This is a really fun upgrade for a laptop computer. I bought the Extigy because I wanted hifi sound from my laptop computer, so my main criterion is sound quality.

I did experience some installation problems. The installation failed repeatedly on both my laptops. I had to manually uninstall my previous USB soundcard, as the installer did not do this automatically, and I also had to "look for new hardware" to get the Extigy drivers to install properly.

Also, the unit requires a lot of IO bandwidth, unsurprisingly. In fact, my old 600MHz laptop could not cope with a 160kbps file being read off a network and played at the same time, resulting in gaps in playback, and rendering the Extigy unusable. With my 2.4GHz laptop, there is no problem whatsoever with output.

It works without the PC switched on, so it can be used as an AV processor (it has optical and coax digital inputs and outputs). But it does need the PC to get it started and adjust the levels. Also, the PC can only drive the chipset at 16bits (not 24 bits as it says on the box), so I feel this is a shortcoming, but the device would be more expensive with a 24-bit chipset and would require USB-2 to get the bandwidth.

Now, on to sound quality. My first test was to pass the digital output of my Arcam alpha 8SE CD player through the unit. I am only listening to 2 channels. The Extigy didn't sound quite as deep and open, but it was not unpleasant in comparison, and it is quite difficult to remember which source you are listening to, which is amazing for a unit costing a fifth of the price of the 8SE. The headphone output is also very good, I would say better than my Alpha 9. It's worth getting decent cables.

I also find it works as a reasonable DAC which would upgrade any medium quality CD or DAB.

It's a shame this unit does not have phono connectors, but I think the price is much lower since they use 3.5mm jacks. The sound quality has not suffered tremendously as a result, but it would be nice if Soundblaster had at least supplied phono adaptors.

A fun bonus is the remote control. I don't really use it much, but if you are feeling lethargic, you can browse your music library via the remote, turning your PC into a jukebox. There is much fun to be had with that.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): £119