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The reviews below are all of old products that are no longer being
manufactured but some of them may still be available in the retail chain. As you may guess
the reviews are more of history interest than a good evaluation if the product is a good
buy. It's not completely useless for product evaluations since all the reviews have
a short update mentioning if we still think it's a good buy or not. If you are
looking for new reviews check out our review index.
Soundcards
Explanation of the table below:
Chip/3D sound engine/API: The 3D sound engine determines the quality of the 3D positioning and the
reverb quality. When we say A3D we refer to the 3D audio engine developed by Aureal.
LiveWare means the card will use the 3D sound engine available in the last LiveWare driver
release from Creative Labs. Sensaura and QSound are the two other 3D sound egnines on the
market.
When it comes to API support we only count cards that really take
advantage of the API. This means we don't list the Live as a card supporting A3D 2.0 just
because some A3D 2.0 games can automatically take advantage of DS3D cards if you install
the A2D files. We don't list Vortex1 cards as supporting A3D 2.0 either since they only
offer limited functionality. If a card supports EAX 2.0 it also supports EAX 1.0 and
a card that supports A3D 3.0 also supports A3D 1.0. All cards supports DS3D.
in/out:
2-analog/digital out: The soundcard has one stereo output. If we list
2-analog/digital more than once it means the card has 2 identical outputs that send the
same info, that is it's not offer 4-speaker 3D sound.
4-analog/digital out: The soundcard has one stereo output for the front
speakers and a second stereo output for the rear speakers.
4.1-analog/digital out: The soundcard in addition to the front and stereo
output also offers a subwoofer output.
5.1-analog/digital: The soundcard has an output for the subwoofer/center
channel in addition to the front and rear speaker stereo output.
AC3/dts pass-thru: The soundcard offers ac3/dts pass-thru with some
software DVD players. If not mentioned the card doesn't support it.
SRP: Suggested
Retail Price.
Date: When the
review was last updated
| Name |
Chip/3D sound engine/API |
in/out |
SRP |
Date |
| Guillemot Maxi Sound Fortissimo |
YMF744/Sensaura/A3D 1.0, EAX 2.0 |
4-analog out
2-digital out (optical)
AC3/dts pass-thru |
$50 |
February 24, 2000 |
| Hootech SoundTrack Digital-NX |
4DWaveNX/QSound/ A3D
1.0, EAX 1.0 |
4 analog out
2-digital out (coaxial)
2-digital out (optical)
AC3/dts pass-thru |
$39/$46 |
January 20, 2000 |
| Skywell
Magic Sound Live 5.1 |
FM801/QSound/A3D
1.0, EAX 1.0 |
5.1 analog out
2-digital out (coaxial) |
$100 |
June 5, 2000 |
| Absolute Multimedia
Outrageous 3D sound |
Vortex2/A3D/A3D 3.0, EAX 1.0 |
4-analog out
2-digital out (optical)
ac3/dts pass-thru |
$90 |
September 22, 1999 |
| Aureal
Vortex SQ2500 Review |
Vortex2/A3D/A3D 3.0, EAX 1.0 |
4-analog out
2-digital (coaxial)
ac3/dts pass-thru |
$100 |
October 27, 1999 |
| Aztech
368DSP |
Thunderbird Q3D™
/ QSound /
A3D 1.0, EAX 1.0 |
4-analog out |
$70 |
December 16, 1999 |
| Guillemot Game Theater 64 Dynamic 3D
Editon |
Dream™ DSP/?? |
4-analog out |
$100 |
January 13, 1999 |
| I/O
Magic Wave PCI |
??/A3D/A3D 1.0 |
2-analog out
2-analog out |
$80 |
January 1, 99 |
| Monster
Sound Original |
Freemond PCI/A3D/A3D 1.0 |
4-analog out |
$150 |
May 24, 98 |
| Monster
Sound Original |
Freemond PCI/A3D/A3D 1.0 |
4-analog out |
$150 |
June 12, 98 |
| Monster
Sound M80 |
Freemond PCI/A3D/A3D 1.0 |
2-analog out |
$100 |
July 2, 98 |
| Monster
Sound MX300 |
Vortex2/A3D/A3D 3.0, EAX 1.0 |
4-analog out |
$100 |
