Terratec Aureon Dual USB Sound Card for PC and Notebook

After the headphone port on my laptop broke down, a USB soundcard seemed like a simple and elegant solution. Rather than go with the cheapest models, I went with something a little more expensive, hoping to get a bit more sound quality from the device. Unfortunately, the quality from this little card is rather lacking. There are frequent pops or crackles in audio, which escalates to a roar if you attempt to hook the signal up to an amplifier, and the lowest volume possible on the device is still very loud. If you are a person in need of a cheap sound solution requiring high volume but not bothered with quality, this would be a great item. Otherwise, I would look elsewhere.

I'm not a techie, so when problems occur with my computer, there usually follows a lot of head scratching and moderate amounts of cursing. When, many months ago, the soundcard on my machine failed, I had no idea what to do other than carry on without sound. When someone told me recently that there was such a thing as an external soundcard that could be plugged into a USB port, it was an eye opener, but everything I looked at seemed very large and they were all 5.1 surround, which was way over spec for me. Then, last week I spotted this on Amazon and new it was the answer to my prayers. It's the size of a memory stick and really is just 'plug and go.' No software to load as it's all on the device and loads automatically the moment you plug it in. According to reviews I read elswhere on the net, it even makes itself the default device if you already have a sound card installed. One small proplem I had was that, on my first attempt to install it, I received an error message 'USB Controller Bandwidth Exceeded' but I overcame this by trying again using a different USB port and everything was fine. The sound quality isn't up to CD standards but I'm not bothered. I now have sound back on my computer for very little money or effort. For the price, this is a brilliant product!

For a simple product like that, its very wide and long. It feels too large for its weight (its very light!). When using it on a Macbook Air's built-in USB port, it obstructs the neighbouring sound and video ports. The Mac also doesn't recognise the Aureon by name, it shows up as "Unknown USB Audio Device" after plugging it in. Works like a charm though.

Purchased One of these years ago and it has been very useful. easy to use has line out and optical. I have only used this with computers running linux and with my android phone. works perfectly with both. sound quality is a big improvement over the laptop and phone audio out. but if you want Hi end hifi quality you have to pay more money. I have used it's optical out between my phone/laptop and a hi end exposure dac and it sounds great. not dropout or click or pops as other people have experienced. possibly windows driver problems. The volume is loud from the computer. but its not a problem. does not distort the sound. It will drive my headphone not problem as well. So works well as a portable Headphone Amp/Dac with my android phone.

I purchased the Terratec Aureon USB to provide an optical audio stream from the USB output of my laptop to an external DAC in my Hi-Fi system. Unfortunately the device did not seem capable of providing a steady input to the DAC that would play without frequent dropouts and interruptions in the music. I sent an email from the Terratec website but received no reply. Five calls to the help desk were cut off after being on hold for 5 minutes. Independent advisors have subsequently suggested that it is a technically challenging thing to achieve USB to SPDIF conversion without the "jitter" or timing problems that cause such interruptions, implying that there is no cheap solution. I have been recommended to purchase something considerably more sophisticated and expensive such as the Firestone "Bravo" USB to SPDF converter. The Terratec device also includes an analogue output for headphones/loudspeakers but I did not test this as I specifically needed the optical output capability. I had high hopes of a cheap solution to my needs and was initially disappointed that this didn't work. As always you get what you pay for, particularly in the world of audio and electronics, so with hindsight I am not surprised and a little wiser from this experience. One other point to note for UK purchasers, the supplier is in Germany which was not immediately clear when I purchased and it did cost me a little more to return the faulty product. This is the first time I have had to return anything purchased via Amazon but they were quick to process my complaint and issue a refund so no complaints there.

I bought this as an upgrade from a cheaper usb sound card. It's ok but not that much better than the cheaper option. Perhaps it's just me (or my laptop)but I find the sound too 'thin'and lacking quality. Perhaps I should just bite the bullet and have my laptop headphone output port repaired!!

This is a good product for anyone wishing to connect audio equipment via an optical link. Use of optical links avoids "hum" due to ground loop problems. Works well but only provides 2 channel stereo, so no good for surround sound home cinema systems. Well worth the money given the limitations above and would recommend this item.

I bought this so that I could use a headset-mic for Skype on my 2007 white Macbook (Mic signals need to be boosted in order to use a mic in the Macbook line input, and I don't have a special boosted mic). As a collateral benefit, I thought it might be useful for watching DVDs. It's brilliant for both. Skype is much clearer using the Aureon than using the Macbook's headphone output, and the mic signal is very clear (much clearer than using the macbook's built in mic). Film sound quality is significantly improved (surprisingly full) when using the Aureon compared to using the Macbook's headphone output to drive my X-Mini Max speakers. Still a little disappointing for music - whether this is the speakers or the card I can't say. Build quality seems good - no problems after 6 months of regular use and travelling. It's the size of a very long and broad USB flash card, so I use it with a Belkin Pro USB extension cable. ** UPDATE NOV 2015 ** I have just bought another one of these cards. It pairs perfectly with the excellent and cheap Logitech Z120 speakers. Together they deliver a quality that, while a long way from audiophile, is warm, rather than harsh, and clear enough for films, and casual listening to music, if you don't need too much bass. I was a little nervous, given some of the negative reviews since my first purchase, but this second unit is just as good as the first.