New USB Soundcard from Think Penguin - overpriced???
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2019 3:49 pm
Hi,
Does anyone know why Think Penguin are charging $47 for https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/ ... e-usbsound.
These kind of devices usually go for around $5 on Amazon but I've seen them as low as $1.20 on AliExpress. I have a couple of these and none of them require proprietary drivers.
So what has Think Penguin done to make this device special? Have they created custom hardware...? According to this https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... 9-Hardware the USB Sound Card uses a [entry level] C-Media CM119 chipset - https://www.cmedia.com.tw/products/USB20_FULL_SPEED. Since this is a "single chip" solution from C-Media I don't see how it's possible for Think Penguin to have done anything to it that makes it different.
One of the $5 devices I own (Aukey brand) shows up as a Unitek Y-247A device on my OS. Interestingly a device search - https://devicehunt.com/view/type/usb/ve ... evice/0014 - shows that it also uses a C-Media chipset...
This Vietnamese site appears to be selling exactly the same hardware (chipset and case) for about $4.
https://www.skytech.com.vn/products/card-sound-usb-4-1
I like to support free software/hardware companies but this really seems like Think Penguin is way over charging for an "entry level" usb 2 sound card.
Does anyone know why Think Penguin are charging $47 for https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/ ... e-usbsound.
These kind of devices usually go for around $5 on Amazon but I've seen them as low as $1.20 on AliExpress. I have a couple of these and none of them require proprietary drivers.
So what has Think Penguin done to make this device special? Have they created custom hardware...? According to this https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... 9-Hardware the USB Sound Card uses a [entry level] C-Media CM119 chipset - https://www.cmedia.com.tw/products/USB20_FULL_SPEED. Since this is a "single chip" solution from C-Media I don't see how it's possible for Think Penguin to have done anything to it that makes it different.
One of the $5 devices I own (Aukey brand) shows up as a Unitek Y-247A device on my OS. Interestingly a device search - https://devicehunt.com/view/type/usb/ve ... evice/0014 - shows that it also uses a C-Media chipset...
This Vietnamese site appears to be selling exactly the same hardware (chipset and case) for about $4.
https://www.skytech.com.vn/products/card-sound-usb-4-1
I like to support free software/hardware companies but this really seems like Think Penguin is way over charging for an "entry level" usb 2 sound card.
