USB sound card for Windows Server 2008/R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2003, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Are you stuck with a server box that does not come with a sound card? Have you tried to debug some issues and the solution comes in a form of a youtube video and you are not able tell what the heck that video is trying narrate without audio? It’s time to considered getting a sound card for the server box or at least have something on hand that you can quickly add sound capability to your server box.
I’m currently using a HP ML110 G7 as my regular workstation and it does not come with any onboard sound card. It is installed with Windows Server 2008/R2. I had originally wanted to get a pci-e sound card but decided not to as I was looking for a more inexpensive and flexible option. I searched around and found this little low cost USB sound card. But I was skeptical that it might not work on my Windows Server 2008 /R2 server box without drivers.
Looking at the price of the usb sound card that I have found, I guess it is worth the gamble to give it a try. If it doesn’t work out, I could always keep it as a backup sound card. After all it’s just a few dollars.
This USB sound card is USB 2.0 compliant. No additional power source is required.
This USB sound card did not come with any additional drivers or software CD. All you need to do is to insert it into the USB port and the OS will automatically detect and install the driver for it. Once the driver installation has completed the green LED will light up on the USB sound card. If you take a look at the device manager you should see the following:

The audio chipset is from c-media.
Audio adjustment wise there is no option for you to adjust the bass and treble. Neither is there an equalizer option. The sound quality is quite good except that the bass is quite weak. It comes with built in volume control and mute button for audio out and a mute button for the Mic input. Alth0ught this particular USB sound card say “Virtual 7.1Ch Sound” on it, I did not explore how to get that working as that was not a priority to me.
If you are not the audiophile kind of guy and you're just trying to get some decent sound out from a server box that does not come with a sound card, this is the gadget to go for.
Works with Windows Server 2008/R2, Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2003, Windows 7 and Windows 8 without additional drivers.

Here’s a few picture of the USB sound card.
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Due to the physical size of this USB sound card, it might obstruct the adjacent usb devices that you might have connected on your server box. In such cases, you can choose to get a USB extension cable to route the USB sound card to a more convenient location. What I did was to use an USB extension cable to route the USB sound card onto my desk. This way, the built-in controls will be within easy reach. I’ve used a spare USB 2.0 cable that I have on hand, you can see it in the following picture. You can also choose to purchase a USB 3.0 if the USB port that you have is a USB 3.0. The USB sound card should work on such cables as they should be backward compatible with USB 2.0 devices and you can also use it with your other USB 3.0 devices.


If you guys are interested to get one, you can purchase one from the list below. Just click on the link :
Available from Aliexpress: USB Sound Card, USB 2.0 Extension cable (1m) (6ft), USB 3.0 Extension cable (50cm) (100cm).
Available from Amazon : USB Sound Card, USB 2.0 Extension cable (1m), USB 3.0 Extension cable (6ft).

For those are looking for a better audio quality playback from their server box, you can consider getting a USB Sound Blaster. Check out the testing that I have done in this posting. Click here.