Creative Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Adapter
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Set Alert for Product: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Sound Adapter for Windows and Mac. Plug and Play (No Drivers Required). Upgrade to 24-Bit 96Khz Playback - $18.84
Last Amazon price update was: January 8, 2025 12:43
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Creative Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Adapter Price History
Price History for Creative Labs Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Sound Adapter for Windows and Mac. Plug and Play...
Statistics
Current Price
$18.84
January 8, 2025
Highest Price
$18.84
October 18, 2024
Lowest Price
$18.84
October 18, 2024
Since October 18, 2024
Last price changes
$18.84
October 18, 2024
Creative Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Adapter Description
power source type: Corded Electric
No drivers needed — works straight out of the box.
Works with PC and Mac — Compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, 7; and Mac OS x10.9 or higher. Enhance your listening experience — Upgrade your existing on-board sound to a USB DAC capable of 24-bit 96kHz playback Instantly!
Easy Headphone connectivity — Compatible with all analog headsets, from standard mobile phone earbuds to gaming and studio-grade headphones. Connect your headsets with single or split stereo/mic connector easily without the use of a Y-splitter cable.
Powerful downloadable software — control panel software gives powerful Audio Enhancements and unprecedented control. Also includes optimized profiles for multiple earphone brands.
Product Type – SOUND CARD
Creative Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Adapter Specification
Specification: Creative Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Adapter
Item Weight (ounces)
2.1
Manufacturer
Creative
ASIN
B06XBZ38ZJ
Item model number
70SB173000000
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer
No
Date First Available
March 2, 2017
Surround Sound Channel Configuration
5 1
Maximum Sample Rate (KHz)
96
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (KHz)
96
Product Dimensions
5.43"L x 0.87"W x 0.37"H
Global Trade Identification Number
00054651191273
UPC
054651191273
Creative Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Adapter Reviews (12)
12 reviews for Creative Sound Blaster Play! 3 External USB Adapter
4.9out of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
11
★★★★★
1
★★★★★
0
★★★★★
0
★★★★★
0
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★★★★★
James Lowery –
ordered this to solve latency issues with my sound output. Easy install just plug and play. Latency issue solved. The software download is nice extra improves sound quality. Great product, great price.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Steve –
The Sound Blaster Play! is a compact and portable sound card that can be easily plugged into your computer’s USB port. It has a sleek and stylish design, and its small form factor makes it easy to carry around with you wherever you go. The sound card is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems, and can be used with a variety of devices including headphones, speakers, and microphones.
One of the main features of the Sound Blaster Play! is its high-quality digital-to-analog converter (DAC), which helps to improve the overall sound quality of your audio. It also has a built-in amplifier, which can provide additional power to your headphones or speakers, resulting in a clearer and more detailed sound. Users have reported that the sound quality is noticeably better when using the Sound Blaster Play! compared to their computer’s built-in audio.
The Sound Blaster Play! also includes a variety of software features, such as the Sound Blaster Command software, which allows you to customize the audio settings to your liking. The software also includes a range of audio effects and enhancements, such as virtual surround sound, EQ adjustments, and noise reduction.
In summary, the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Play! is a great option for anyone looking to improve the audio quality of their computer or laptop. Its compact and portable design, high-quality DAC and built-in amplifier, and customizable software features make it a great value for its price.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
YellowBeastMode –
I love the sound of a well played bass guitar. Don’t you? I think all the great bands had great bass guitarists. McCartney. Greenwood. Novoselic. The list goes on and on. Many of today’s indie bands have great bass playing/composition. I think too many DACs these days are aiming for vocal clarity, detail digging and things that focus on the mid and higher frequencies of music. I like DACs like this one that can really make the beginning of Come Together by the Beatles sound fun and engaging, cuz that has to be one of the greatest opening bass riffs of all time, right? In fact, I use that song to test my audio equipment.
This DAC delivers beautiful well-placed bass tones. Not the thump, thump part. The deep Dmmmm part.. That part of the song is placed more prominently and accurately than even the sacred, Dragonfly Black, which I also tested. The Black has better soundstage, but again, only if you’re just not that into bass guitars.
The sound might be a little distorted, but what do you expect from a DAC powered by device USB hosting? Even the Black is distorted (on the low end). It’s not plugged into the wall, so… And at least this one doesn’t have some stupid LED light wasting your battery or hurting performance or both.
