Home > Consumer Reviews > Audio Advantage Micro USB Sound Card

Really...this little device wowed me. I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 and despite it being the latest model from Dell, there is a frequently discussed low level hiss present in the headphone output. You really have to get the volume to a good level to not hear it anymore...and that was annoying. I recently was advised to look in this little device and after looking at my alternatives on the market, I saw that this was the most affordable laptop audio improvement solution on the market. The closest thing to this device is the M-Audio Transit USB pod and the last thing I needed was a bulky silver device hanging from my laptop by an A-B cord on my already 7 lbs desktop replacement machine. I decided to go with this and I dont regret it one bit. Its so tiny you can slip it into a laptop sleeve in your case and best of all, I'm actually able to replace the audio on my desktop with this device.

As for sound quality, its crisp as you can get. The only better sound you can find, according to reviews, is a full fledged PCMIA card like the Audigy 2 which would set you back 100 dollars...compared to the 20 buck thumb sized device this is. I usually listen to my music using Foobar2000 and I do notice a significant improvement in my audio, even realizing that some of my files werent as well recorded as I originally thought...Thats how good the quality is on this little device. With my Grado SR60's at home, you really can't get any better than that quality.

As a reminder, this is output only. If you need to fix your microphone input look somewhere else. Bottom line, this is the best improvement for laptop audio you can get on a budget, from a quality audio card manufacturer, no less.

I got this for my Powerbook (Mac OS), so the included Windows software was of no concern to me. The main purpose was to have an optical audio output for listening to MP3's. When piping music to my stereo, I always have a very noticeable hum, both from the internal audio jack and from my iMic (USB-to-audio converter).

The adapter was recognized upon plugging into a USB port and shows up in the Sound control panel as a generic "USB Audio" device. The blue LED lets you know that it is powered up (and you can see the red LED in the optical port). No hassle, and most importantly no hum (and the sound volume was much higher too so I no longer have to jack up my stereo's volume when switching from radio to iTunes).

I didn't test any of the other functionality (audio jack, mini-disc output) since I didn't care. I just wanted the optical.

Bottom line: I got an optical output on my laptop for $30 and zero effort.

Using a Thinkpad T40, I have the Advantage micro connected to a USB port with installed drives. I then use the digital (s/pdif) output connected to a Denon ADV-M51 mini desktop stereo system. I encode all my CDs using Windows Media Player and iTunes at Lossless bit rates.

The sound quality is far superior to the headphone/line output of my notebook when connected to this system. Using high quality Sennheiser HD-595 headphones, the sound quality is exceptional. No distortion, no hiss, wide dynamic range, full frequency response, no ground loop hum. This is about as good as it gets with a system of this type.

I suggest problems folks are having are not in the Advantage Micro but in another part of their system.

Bought this as a replacement sound card for my notebook. Excellent cheap fix, was a little worried about how loud the volume would be but this thing is loud. It nearly blew my ears off with in-ear headphones.

Windows XP detected it straight away and it even comes with an extension cable, so that you don't have to have it hanging precariously out of the back of your notebook, waiting to get snapped off (very impressed with this forward thinking).

Very happy.

- Small external USB sound card with SPDIF optical out. This is about the cheapest and easiest way to get spdif passthrough for ac3/dts if you have a pc without any sort of digital audio output.
- This sound card only has 1/8 mini analog stereo headphone out or with the included adapter optical out. There are no other connections like 5.1 analog, mic, etc. So this device fills a pretty specific need. USB extension cable is included but you'll need to supply your own optical cable.
- I ignored the included cd and grabbed the latest vista 32bit drivers from the turtle beach website (mic_vista.exe). Vista 64bit isn't supported yet though they say drivers should be available by the end of summer 2008.
- Run the exe and insert the usb device when asked, reboot. That's about it. I went into vista sound control panel, set turtle beach spdif as the default sound device (the turtle beach works fine alongside any built in motherboard audio drivers you already have installed). You'll also see a turtle beach tray icon. Click on that and switch to spdif.
- I tested with VLC (to enable - preferences, audio, check advanced options, check use spdif, output modules, win32 waveout), and ffdshow tryouts for directshow playback (windows medial player, etc). I tested both dolby digital 5.1 and DTS. It all worked fine. VLC still has some stutter issues under vista but that is a VLC-Vista specific issue. Directshow worked just fine. Tested ac3filter and powerdvd8 - both worked fine.
- I've also tested all the above in windows xp pro without issue.
- There is a single pretty bright blue LED that is always on when plugged in.

This is a great little device if you find you need digital optical out on say an older pc, small form factor pc, or a laptop. It's cheap, easy to install, and just works. Highly recommended!