[incognitoedleon]

You might be right, but C-media makes a lot of different chipsets. Here's a listing of the USB audio devices on the C-media site.

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/?q=en/usb_audio

The generic version came in the mail yesterday with a CM119 chipset - which isn't listed on the site.

Edit: By the way, I picked up the version from this seller: http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-KEY-SIZE-5-1...QQcmdZViewItem

Lowest price at $6.74 without the dorky "3D Sound" stamped on the top.

 

[Vault]

Looking around a little "Everything USB" store here in Singapore I spied one for USD 6.50. I tell you, this little thing does pack a punch.

Crude though it may be, it adds a little bit more fullness to the bass coming out of my eggos and Lenovo Thinkpad.

The plus is this made a huge difference to VoIP and Skype quality - most notably with the microphone.

What's not to like at this price? Thinking of biting the bullet and going down the DAC path in the near future, if this is anything to go by, I think the bug may have bitten hard.

Had to pass up on a really funky USB extension port with fake waterfall.. really beautiful stuff

 

[Mrjabba]

loving this thread.
new member here and its refreshing to see something not to damagin on the wallet!

 

[450]

Does this thing work in optical mode in Linux? Because if it does then I can get this to stream all the audio to my EMU 0404 and use the 0404 as a "DAC" of sorts since the 0404 doesn't work in Linux.

 

[in_the_membrane]

I ordered this one:
http://ledshoppe.com/Product/com/CA4017.htm

TERRIBLE, don't order this one at least. Try your luck elsewhere, mine looks just like the rest generic "3D SOUND" USB thingies in this thread, only it's light blue and it sucks. The sound floor seems low though, but when you begin to play something it sounds like the music is accompanied by the Rice Krispies orchestra... snaps crackles and pops everywhere, actually if you lower the volume that is ALL you can hear. My headphone out on this Inspiron 640m blows this piece of crap away.

I assume that the green ones have got other electronics in them, because this blue one makes my flacs sound worse than an old cellphone ringtone.

On the other hand, the cheap usb 2.0 hub I ordered from them seem to be working just fine so far, so it's not all bad.

I guess I'll better start saving for a Transit.

 

[in_the_membrane]

Seems like I got the same kind of dud as lukealexander describes in the beginning of this thread... so watch out for the semi transparent light blue/turquoise kind at least. Those seem to be duds. I'd recommend ppl to get a TBAAM instead just for the quality assurance alone, unless you are sure that you're not ordering a dud like I did. Those who still want to gamble might get a good one from http://www.usbgeek.com , since that's where redleader got his.

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by in_the_membrane /img/forum/go_quote.gif I ordered this one: http://ledshoppe.com/Product/com/CA4017.htm TERRIBLE, don't order this one at least. Try your luck elsewhere, mine looks just like the rest generic "3D SOUND" USB thingies in this thread, only it's light blue and it sucks. The sound floor seems low though, but when you begin to play something it sounds like the music is accompanied by the Rice Krispies orchestra... snaps crackles and pops everywhere, actually if you lower the volume that is ALL you can hear. My headphone out on this Inspiron 640m blows this piece of crap away. I assume that the green ones have got other electronics in them, because this blue one makes my flacs sound worse than an old cellphone ringtone. On the other hand, the cheap usb 2.0 hub I ordered from them seem to be working just fine so far, so it's not all bad. I guess I'll better start saving for a Transit.

Did you try it with a different USB port and/or away from any power cables? The first time I tried mine, it was also riddled with crackles (worsened with increasing disc activity). A move to a different port solved it all.

Cheers!

 

[in_the_membrane]

Yep tried two different sets of ports on the laptop and also with the usb hub in between, yielded the same awful result each time.

 

[J.Y.]

I declare that the usbgeek audio dongle is as terrible as computer audio gets, which gives me constant hiss on the playback, and worse yet, the mic input is totally useless. I used this w/ skype and the person I talked to reported that he cannot hear me talking behind the huge hiss. This is a green one w/ 3D SOUND on it, STAY AWAY FROM USBGEEK too!

 

[eduj]

There are a lot of these thingies on ebay
http://search.ebay.com/usb-sound-car...sPageNameZWLRS

but which one to get?

 

[RedLeader]

Whoa, I had forgotten about this thread. Yea... it seems to be a total crapshoot with these things I suppose. All I can speak of is my own experience. I've now got a semi-real DAC (DPU-50), mine from usbgeek.com has long since moved on to a friend of mine. He still uses the thing regularily with his old thinkpad. Did you try returning yours to usbgeek? If its actually a faulty unit and not some issue with usb drivers or shielding, they should take it back I would think.

 

[sonic_rage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eduj /img/forum/go_quote.gif There are a lot of these thingies on ebay http://search.ebay.com/usb-sound-car...sPageNameZWLRS but which one to get?

the ones in translucent gray and green are the same.
go for one of those.

 

[eduj]

Like this one?
http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-5-1-CH-3...QQcmdZViewItem

 

[iPatcH]

I know it's not a whole lot of money, but I'm still kinda nervous about which ones are duds and which ones aren't... looks like it's been a kind of hit or miss situation with these. I just need something to remove my laptop's hiss!

 

[incognitoedleon]

The one I posted at the top of this page does not have any noisefloor problems. The sound quality isn't anything to be excited about, but I detect no hiss or static whatsoever at normal listening volumes.