Considering all this, I LOVE THIS DAC!! It improved the sound of my Samsung Galaxy Tab A Android tablet that I have connected to a Tivoli Audio One by AUX Cable and and OTG cable (necessary or it won’t work). The volume comes out a little low, but I can boost the volume on the Tivoli enough to a fun or even slightly obnoxious level. WIthout a powered amp/speaker situation like this, though, you might find this disappointing. The company does, however, make it clear that this item is NOT INTENDED FOR ANDROID/iOS. So that it works at all this way and this well makes me appreciate it and not be too picky about it’s flaws.
Hope that was helpful. Oh. AND IT ONLY COSTS LIKE TWENTY BUCKS! You can get five of these for one Black. I’m gonna get a second one just in case something happens to this one. Why not? So cheap!
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Mike Griswold –
Using it with a 2 channel Fosi class D amp and a set of bookshelf Tannoy speakers for computer system. Sounds pretty good. Far better than computer analog out. Small, inexpensive, plug and play. Can’t go wrong.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Bruno Schindler –
I bought it as an upgrade for my old computer with stock sound. It was quite inexpensive and I have over 3,400 complete operas many of which are 24bit 96KHz and higher. This offers a gigantic increase in sound quality. The downloadable software makes the set complete. My expensive digitized operas now sound more as they should and I could not be happier. Great job Sound Blaster! Update…I liked this so well that I bought a second one for my son’s computer.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Cliente Amazon –
Compre está tarjeta para sutituir la integrada en una motherboard gamer, que si bien no era mala en cuanto a especificaciones, se quedaba corta para unos audífonos sencillos de 32 ohms que compre (el volúmen era bajo, tanto de los audífonos como del microfono incorporado, por lo que tenía que subir a tope el volumen y al máximo la ganacia del microfono introduciendo mucha estatica en el proceso). Estando a media clase recibo la notificación de entrega y salgo a recibirla lo más rapido posible. Al regresar la saque del empaque, revise que todo estuviera bien y la enchufe de una vez para estrenarla en clase. Tras unos pequeños ajustes de la salida de audio y entrada del microfono, me encontre con un volumen mucho más fuerte, tanto en el microfono como en los audífonos mismos. Tanto así que tuve que silenciarme y bajar la ganacia a niveles más razonables para evitar ensordecer a mis compañeros. Con esto el micrófono se escucha bastante más limpio, aunque aún permanece un muy pequeño sonido de estática que puede ser perjudicial para grabaciones profesionales y semiprofesionales ( aunque para eso están tarjetas usb con prestaciones más avanzadas y/o software para remover el ruido). Ya una vez acabada la clase procedí a descargar los dirvers y el software incluido. Aunque dicho sowtware resulta muy simple en interfaz y opciones, para el día a día queda muy bien, y no creo que ocupes más. En resumen, la recomiendo bastante si cuentas con audífonos gamer y/o tú tarjeta de audio imterna ya no da más de sí, si escuchas con un volumen muy bajo, tienes problemas de estatica por el micrófono o si simplemente quieres mejorar el audio de tú equipo con este pequeño DAC/amplificador (que por cierto, aguanta audífonos de hasta 300 ohms, y minimos recomendables de 32 ohms) USB por un precio relativamente bajo, está es una excelente opción. PD No puedo decir nada de durabilidad porque recien me a llegado, pero si algo sucede, los mantendre actualizados y si no, pues es que todo va bien.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
vdawg –
Had trouble with the Realtek ALC987 on the Beelink running linux. Bought this and plugged it in. Wow! Incredible clarity. I’m buying another for my desktop computer. The audio is fine on that one, but when you hear what you get with the sound blaster, you’re ruined. Great product. Just plug it in and it works.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Marcus Vinícius Salomé Mângia –
Nulla da dire, preso al posto del Play! 4 poiché avevo un problema di signal bleeding dovuto ad una messa a terra penosa di casa mia e avevo necessità di un DAC con jack input e output separati. (Volendo il Play! 3 supporta il jack singolo combinato connettendo solo il jack TRRS nella porta di output cuffie)
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Cliente de Amazon –
Its worth noting that the Play 3 should be used with the Software (downloadable from official site) rather than simply Plug and Play. The software has quite a few tweaks that allows lots of flexibility regarding tweaking of sound signature. The output gain options are handy depending on the kind of headsets being used. Over ear large sized headphones even though less than 64 ohms play quite well with the higher ohms option as it increases the volume by approx 30%. I found the default option a bit too low in volume. Other enhancement options like Crystalizer enhances the volume further while giving more Bass and Treble (fun sounding signature). There is also a Bass Boost option which also provides quite a punch. Apart from these options one can also tweak the EQ separately. Hence all in all the options are plenty. As for difference between onboard audio and USB can definitely be felt if the motherboard is below 10K /-. My reason for buying this usb DAC is because I was hearing crackling sounds from my motherboard inbuild audio, mostly because my GPU (rx5700XT) was causing interference. This solved the issue (do note that simple plug and play didn’t solve anything besides the audio sounding too underwhelming. Only after installing the downloaded driver/software did I notice the immediate change in sound signature).
