If you enjoy music on a PC/Notebook then the speakers and sound card/chip are important. To put a better sound card in a notebook is very difficult and even in some PCs not that easy, here is an alternative.
Buy Now...
Providing you have a USB port this solution should be implemented in only a couple of minutes. Plug in the adapter under Windows 2000 or XP external drivers are not required. Under Windows 98SE or ME then place the supplied CD in your CD drive. Thats it you should not even normally require a reboot. Next install the software and then you are in business.
Normally if you only have a basic sound card/chip there is no point in getting 5.1 speakers as you just output the same signal over a range of speakers. The clever software provided with the Sitecom USB 5.1 Audio Adapter does the rest. I have no doubt if you had the top of the range 5.1 sound card outputting the same signals to the same type of speakers on a similarly equipped PC then you should detect the difference however the output here is a good attempt for not a lot of cash. Perhaps most importantly if you cannot upgrade your sound card/chip this provides the only possible solution, short of getting a new PC/Notebook.
Another use of the Adapter is to output from external devices such as CD and MP3 players as the unit has a sound card built into it. If your MP3 player only has output for headphones then the Sitecom USB 5.1 Audio Adapter gives you far more output level than you would get plugging straight into speakers. If your device has a line out then this is less of a requirement as the signal comes out at a far more powerful rate.
The dimensions and weight are 6.5x6.5x2cm and around 50grams with the built in USB lead attached. This is a USB 1.1 device but it will work fine with USB 2.
There are five sockets on the unit, Rear, Cen/Sub, Front, Mic and Line In. The top of the circular unit has two push buttons to increase and decrease the volume.
Once installed the Sound Station software sits in the tray as another icon if you already have sound on your PC/Notebook. Right click and open the devices window, there are six tabs Volume Control with seven sliders. Effect that can act on each channel separately and there are also controls for 2.1 or 5.1 systems and three levels of bass. A Remote Controller window that lets you select a device. A Record tab with input selectable from S/PDIF, Mic-in or Line-In. A Wav converter tab and finally the obligatory About tab. Even without the recording and Wav converting features this would be an extremely useful piece of kit.
For anyone with a work laptop that has a naff sound chip attaching decent speakers is a waste of time. You could however put up with naff or lack of sounds at work and use the Adapter and some decent speakers at home, if the Adapter is not detected then automatically it returns to whatever else is there.
Sitecom kit is available widely or by post from the link below for £39 or less.
http://www.meroncourt.co.uk/prodview/692
!!
