What's the best tiny USB soundcard / headset for travelling?

Question

For programming kyma while travelling about the place I sometimes want a really small minimal set up.

I've heard some people talk about using USB headsets. I would prefer the small USB sound cards then I can choose my headset depending on just how minimal I want to be.

I got a creative SoundBlaster card (see image) for this purpose but it doesn't work well at all. It constantly clicks and I get an Out Of Realtime drop-out every 2 seconds or so.

The only two USB headsets on the kyma compatability list have been out of production for a while.

Can anyone recommend a good, tiny USB sound card or failing that a USB headset?

Thanks!

 

Answer 1

A cheap Behringer U-control or expensive IFi (don't uppdate firmware as that will be for USB 2)

Comments

The Behringer looks interesting. You can't use the mic on a headset I'm guessing but it does have line level inputs.

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I have the Behringer, it works and sounds great, has headphone and line-out and optical out. Small, light and the usb cable comes attached.

Answer 2

You can use the mic of this headset. But I'm sure from other headsets too (USB).

Fujitsu-Siemens USB in/out

Answer 3

Or use the recording device Zoom H6 as audio interface:

 

 

Comments

Using a field recorder as an interface is a cool idea. The H6 is one of the more expensive Zoom recorders. The cheaper Zoom H4N apparently can also work as a 2in/2out USB audio interface. Has anyone got that to work with Kyma?

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Yes, I recently did and it's lovely, easy to set up and works as expected.

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https://kyma.symbolicsound.com/qa/4430/pacas-and-zoom-h2n

Answer 4

Roland thanks for mentioning the Behringer!

You reminided me about an interface we have at work which we've used for video conferencing on the move. I'd never thought of using it before. The Behringer Xenyx302 USB. I just tried it and it seems to work fine. No clicks or drop outs.

It's bus powered. It's got stereo in and out. It's also got a single phantom powered XLR. It also lets you use a headset mic. So it's not as small as the SoundBlaster in the picture above but it's not huge either.

 

Comments

Great, also a very handy piece of equipment.

Answer 5

I've found something smaller that appears to work.

The Sabrent USB External Stereo Sound Adapter, which I got for less than $10.

It's not super loud with the PC350's but it's not clicking and the mic input works for a headset mic too.

So if I want to go comfortable with a mic I can use my Sennheiser PC350 and get down to this size:

 

And if I want to go super minimal I can use it with my Sennheiser IE 4's: