Creative sent us some information on their latest soundcard development. Built on the Extigy success, Creative has plans for developing a range of USB Sound Blaster products to target entry level and advanced users, the Sound Blaster MP3+ is the first product that will make it to the market, here are a couple of pics for you to check out:
The device looks quite nice and is about the size of cigarette packet, is powered via the USB port, so requires no power cord. The SB MP3+ provides stereo playback, recording and "music management" according to Creative and will be touted as a solution for notebook and desktop users looking for an easy to install and feature-packed stereo upgrade, in fact, a bundled removable clip will enable the SB MP3+ to be mounted on the back of a notebook display.
Creative seems to be pushing connectivity as another of the SB MP3+ strong features, add to that CMSS 3D virtual 5.1 mixing software capabilities we tested in our Audigy2 review not so long ago.
Audio Inputs:
* Line In
* (Gold-plated, RCA pair)
* Mic In (Gold-plated, 1/8")
* Optical S/PDIF In
Audio Outputs:
* Line Out (Gold-plated, RCA pair)
* Line/Headphone Out (Gold-plated, 1/8")
* Optical S/PDIF Out
Sounds like an interesting little device that we hope will have in our testing labs soon for a more detailed evaluation. The Sound Blaster MP3+ will be available from the end of May and will cost £39.99inc VAT in Europe, that's about US$65, less than half of the more feature-rich Extigy.