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Bruno Schindler –
My wife’s mini desktop PC only had an audio output/headphone jack on the front, which left a speaker cable coming out of the front of the machine and interfering with the keyboard right in front of it due to cramped desk space. This was an easy and cheap solution to add audio output off of a USB hub that was connected to the back of the machine, keeping the front of the PC free of extra cables.
It was easy plug-and-play setup, but initially on this Windows 11 PC the volume was a bit low, even maxed out. I just had to nearly max out all the controls in Windows, the music app, etc. I tried installing the Creative Labs drivers for it but didn’t notice any difference. The strange thing is, I uninstalled the Creative Labs software in “Add & Remove Programs”, then I uninstalled all of my sound devices from Device Manager including the built-in ones, then I told Device Manager to scan for new devices. It reinstalled everything, including the Play3! with the Microsoft drivers. BAM! The volume was now so loud, I had to cut the Windows volume to 50% and even then, the music app had to be set to around 30-40% volume. I’m not sure why this happened, but did see some other mentions of it for this device on Reddit. If this happens, try uninstalling and reinstalling the device in Device Manager. It made a huge difference for me in terms of volume output.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
James –
The Play! X3 is exactly what I wanted it to be so I am happy but I acknowledge my use case is probably different than the average user so this might not be helpful.
I recently moved over to a proper audio stack from my Sound Blaster X4, as I used none of the gaming features that it provided, and lost the microphone input I was using. I tried using the microphone input on my motherboard but I had to use an extension cable to get it where I wanted it to be which acted like an antenna and picked up too much electromagnetic interference which manifested in a hum / hissing noise. I needed a usb microphone input that could be plugged in on my desk circumventing the need for an extension. I looked at all the usb options to add a microphone input and this was the only one that said it supports 24 bit 48khz and I know all my Sound Blasters in the past have supported stereo microphone input so I bought this in hopes that this one did as well.
Well, this was exactly what I wanted and at $25 it was only slightly more expensive than the other options which didn’t seem as good. I plugged this into my keyboard and plugged my microphone into it and without the need for extra software it supports my microphone at stereo 24 bit 48khz – it is everything I want it to be. Just to note why I didn’t go for the Play! X4 is because it only has one input which means I’d have to get an adapter that splits trrs into two trs ports which just adds another layer of complexity to something that I want to be as simple as possible. Also, I don’t ever see myself using this as a DAC as I have much better ones so I won’t be using all the fancy features of the X4.
TL;DR It is a good plug and play usb microphone port supporting stereo 24 bit 48khz input so I am happy with it.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Ari Kline –
Produto funcional.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
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James Lowery –
ordered this to solve latency issues with my sound output. Easy install just plug and play. Latency issue solved. The software download is nice extra improves sound quality. Great product, great price.
Steve –
The Sound Blaster Play! is a compact and portable sound card that can be easily plugged into your computer’s USB port. It has a sleek and stylish design, and its small form factor makes it easy to carry around with you wherever you go. The sound card is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems, and can be used with a variety of devices including headphones, speakers, and microphones.
One of the main features of the Sound Blaster Play! is its high-quality digital-to-analog converter (DAC), which helps to improve the overall sound quality of your audio. It also has a built-in amplifier, which can provide additional power to your headphones or speakers, resulting in a clearer and more detailed sound. Users have reported that the sound quality is noticeably better when using the Sound Blaster Play! compared to their computer’s built-in audio.
The Sound Blaster Play! also includes a variety of software features, such as the Sound Blaster Command software, which allows you to customize the audio settings to your liking. The software also includes a range of audio effects and enhancements, such as virtual surround sound, EQ adjustments, and noise reduction.
In summary, the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Play! is a great option for anyone looking to improve the audio quality of their computer or laptop. Its compact and portable design, high-quality DAC and built-in amplifier, and customizable software features make it a great value for its price.
