Are pricier External USB Sound Card/Audio Adapters better?

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Smallicex00

Commendable
Jul 4, 2016
17
1
1,510
My laptop's soundjacks decided to die on me (yay) and i found out about the External USB Sound Card and i decided to give it a try. I searched USB Audio Adapter on Amazon only to be bombarded with many different brands of adapters. I'm going to use them for my headphones and i wonder if there is any difference between the pricier and the cheaper ones.

If so, is it major when im using headphones?
 
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ssddx
generally you get what you pay for. cheaper models may not sound as good or may have a higher chance of poor quality audio or other issues. with that said, a cheap model is not always a problem and can normally work fine if you arent picky and have a tight budget. i've heard both good and bad stories when using the cheap models.

of course if you need things like virtual surround sound or a stronger amp for certain headphone models i wouldnt look to cheap lines and would get something more mainstream.

products like the xonar u3 would work fine for most situations and lower power headphones. creative has a few cheaper models but i would suggest one with separate mic/headphone jacks unless you intend to use a combined jack style headset...
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ssddx

ssddx

Titan
May 27, 2009
17,054
5
74,965
generally you get what you pay for. cheaper models may not sound as good or may have a higher chance of poor quality audio or other issues. with that said, a cheap model is not always a problem and can normally work fine if you arent picky and have a tight budget. i've heard both good and bad stories when using the cheap models.

of course if you need things like virtual surround sound or a stronger amp for certain headphone models i wouldnt look to cheap lines and would get something more mainstream.

products like the xonar u3 would work fine for most situations and lower power headphones. creative has a few cheaper models but i would suggest one with separate mic/headphone jacks unless you intend to use a combined jack style headset with them (sb play2 for example has combined jack) as if you dont you would need an adapter cable (negating cost savings). the part i dont like though is how it (the u3 and similar designs) is a stick that hangs off your usb port. you need to be careful not to bump it downwards or it could cause usb jack issues (puts force on the port to motherboard solder connection if bumped or jarred hard). or just use it with a short extension cable.. and alleviate that problem completely (suggested). on the headphone dac/amp side the fiio e10k is a nice stereo unit which is likely more than you need but good quality and about the same price as the larger external soundcards if you thought a stick solution isnt good enough. if you ever decided to get nicer headphones it can follow you through that upgrade as well (provided you dont get anything extremely power hungry that is)
 
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