USB Audio

I’m using a ‘poor man’s KVM,’ (one of these days I’ll get something with EDID, like the IOGEAR GCS932UB) hooked up to an OS X mini tower (DVI) and a MacBook Air ((mini) DisplayPort). I use the input selector on the DELL U2311H monitor (I love matte displays) to toggle the displays, and a Plugable USB switch to toggle a Unicomp SpaceSaver M (best. keyboard. ever.) and ThinkPad Laser Mouse (which matches the USB version I carry with my laptop) between the two CPUs. Problem: The Creative T10 speakers (cheap, but all I really have room for at this workstation; elsewhere I have a set of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1s that are mind-blowing) weren’t switched, and the connection is buried behind the mini-tower. 1st world problems... (How do I link this back to flying? Oh, yeah, editing GoPro footage. And, um, LiveATC.net.)


Anyway, problem simply and cheaply solved:

• Sabrent USB External Stereo Sound Adapter ($7) (shows up immediately in OS X 10.9.5 as a C-Media Electronics Inc. USB Audio Device; iTunes started playing on it immediately)
• Inateck 4-port USB 3.0 Hub ($10), chosen because the Sabrent is a fat plug and the Inateck has a port at the end where the USB audio device won’t block anything, in addition to three adjacent USB ports down one side)

I love it when things “just work” like this.