Customer Reviews
Very good sound 
2008-05-01
First off, my set up in an Onkyo TX-SR703 7.1 with a seprate zone 2 (2 channel stereo). I use my laptop as a virtual JukeBox and have a 22 inch monitor set up in vertical mode and in another room; so it looks like a jukebox only with endless capabilities. I have a IBM thinkpad T23, with windows xp professional service pack 2...no problems with install. The onboard sound card isnt that bad, actually it sounds pretty darn good. My only grip with it is if you turn the volume 3/4 of the way up on the reciever you pick up some unwanted noise...a slight hum. In the pursuit of perfection, I picked up this external sound card to give it a try. At first I thought I made a mistake, the volume of the internal sound card was actually louder than the Soundblaster. With the soundblaster hooked up via connection digital coax, I cranked up the volume with no audio source present and there was no unwanted hum like there was before; that's a big improvement. Luckily my reciever has loads of options including boosting the audio input(source)up to a 12db gain. The jukebox is VERY loud and very clear. There is a huge improvement in bass response. I have 2 powered subs in this set up and I had to turn down the gain on them because the bass was so overpowering. The highs are crystal clear and mid bass hits really hard. Probably the only bummer is the software, it could be much better. I use yahoo jukebox software to run my set up and it's just as good as the creative labs software but the catch is the yahoo software was free! I expected much more control with the software that came with the card. Overall this is a nice piece of hardware and for 50 bucks you really can't ask for more.
Update: After a few days with this card I came across two 2 songs that I stumbled on that had problems playing without some distortion due to really high bandwith (Pink Floyd-Comfortably Numb, Respect the Wind-Eddie Van Halen); It almost sounded like my tweeters were going. After trial and error using audio cd's, headphones I came to the conclusion there was a bandwith problem. I went in the menu's and there is a tab called audio monitor which sets the frequency and bit rate automatically; I found I was only putting out 44.1 khz @16bits. I adjusted the frequency to 96khz @ 24bit rate and unchecked the audio monitor. The songs sound almost perfect now.
SB Live USB Great 2008-04-25
I am a Amateur Radio op and I use my computer and sound card for operating RTTY and other digital modes. By dedicating this card for my Digital Radio Modes I can leave my other sound for normal computer uses and not have to continually change settings. This card was a snap to install, no brainer. Love it!
Excellent Alternative 2008-04-15
This is a very useful sound card if you are looking to reproduce sound with a 5.1 system. It's small and has everything you need to add theatrical sound to your pc. I didn't test it in record mode but so far I played some DVD's and Blue Ray Discs without a problem. Crystal Sound give it a try
Very good 2008-04-08
Hi I am from Costa Rica, I have a Power Edge Server. I need to install in it a sound card. The Creative Labs USB SoundBlaster Live! 24-Bit External Sound Card is the best option. I don't need to open the server.
Only I needed to download the driver for XP64 for my Power Edge. It has installed Windows 2003 Server 64 bits. This driver held me to resolved the problem with my sound card. Very good, I am very happy.
CREATIVE LABS USB SOUNDBLASTER IS A GREAT PRODUCT 2008-04-01
I LOVE THE CREATIVE LABS USB SOUNDBLASTER, IT GAVE MY SPEACKER A BIG LIFT AND THE SOUND IS SO CLEAR, I PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT TO ENHANCE MY LAPTOP AND I ENJOY THE HI-FI SOUND IT GIVE OUT.
THANK'S AGAIN FOR LETTING ME SHARE MY REVIEW ABOUT THIS PRODUCT WITH YOU ALL
Great! 2008-06-11
It's now about six months that I am using it, and I really like it!
Great price for what you get! 
2008-06-02
There has been much griping about the lack of Vista drivers for this product and deservedly so. Keep in mind, this is an older product from Creative Labs, but they have finally provided updated drivers for Vista that lets you take full advantage of what this little box has to offer.
My main use of our laptop is watching online movies through Netflix hooked up to our big screen HDTV, and the included sound card has an analog out jack that also comes with some low-level noise (yuck). I was straining to understand the words. Luckily, this box has not one, but TWO SPDIF out jacks, optical or coaxial which I can hook into our stereo and get some very nice surround sound. No more hum.
Being quite familiar with Creative Labs products, I was happy to see the basic same interface included that comes with my X-Fi Platinum card. It is a little bit more simplified, but most of the software is there and it serves the job quite nicely.
The line-in jack works decently enough, but be warned that you need to pre-amp some things to get any decent kind of sound. But the line-in jack is not the reason I got this box.
It's a great upgrade of sound from the usual notebook cards, especially with the digital outputs. It's especially economical if you have a low-end notebook and get annoyed with the tinny sound they tend to produce.
Good External Sound Card, But Lacks Working Line-In 
2008-05-30
I had a very specific use for this card, and it failed miserably.
I am a musician and I wanted to be able to record music from my synth to my laptop. (My laptop, needless to say, doesn't have a line-in, which was the whole point of my purchasing the USB Soundblaster Live!) My synth was plugged into the line-in of the sound card, but guess what? No sound. After much frustration from trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, and installing, uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers found both on the CD and from the support site, a quick search online revealed a common issue with the USB Soundblaster Live!: the line-in requires the use of a pre-amp.
Admittedly, most people will want this card for better sound for their games and music, so this issue probably won't matter to them. But if you have any intention of using the line-in, please save yourself a terrible headache and avoid this card.
Personally, I'm returning mine tomorrow.
Laptop heaven 2008-05-15
I bought this product to process sound for my laptop (desktop replacement). It does the job admirably. However, I have an old audiophile amp and speakers and wanted to use it as a media ampliphier for the main side channels, but I couldn't find a dolby processor. This little box fills that need too. So I am now working on integrating it into my home media plans. If testing works as well as I anticipate, I will be using another one for the media processor.
noise problem 2008-05-05
It can create 'crackling and popping' noise when used with some nVidia boards. That is a known problem extensively discussed on Creative website, but I didn't know until I bought this..