December 14, 98 |
| Skywell
Magic 3Dsound |
Vortex1/A3D/A3D 1.0 |
2-analog out |
$70 |
January 4, 99 |
| SoundBlaster Live! MP3+ |
Emu10k1/LiveWare/A3D 1.0, EAX 2.0 |
4-analog out
4-digital out (DIN)
ac3/dts pass-thru |
$100 |
January 13, 2000 |
| SoundBlaster Live! Platinum European
Edition |
Emu10k1/LiveWare/A3D 1.0, EAX 2.0 |
4-analog out
4-digital out (DIN)
2-digital in/out (Coaxial)
2-digital in/out optical
ac3/dts pass-thru |
240 Euro/£154 |
November 99 |
| SoundBlaster Live! Platinum America's
Edition |
Emu10k1/LiveWare/A3D 1.0, EAX 2.0 |
4-analog out
4-digital out (DIN)
2-digital in/out (Coaxial)
ac3/dts pass-thru |
$200 |
October 15, 1999 |
| Sound Blaster Live! Player 1024 |
Emu10k1/LiveWare/A3D 1.0, EAX 2.0 |
4-analog out
4-digital out (DIN)
ac3/dts pass-thru |
92 Euro/£59 |
November 22, 1999 |
| Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer |
Emu10k1/LiveWare/A3D 1.0, EAX 2.0 |
4-analog out
4-digital out (DIN)
ac3/dts pass-thru |
$100 |
January 13, 2000 |
| Sound
Blaster Live! (original) |
Emu10k1/LiveWare/A3D 1.0, EAX 2.0 |
4-analog out
4-digital out (DIN)
2-digital in/out (Coaxial)
ac3/dts pass-thru |
$200 |
August 24, 98 |
| TerraTec XLerate Pro |
Vortex2/A3D/A3D 3.0, EAX 1.0 |
4-analog out
2-digital out (optical)
AC3/dts pass-thru |
$100 |
September 14, 99 |
| Turtle
Beach Montego A3Dxtreme |
Vortex1/A3D/A3D 1.0 |
2-analog out |
$130 |
August 8, 98 |
| Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla |
Vortex2/A3D/A3D 3.0, EAX 1.0 |
4-analog out
2-digital out (coaxial)
AC3/dts pass-thru |
$100 |
June 29, 1999 |
| Yamaha Waveforce
192 digital |
YMF724/Sensaura/A3D 1.0, EAX 1.0 |
2-analog out
2-digital out (optical) |
$99 |
June 18, 1999 |
| Videologic
Sonic Storm Pro |
ESS Maestro-2E/Sensaura/A3D 1.0 |
2-analog |
£50 / $69 |
April 7, 99 |
| Videologic Sonic Vortex 2 |
Vortex2/A3D/A3D 3.0, EAX 1.0 |
4-analog out
2-digital out (optical)
AC3/dts pass-thru |
£50 |
December 14, 1999 |
| Xitel
Storm Platinum |
Vortex2/A3D/A3D 3.0, EAX 1.0 |
4-analog out
2-digital out (optical)
AC3/dts pass-thru |
$100 |
August 24, 99 |
| Xitel
Storm VX |
Vortex1/A3D/A3D 1.0 |
2-analog out |
$80 |
August 8, 98 |
| Trident
4DWaveNX Reference Board |
4DWaveNX/QSound/A3D
1.0, EAX 1.0 |
4-analog out
2-digital out (coaxial)
ac3/dts pass-thru |
n/a |
January 4, 2000 |
Speaker systems
Explanation of the table below
Inputs/outputs:
2-analog/digital: The system has one stereo input. If
it has a decoder it can also be used to accept Dolby Prologic, Dolby Digital and/or dts.
If we list 2-analog/digital more than once it refers to a second analog/digital input that
are also just sent to the front speakers.
4-analog/digital: The system has one stereo input for the front speakers
and a second stereo input for the rear speakers.
4.1-analog/digital: The system in addition to the front and stereo input
also offers a subwoofer input.
5.1-analog/digital: The system has an input for the subwoofer/center
channel in addition to the front and rear speaker stereo input.
Headphone output: If not mentioned it lacks it.
SRP: Suggested Retail Price
Date: When the review was last updated
Decoder: Dolby Prologic, Dolby Digital and/or dts
decoder. All Dolby Digital decoders also offers Dolby Prologic decoding. If a 4-speaker
system has a Decoder it's of course creating a virtual center channel.
2.1 speaker
systems, 4.1 speaker systems, 5.1 speaker systems
2-Speaker system
with subwoofer
4.1-Speaker system
| Name |
Decoder |
Inputs |
SRP |
Date |
| |
|
|
|
|
5.1-Speaker system
Decoders (dts, Dolby
Digital), MPEG2 decoders, Virtual surround processors, DVD drives and other sound related
products.
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