YellowBeastMode –
I love the sound of a well played bass guitar. Don’t you? I think all the great bands had great bass guitarists. McCartney. Greenwood. Novoselic. The list goes on and on. Many of today’s indie bands have great bass playing/composition. I think too many DACs these days are aiming for vocal clarity, detail digging and things that focus on the mid and higher frequencies of music. I like DACs like this one that can really make the beginning of Come Together by the Beatles sound fun and engaging, cuz that has to be one of the greatest opening bass riffs of all time, right? In fact, I use that song to test my audio equipment.
This DAC delivers beautiful well-placed bass tones. Not the thump, thump part. The deep Dmmmm part.. That part of the song is placed more prominently and accurately than even the sacred, Dragonfly Black, which I also tested. The Black has better soundstage, but again, only if you’re just not that into bass guitars.
The sound might be a little distorted, but what do you expect from a DAC powered by device USB hosting? Even the Black is distorted (on the low end). It’s not plugged into the wall, so… And at least this one doesn’t have some stupid LED light wasting your battery or hurting performance or both.
Considering all this, I LOVE THIS DAC!! It improved the sound of my Samsung Galaxy Tab A Android tablet that I have connected to a Tivoli Audio One by AUX Cable and and OTG cable (necessary or it won’t work). The volume comes out a little low, but I can boost the volume on the Tivoli enough to a fun or even slightly obnoxious level. WIthout a powered amp/speaker situation like this, though, you might find this disappointing. The company does, however, make it clear that this item is NOT INTENDED FOR ANDROID/iOS. So that it works at all this way and this well makes me appreciate it and not be too picky about it’s flaws.
Hope that was helpful. Oh. AND IT ONLY COSTS LIKE TWENTY BUCKS! You can get five of these for one Black. I’m gonna get a second one just in case something happens to this one. Why not? So cheap!
Mike Griswold –
Using it with a 2 channel Fosi class D amp and a set of bookshelf Tannoy speakers for computer system. Sounds pretty good. Far better than computer analog out. Small, inexpensive, plug and play. Can’t go wrong.
Bruno Schindler –
I bought it as an upgrade for my old computer with stock sound. It was quite inexpensive and I have over 3,400 complete operas many of which are 24bit 96KHz and higher. This offers a gigantic increase in sound quality. The downloadable software makes the set complete. My expensive digitized operas now sound more as they should and I could not be happier. Great job Sound Blaster! Update…I liked this so well that I bought a second one for my son’s computer.
Cliente Amazon –
Compre está tarjeta para sutituir la integrada en una motherboard gamer, que si bien no era mala en cuanto a especificaciones, se quedaba corta para unos audífonos sencillos de 32 ohms que compre (el volúmen era bajo, tanto de los audífonos como del microfono incorporado, por lo que tenía que subir a tope el volumen y al máximo la ganacia del microfono introduciendo mucha estatica en el proceso).
Estando a media clase recibo la notificación de entrega y salgo a recibirla lo más rapido posible. Al regresar la saque del empaque, revise que todo estuviera bien y la enchufe de una vez para estrenarla en clase. Tras unos pequeños ajustes de la salida de audio y entrada del microfono, me encontre con un volumen mucho más fuerte, tanto en el microfono como en los audífonos mismos. Tanto así que tuve que silenciarme y bajar la ganacia a niveles más razonables para evitar ensordecer a mis compañeros. Con esto el micrófono se escucha bastante más limpio, aunque aún permanece un muy pequeño sonido de estática que puede ser perjudicial para grabaciones profesionales y semiprofesionales ( aunque para eso están tarjetas usb con prestaciones más avanzadas y/o software para remover el ruido). Ya una vez acabada la clase procedí a descargar los dirvers y el software incluido. Aunque dicho sowtware resulta muy simple en interfaz y opciones, para el día a día queda muy bien, y no creo que ocupes más.
En resumen, la recomiendo bastante si cuentas con audífonos gamer y/o tú tarjeta de audio imterna ya no da más de sí, si escuchas con un volumen muy bajo, tienes problemas de estatica por el micrófono o si simplemente quieres mejorar el audio de tú equipo con este pequeño DAC/amplificador (que por cierto, aguanta audífonos de hasta 300 ohms, y minimos recomendables de 32 ohms) USB por un precio relativamente bajo, está es una excelente opción.
