Upbeat Audio T613-BNC Boostaroo

Virtually deaf, I depend upon ANY means to boost my computer’s volume. I have used this product for years, but I acquired this new one for a laptop I just purchased. As normal with this device, it does a great job of automatically amplifying volume. This is also one rugged device. The one I purchased over 15 years ago has survived years of abuse in the harsh environment of an 18-wheeler. The extreme vibration and dusty environment did not phase this product at all. In fact, now at over 15 years old, my old unit still works just fine. I would not be surprised at all if they have not worked to improve this product at all: they didn’t need to! To install, you simply insert the unit’s male 3.5 mini jack into the computer speaker/headphone port; then, you plug your headset into one of the three ports on the unit. There are no volume controls on the unit itself. It simply gives a baseline boost of your system’s volume overall. With this new level of supplemented volume, you control your computer volume through its software, just as you normally would without the device attached. The Boostaroo mini jack cord is a generous 1.5 feet, accommodating virtually all laptop setups. For full-size computers, you may need to get a female to male cord adapter, or you could secure it to your computer or another nearby surface: velcro would be perfect for this task. The sound quality is in no way negatively impacted by this device. In fact, it seems that the sound quality is greatly enhanced. But I would guess that this is from your newfound ability to finally hear what you’ve missed over the years! And the greater your level of hearing, the more your system’s sound quality seems to be improved. One issue I encounter with this device is that sometimes it does not quite adequately boost volume enough for my profound level of hearing loss. In most cases, the level is fine, even too loud. but there are some situations where I would benefit from even a greater volume level. If your hearing loss is as bad as mine, I would suggest also checking out an amplifier from FiiO which is also offered at Amazon. It works the same way as the Boostaroo, but it has a volume control on the device itself. At about four times the cost of the Boostaroo, the FiiO model boosts my volume enough to have to adjust the volume setting just a little over half way. But this is in no way a criticism of Boostaroo. If you have moderate hearing loss, this product will be great. I highly recommend it.