Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB Analog & Digital Audio Adapter
Price : $24.84
You Save : $0.11
Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
Turtle Beach Micro II - PC and Mac USB Sound Card
Overview
The Micro II USB sound card adds a stereo analog output and an optical digital output to a Mac® or PC. The stereo output drives powered speakers, headphones or an external recording device. Because it uses a USB digital connection, the Micro II isolates the audio signal from the noisy electronics inside a PC or laptop to provide higher-quality sound. A built-in amplifier delivers crisp, clear sound on headphones or ear buds.
Inserting the included TOSLINK adapter into the stereo jack converts it into a S/PDIF digital optical output, allowing you to connect your Mac or PC to the optical digital input on home theater systems, digital speakers and other digital audio devices. This digital connection lets you enjoy DVD or streaming digital movies on your Mac or PC in high-quality, pure digital format. By installing an optional driver, the digital output can also send 5.1 channel Dolby® Digital or DTS™ surround sound as an encoded digital audio stream to your home theater system. (NOTE: This feature is only available on the Windows platform.)
Features
Analog stereo output drives headphones or powered speakers
Compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems
Add premium digital or analog sound to your PC or laptop
Powered by USB - no power adapter needed
The Turtle Beach TBS-1150 Audio Advantage Micro II External Sound Card is the perfect companion for your laptop or PC.
Product Details
- Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 3.5 x 0.8 inches ; 1.8 ounces
- Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
- ASIN: B0036VO4X4
- Item model number: AudioAdvantageMicroII
Technical Details
- AUDIO ADVANTAGE MICRO II USBUSB ANALOG ; DIGITAL A
Customer Reviews
This product works perfectly for me so far.
I have used this for months now, with no problems.
I haven't had any problems with it, so I can't comment on Turtle Beach's customer service.
I use this device to send multi-channel, compressed audio (Dolby Digital, DTS) from my laptop to my home theater receiver.
I send the video stream via HDMI to my TV. My receiver is just old enough that it doesn't have any HDMI inputs; only digital coax and Toslink.
My TV can pass on the audio to my receiver via Toslink (which is awesome for OTA broadcasts w/ multi-channel audio), but restricts the stream to 2-channel stereo if the source is HDMI.
So, using HDMI from my laptop, I'd never be able to watch a Blu-Ray disc in anything more than stereo.
That's no good. I'd rather watch a DVD in 5.1 or 6.1 than a Blu-Ray in stereo.
This Micro II solved the problem.
It sends any audio format found on today's DVDs, including all the variations of DOLBY and DTS.
(Note: those are the only formats you'll get on Blu-Ray too, even though there are newer, supposedly better audio formats for Blu-Ray. This is b/c the new formats can be sent only over HDMI, not digital coax or Toslink.)
And the picture and sound were perfectly matched, despite passing over separate outputs.
I also like that this thing is sleek and minimal in it's design. It takes up practically no space, requires no additional power source, and will fit easily in your laptop bag when you travel (although you probably won't use this much while traveling).
Plus, the fact that it includes the mini-Toslink adapter is awesome (what a pain it would be to have to buy one more little thing just to make it work).
And the connection is very sturdy; it won't pull out inadvertently.
The only annoying thing, to me, was that there was no way to select this device as the default output until I had installed the drivers from TB.
Yes, they are clear upfront that you'll need the drivers to use the multi-channel output feature, but I thought the thing would at least show up in my device list.
Anyway, not a huge deal. Just go directly to the TB site and get the drivers.
Oh, and to those reviewers who are Mac users, why would you even buy this?
Unless your Mac is pretty old, it probably has a dual-use jack that functions as a headphone and Toslink output.
Just get a mini-Toslink adapter, which costs about five bucks (or less). You shouldn't need any other device to send digital audio via Toslink.
I've decided to hide an old IBM laptop near my stereo
for use as a poor man's Squeezebox. I used the "shared
folder" feature of windows to access my digital music
collection (purchased from eMusic, and stored on another
PC) wirelessly. Pretty nice -- I don't have to transfer
music to the laptop itself, which has only a small hard
drive.
I initially had an adapter cable running from the
"headphone out" on the laptop to stereo RCA cables
to the stereo. The stereo volume had to be cranked
up pretty high, and the sound quality seemed just okay.
I took the Micro II card out of the packaging, plugged
it into a USB port, and that was that. The laptop,
running Windows 2000, recognized it immediately and
I simply plugged my adapter cable into the Micro II.
I haven't run any careful tests to compare the sound
of the Micro II to the sound chip on the laptop, but
subjectively the sound with the Micro II was a lot
clearer, and I could set my stereo volume as I would
normally when using the CD player. My wife said she
could hear a big improvement in the sound.
In short: totally simple to set up, works with my
Windows 2000 laptop, and seems to sound much better
than the laptop headphone output.