PD
No puedo decir nada de durabilidad porque recien me a llegado, pero si algo sucede, los mantendre actualizados y si no, pues es que todo va bien.
vdawg –
Had trouble with the Realtek ALC987 on the Beelink running linux. Bought this and plugged it in. Wow! Incredible clarity. I’m buying another for my desktop computer. The audio is fine on that one, but when you hear what you get with the sound blaster, you’re ruined. Great product. Just plug it in and it works.
Marcus Vinícius Salomé Mângia –
Nulla da dire, preso al posto del Play! 4 poiché avevo un problema di signal bleeding dovuto ad una messa a terra penosa di casa mia e avevo necessità di un DAC con jack input e output separati.
(Volendo il Play! 3 supporta il jack singolo combinato connettendo solo il jack TRRS nella porta di output cuffie)
Cliente de Amazon –
Its worth noting that the Play 3 should be used with the Software (downloadable from official site) rather than simply Plug and Play. The software has quite a few tweaks that allows lots of flexibility regarding tweaking of sound signature. The output gain options are handy depending on the kind of headsets being used. Over ear large sized headphones even though less than 64 ohms play quite well with the higher ohms option as it increases the volume by approx 30%. I found the default option a bit too low in volume.
Other enhancement options like Crystalizer enhances the volume further while giving more Bass and Treble (fun sounding signature). There is also a Bass Boost option which also provides quite a punch. Apart from these options one can also tweak the EQ separately. Hence all in all the options are plenty.
As for difference between onboard audio and USB can definitely be felt if the motherboard is below 10K /-.
My reason for buying this usb DAC is because I was hearing crackling sounds from my motherboard inbuild audio, mostly because my GPU (rx5700XT) was causing interference. This solved the issue (do note that simple plug and play didn’t solve anything besides the audio sounding too underwhelming. Only after installing the downloaded driver/software did I notice the immediate change in sound signature).
Bruno Schindler –
My wife’s mini desktop PC only had an audio output/headphone jack on the front, which left a speaker cable coming out of the front of the machine and interfering with the keyboard right in front of it due to cramped desk space. This was an easy and cheap solution to add audio output off of a USB hub that was connected to the back of the machine, keeping the front of the PC free of extra cables.
It was easy plug-and-play setup, but initially on this Windows 11 PC the volume was a bit low, even maxed out. I just had to nearly max out all the controls in Windows, the music app, etc. I tried installing the Creative Labs drivers for it but didn’t notice any difference. The strange thing is, I uninstalled the Creative Labs software in “Add & Remove Programs”, then I uninstalled all of my sound devices from Device Manager including the built-in ones, then I told Device Manager to scan for new devices. It reinstalled everything, including the Play3! with the Microsoft drivers. BAM! The volume was now so loud, I had to cut the Windows volume to 50% and even then, the music app had to be set to around 30-40% volume. I’m not sure why this happened, but did see some other mentions of it for this device on Reddit. If this happens, try uninstalling and reinstalling the device in Device Manager. It made a huge difference for me in terms of volume output.
James –
The Play! X3 is exactly what I wanted it to be so I am happy but I acknowledge my use case is probably different than the average user so this might not be helpful.
I recently moved over to a proper audio stack from my Sound Blaster X4, as I used none of the gaming features that it provided, and lost the microphone input I was using. I tried using the microphone input on my motherboard but I had to use an extension cable to get it where I wanted it to be which acted like an antenna and picked up too much electromagnetic interference which manifested in a hum / hissing noise. I needed a usb microphone input that could be plugged in on my desk circumventing the need for an extension. I looked at all the usb options to add a microphone input and this was the only one that said it supports 24 bit 48khz and I know all my Sound Blasters in the past have supported stereo microphone input so I bought this in hopes that this one did as well.
Well, this was exactly what I wanted and at $25 it was only slightly more expensive than the other options which didn’t seem as good. I plugged this into my keyboard and plugged my microphone into it and without the need for extra software it supports my microphone at stereo 24 bit 48khz – it is everything I want it to be. Just to note why I didn’t go for the Play! X4 is because it only has one input which means I’d have to get an adapter that splits trrs into two trs ports which just adds another layer of complexity to something that I want to be as simple as possible. Also, I don’t ever see myself using this as a DAC as I have much better ones so I won’t be using all the fancy features of the X4.
TL;DR It is a good plug and play usb microphone port supporting stereo 24 bit 48khz input so I am happy with it.
Ari Kline –
Produto funcional.