It's easy to see what Creative was attempting to achieve with the X-Fi Go: a portable soundcard that can be used anywhere.

Unfortunately, it falls a little short on most fronts.

The supplied software is easy to install but isn't a vast improvement on what we've seen in software provided directly with some motherboards.

The EAX effects are relatively impressive, but Creative's much-vaunted Crystalizer failed to dazzle, making music crisper at the expense of unusually flat and featureless sound.

During testing, processor load went up rather than down, so you can forget about using this efficiently on a netbook.

The X-Fi Go seems like the snake oil of USB soundcards: it's sold as a miracle cure, but the fact that it didn't even get slightly warm in testing indicates that it's not as packed with features as Creative would suggest.

Stick to onboard sound – or if you're an audiophile, get a proper card.