Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! Pro USB Audio System with SBX SB1290

My Lenovo laptop with Win 7 Home premium was working just fine and I was able to capture streaming audio of my on-line lectures. Installing windows updates crippled the sound card. So I was not able to record streaming audio any more. The Internet forums are full with this discussion. This is an intentional activity according to the forums in the name of Digital rights Management (DRM) - destroying people's machines!.I bought this sound card and installed it using the supplied installation disc. It installed slowly but did work. The only issue is that I do not hear the sounds from the laptop internal speakers and must use a head phone or a set of external speakers. Minor inconvenience but it does what it was bought for. Good sound quality and many sound effects are available (which I don't use).It seems that windows updates are deliberately crippling functionality in the operating system which it was sold with. This has happened to several computers running Windows XP after certain updates were installed. This little device may be a work around, although little inconvenient. The price is right through.I hope this helps.

Some info you might find helpful:I use it to sing karaoke online through my laptop. It has a good reverb separately for microphone (micFX), and several reverbs that are equally useful for music/wave audio-(EAX). I use it every day to sing and play my guitar, or sing off karaoke videos online, or saved karaoke songs in my laptop.Pretty cheap and good quality for a portable usb sound card. I can plug it into any computer with a usb to use. It is more convenient than an internal sound card. I no longer use an internal sound card or have a desktop. I choose it for convenient to just be able to plug into my laptop and sing right away.I broke 3 or maybe 4 now through my own fault for standing up while the headphone is still plugged into the usb sound card which kept on getting bent until it starts to lose sound, crack, or not function as it should anymore. I bought roughly ten of these used and new on Amazon, and they all worked great. They stopped working because I kept standing up and break them. I still bought more. That's how much I like/find useful/convenient with these sound cards. I'm on my 4th one now within the last four years. I sing and play guitar for more than 6 hours almost everyday, more on the weekends or days off. I gave the extra cards to friends to help them get started, and I plan to buy more.As far as I know, there're only 2 or 3 creative sound cards that have micFX(reverb/echo for microphone). This usb being one. I don't think the others are available anymore, For me the micFX is a must when I'm singing. It gives some reverb to vocal. MicFX to me is the most important reason to buy this sound card. The other is that it's convenient, and cheappp...heeh. I do not want to plug in my $500 mackie or Health Allen mixer just to sing when I can simply use this and start singing right off.I can go on, but to me this has been the most useful sound card. I can focus on my music more. I hope the info helps, have fun!

The audio jack on my netbook stopped working, so I was looking for a usb sound card as a quick, cheap fix. This one worked okay. I don't think there was any improvement in sound quality over my netbook's original sound card, but it was definitely louder (which was nice because the volume wasn't so great with headphones before). However, there were some problems with hissing, stuttering, and delayed sound. The delayed sound was a particular problem because I use a screenreader because of vision problems and the sound delays made the screenreader almost useless. But the delay was not really noticeable at all with most other programs, like for playing music or audio files. I also thought this usb sound card came with too much unnecessary software. Maybe the software would be useful for someone who's actually doing sound editing or something, but it's a lot of software to install if all you need is more volume or a way to bypass a broken audio jack. In the end, I ended up buying the Turtle Beach Amigo II, which installs very quickly and doesn't come with any additional software. And most importantly, it doesn't have the problems with the hissing or delayed sound.

Very effective at improving the audio output of my desktop and my laptop as well. I love that it is portable and the drivers/software can be installed over the Internet, making it usable on almost any machine. It is a great add-on but please keep in mind this is not designed to replace a $100 PCI sound card.The sound quality and volume is significantly improved over the motherboard built-in audio. I have been testing with my SONY MDR-V6 Studio headphones and the clarity, bass depth, channel separation, and crispness is all very much improved. It also acts as a decent headphone amplifier. When I was using these headphones through the built-in audio, I was running system volume around 80% and now have reduced that to about 50% with the same output. It may only be USB powered but it sure drives some more juice, which is great.For gaming, the software package was very easy to install and get the Alchemy program setup for my few games. The entertainment console is simple and makes it easy to tune the sound to your taste or application.This little usb sound card is a hit. For the price, ease of use, and significant sound enhancement, there really is nothing else like it.