The SB1 from Sharkoon is an external USB sound card that quickly and easily transforms a headset, with conventional 3.5mm stereo jacks or a 3.5 mm TRRS stereo jack, into a USB headset. Because the SB1 is compact enough to fit into any trouser pocket, you can always have your own sound card with you wherever you go – and enjoy your familiar sound settings from many other devices which have a USB connector. The SB1 is much more than just a USB adapter: Via the extra-large switches, the volume can be quickly adjusted, independently of the sound controls of computer software. Likewise, a connected microphone can be quickly muted whenever necessary. And those who want to completely tune the sound as desired can do this, at the touch of a button, with the integrated hardware equalizer. For all these functions, the SB1 does not require a driver, and can be operated with Windows, Linux, Mac OS and PlayStation 4.

The hardware equalizer has eight presets to alter the headset’s sound. These can be selected with the push of a button, providing modified highs and lows and, in addition, appropriate virtual surround modes. For those who would like to be a little more specialized, a resource-efficient, user-friendly software is available for Windows systems, offering additional virtual surround effects tuned to games, films and music.