If you’ve been using PC's for any length of time then you’ll more than likely have used a creative soundcard at some point. You’ll also more than likely have been incredibly happy with its performance, I know I’ve never had any major issues with the creative products I’ve purchased. More and more recently external soundcards have become available on the market making a sound card upgrade easy, even for a novice or allowing you to expand your laptop listening experience…its one of these cards that we have in for review today. The Creative Soundblaster Live 24bit USB…and of course if you have a 5.1 surround sound capable card you need speakers worthy of the experience so we have paired it up with a set of Creative T5900 5.1 speakers.

SB LIVE:

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The Live USB comes in a transparent plastic casing which allows you to see the design of the unit very easily. As well as being able to see the various controls and input/output connectors you can see some of the other features of the unit on the packaging such as the 5.1 information sticker and the remote control image.

The unit itself is made from a sturdy plastic and looks quite stylish in silver, on the top of the unit are the output and mic volume dials. A press of the output wheel allows you to mute the unit which is a nice touch.

The front panel features digital optical out and earphone out ports along with the mic input. Both the earphone socket and mic socket use 3.5mm plugs. Further to the right is the CMSS switch as well as the infrared receiver and status LED’s.

On the rear of the unit are further ports…

Starting from the left you can see the Centre/Sub speaker output, Rear speaker output, front speaker output, Line in, coaxial SPDIF out, DIN out and the USB connector. The observant amongst you will have noticed that all connectors are gold plated, a sign that Creative are using good quality components on the SB Live USB. There is no power input on the Live USB as all power comes from the USB cable, a great decision by creative, especially for laptop users or if you are trying to keep clutter to a minimum.

Bundled with the SBLive USB you get everything you’ll need to setup and run your new soundcard. There is a well written manual on the CD along with media software and drivers. The USB cable is provided as is a remote control and the DIN cable.

The remote control is very light, as is the unit itself however it doesn’t feel flimsy. You are able to use functionality on the controller such as play and record etc however in our experience we found ourselves using it for volume changes only and controlled the rest of the functions through the relevant application functionality.

Next: Software/Setup