Creative Sound Blaster Play! 4 USB DAC Review

Final Thoughts

We all know the pain of trying to listen to someone on a Zoom call who has bad audio or kids screaming in the background. You obviously don’t want to be that person and Creative has the perfect device so you aren’t! The Sound Blaster Play! 4 is going to make sure that no matter where you are your colleagues will be able to hear you clearly even if you are in a busy airport, outside, or even just at home with screaming kids! In our test I sat outside on my balcony (with a busy road right below me) and I was amazed at how the Play! 4 with the SmartComms Kit enabled was able to completely cut out the noise of the cars and even a motorcycle driving by. Now if there is a lot of background noise you may notice a slight echo or your audio may sound more compressed, but this is a hell of a lot better than your colleagues heaving that loud motorcycle!

Not only does the Play! 4 help with cancelling out noise from your microphone, but it can also clean up the audio of your colleagues. Using the NoiseClean-in feature you can eliminate some of the background noise from other people you may be on a call with. So really the Play! 4 is a win-win is all scenarios.

The Play! 4 is extremely easy to use, you basically just plug it in and you are good to go. Being that it is so small you can easily fit it in your pocket or laptop bag. The software is easy to use as well, but the software is only available for Windows PCs so if you aren’t using the Play! 4 on a Windows PC you don’t get the advantage of all of the advanced features like the CrystalVoice and the SmartComms Kit.

Right now you can pick up the Play! 4 at our favorite online retailer for $29.99, which makes it very affordable. I think if you are making a lot of Zoom calls it is sort of a no-brainer to pick t he Play! 4 up! Overall ThinkComputers gives the Sound Blaster Play! 4 USB DAC a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award!

rating9 10 TC award recommended

Pros:
– Small and compact
– Easy to use
– Two-way noise cancellation
– Better audio than just connecting to your laptop
– Mute button and LED to let you know when you are muted
– Price

Cons:
– Software only available for Windows PCs

About Author