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External sound cards are a great way to upgrade your computer's audio by doing nothing more than plugging in a USB cable and installing some software.
The Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit External is a 5.1 sound card, which means you can connect a surround-sound system. You can also hook up a dedicated DTS decoder, which will give you greater sound quality when watching DVD movies or playing DTS-enabled games.
On the front of the unit are ports for headphones, microphone and optical out, a digital connection that can be used to connect to a stereo amplifier or external recording device, such as a MiniDisc player. There's also an infrared port for the remote control.
On the back are sockets for connecting to 5.1 speakers, line-in and an SPDIF port for connection to the decoder.
The best part of this package is the Creative Media Source software. While we'd usually shun bespoke media software in preference to Windows Media Player, this application allows you complete control of your music via the remote control - like a basic version of Windows Media Center.
There's not much in the way of digital recording features but, for an easy way to add 5.1 sound and get a decent media player, the £50 price tag is reasonable.
See also:
All Sound Cards
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