More and more we are starting to stream films and music through the lap top but the onboard sound quality is not very great; when it is on high it seems quite distorted and poor. I was told about USB plug in sound cards and although slightly dubious, decided to buy one and give it a go.

==Price and availability==

The Creative Labs sound card costs £33.00 and is widely available. I bought this one from Amazon.co.uk.

==Description==

The sound card looks like a flash drive, it has a lid with a key ring fastener and underneath this is a USB stick. The pack comes with a USB extension lead; in case your USB ports are really close together you can use this for better access. Despite being quite a small little thing, it is a bit wide so may block access to other ports. Also contained in the kit is a installation CD and a leaflet with the instructions on. The soundcard is available to use with Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
To get the soundcard to work you need to insert the installation CD and follow the instructions; this is relatively simple but takes quite a while to complete. The plus side to this though is that once loaded it does not appear to make too much a dent on the memory.

==Findings==

I love the ease of having a plug in external soundcard. When not in use, I can just slip it into the lap top back and get it out when I next need it.
I would like to say that the soundcard is easy to use; which it is, however it takes a while to get the best out of the soundcard. The installation takes ages and it crashed in the middle and caused me to have to restart it!

Once loaded, the Creative Audio control panel is easy to navigate round and you can spend hours fiddling with the different levels trying to get the best potential sound out of the device. Obviously if you are not a perfectionist you will find it much easier and quicker to do, as there is nothing wrong with the default setting really and you will notice a significant improvement in sound relatively quickly. The device makes a significant difference and sounds are much clearer, deeper and richer. Music has depth and clarity and movies have a surround sound feel. I sometimes lie in bed and watch a film and really enjoy the much improved sound quality. Even with earphones, the quality is much improved.

For full access to the X-Fi effects you need to buy an extension pack to the installed material. It downloads some software that needs a registration key; this seems a bit cheeky really as cannot remember seeing anything about this on the box! Do not be disheartened by this information though as the installed material is just fine on its own and the quality of the device is superb.
I am really pleased with the soundcard and would definitely recommend it!