problem occurred! Things are back to normal, my wife is telling to turn down the music! 🙂
A.V. –
Not a bad little device for the price, it does pretty much everything I need including digital S/PDIF out to my Tascam CDRW. The digital output only supports 48KHz sample rate, so it requires me to enable the sample rate converter on the Tascam unit (no big deal, but it might be an issue if your equipment doesn’t support it).
Oddly, despite showing the analog and digital outputs separately in Windows, they function as one output (e.g. sound going to the digital output device also plays from the analog out, and vice versa). This may be a configuration issue, but I have no idea how to fix it.
Also this device appears to conflict with my ThinkPad T460p’s onboard Realtek sound card. Whenever it’s plugged in, the Realtek audio manager crashes and it stops detecting when I plug something into the extra output in my docking station (which essentially disables that port). This is more of a complaint for the buggy Realtek drivers, but I felt like I should mention it anyway.
milenas –
Après plusieurs tests réalisés (stéréo/5.1/7.1/entrée micro/ etc.) et après avoir contacté le support Startech (3h de discussion pour faire des tests complémentaires) voici ce qu’il faut savoir sur cette carte son :
D’un point de vue purement matériel (physique) cette carte son fonctionne très bien.
D’un point de vue Driver et logiciel, cette carte présente de gros problèmes non résolus à ce jour (28/04/2020) !
– Driver non développé et non compatible complètement pour Windows 10 :
Ce qui fonctionne : Stéréo + micro / 5.1
Ce qui ne fonctionne pas : 7.1 (aucun son ne sort et fait complètement buguer le logiciel (USB Multi-Channel Audio Device) ainsi que les paramètres de son Windows).
Ce qui ne fonctionne pas : l’utilisation du micro en utilisant en même temps du 5.1 ou du 7.1 (la carte son n’est pas capable de gérer en même temps le micro et du son sortant en 5.1 ou 7.1).
Après de longs tests/discussions avec le support Startech (très à l’écoute), il apparait que ces problèmes proviennent bel et bien du Driver et du logiciel développé par C-Media et plus précisément du chipset CM6206 pour Windows 10.
Note : vous rencontrerez donc toujours ces problèmes si vous achetez une carte son d’une autre marque utilisant ce chipset (CM6206) tant et autant que C-Media n’ait pas développé une mise à jour corrective de compatibilité.
Important : Après un test sous MAC, il apparait que la carte son soit bien gérée, car l’ensemble des canaux (stéréo/5.1/7.1/micro etc.) fonctionne bien.
Personnellement, j’ai choisi de garder cette carte son et de prendre le risque d’attendre que C-Media mette à jour son chipset, mais j’avoue que cela m’inquiète un peu, car leur dernière mise à jour date de 2016…
Bref, en espérant que cette évaluation va vous aider dans l’achat ou non de cette carte son ou dans sa configuration.
Seb –
Though it is a decently built unit, the unit I got only had one usable port: the headphone out. I needed this for TOSlink and line-in input. The chip maker has no current drivers, neither does MS, and I could not get it to work under two different Tux distros.
I use and love a lot of Startech gear in my racks, but this was a most disappointing piece of kit. Avoid.
Item returned for refund.
Bob –
I’m not using this for the 7.1 sound – I already own an analogue mixing desk and am using the line-in input on this as a way to get sound from the mixer into recording software on my laptop. This is perhaps overkill, but it is fairly cheap and more to the point was in stock, unlike the obvious alternatives (thanks Covid-19).
You will have to download/install drivers for Windows 10 from the StarTech website for everything to work, but then it just does… you have to get used to then configuring in your windows programs where you want the sound to come out (e.g. specify whether to use the line-in or the microphone inputs… the outputs on this box or your built-in laptop headphone socket, etc… but it all works.
StarTech do not claim Apple support but I plugged this into my wife’s macbook and found that it recognised it, and I used the line-in and headphones successfully on that.
evan –
This is one of the few pieces of junk where they can’t even get a simple line out signal up to flat frequency response. Not only that but the microphone in has no ability to control the mic level. Every crappy cheap generic input I have ever used has that. Signal to noise ratio of input is also worse than any sound card I have ever heard, about -65 DBFS.
And the so-called 96 kHz option is pure crap, just a placebo. You figured for charging $45 they’d be able to at least provide some thing, instead of less than nothing. I expected more from startech
Raff –
I have an old Yamaha AV receiver that doesn’t have HDMI. I was using a HDMI splitter for a while, but it didn’t always work well. So I bought a Raspberry Pi 4 and this soundcard. After a few basic PulseAudio tweaks, this is actually pumping out 5.1 sound to my living room and stereo to my kitchen. My movies are in surround sound, and my music is upmixed to 5.1 (again, via pulseaudio). All of the other solutions I looked into required me to get rid of my Yamaha AV amp and Denon stereo amp, and replace them with an expensive “Network Receiver” like the Marantz. If I want to use the optical (spdif/toslink) to my Yamaha AV amp, I can. This “just works”, sounds great, and was cheap.
Southern AB Boy –
Performs as stated. Smaller than I expected about 2/3 the size of Credit Card, and 1.5 cm thick. Consider pairing with 3.5 mm head phone jack splitter. Then your head phones and external speakers can be patched into the unit with out fiddling with cords. As well I expected some sort of software that I would be able to eq sound with. Perhaps that requires a more expensive unit (I am certain no expert). However I would buy again as a gift for a family member, so that says something. As always watch shipping charges, they can really increase cost.
I did eventually order for family members, very quick deliver!
And have ordered for a quick fix for a failed headphone jack on a workplace laptop.
Newks29 –
I wanted this to get SPDIF out from my PC to an old sound bar I was using. I opted for this as I thought the other ports would come in handy, and I had previously used StarTech products too.
Rather than using the supplied CD I downloaded the drivers from their website, on the products page.
The drivers also install a program called Xear Audio Centre, in this software you can change inputs/outputs and some EQ controls etc.
To me it wasn’t obvious how to change to SPDIF out, the option was greyed out in the software. Nothing was in the manual about this so went on live chat at StarTech, who were great. It turns out you need to right click on the active output and go to settings, this opens up a drop down box on the main screen so you can switch output between speakers/headphones/SPDIF out (see screen shot).
The physical buttons on top of the USB soundcard allow easy quick access to volume control and mike mute. The SPDIF out is only 2.1. 7.1 is only available via the 3.5mm jacks.
SomLight –
So StarTech, I’ve used loads of their higher end kit in one of my jobs (professional live streams and recording) with some very expensive cameras, it all works out the box first time and is built like a tank…
This on the other hand, well it doesn’t deserve the StarTech branding. Cheap and tacky plastic casing, I can live with that, but the software, be prepared to trawl the internet for some half baked driver that’s over 4 years old.
The recommended software just straight up doesn’t work. Have a dig around the internet and then find out the exact DAC inside to find some software… Well it kind of worked, I was predominantly after 5.1 over toslink optical to my Onkyo receiver… Well the most I could get with supported software was 2.1 PWM, not 5.1 Dolby/DTS.
The only way I managed to get 5.1 Dolby was with uninstalling all drivers/software made for it and just letting windows 10 install some default audio drivers. And then the only way to get it to push 5.1 was through the troubleshooting options in win10, but as soon as you close it, it’ll swap back to 2.1 PWM. Even forcing a 5.1 encoded MKV movie through VLC it wouldnt pass 5.1….
So in conclusion dont buy. Save the 6+ hours I spent trying to get this working and go buy something else, perhaps a Asus or Soundblaster sound card…