Diamond Monster Sound M80

Last updated: February 12, 2001

Joel Jordan

Introduction:

Update : The lack of EAX support and only 8 3D Streams make this card a poor choice for anyone that cares about 3D sound in games.

So you say you want 3d audio, but you aren't quite willing to shell out the money for a complete set of four speakers. You wish for quality 3d positioning, but you don't mind using headphones to get the maximum effect. Maybe you just want a decent PCI sound card to replace the rotting Adlib still sitting in your case. If any of these are true, then Diamond has made the sound card for you--the Monster Sound M80.

Installation:

Installing this card brought back fond memories of the day I installed my original Monster 3D Voodoo card. The card pops right into one of your PCI slots and requires only a few external cable changes. You don't even need to take out your own sound card or change the internal connections to the modem or CD-ROM drive. Diamond has included a special shielded pass-through cable to allow your old ISA sound card to live on, and save you from unplugging those pesky internal connectors.

The software installed just as easily, giving me no problems as I followed the instructions on the fold-out cardboard "Installation Guide" Diamond opted to substitute for a manual. A simple reboot later, and I had PCI 3D positional audio. The only problem I had was disabling vanilla Sound Blaster Emulation of my old card (an Ensoniq SoundScape VIVO90) to allow me to install SBPro emulation on my Monster Sound. This is a problem that few will encounter, however, unless they plan on tweaking their system as much as I do.

All further setup is done through the little music note icon this card installs into your system tray. Double-clicking on this brings up a window where you can adjust the audio settings. You can select monitor-mounted speakers, external speakers, or headphones to optimize the 3D sound for. You can also change the CODEC sampling rate to increase performance in games.

Performance:

Well, where should I begin? This card runs all A3D accelarated games as well as DirectSound and DirectSound3D ones. The PCI bus use allows multiple streams of sound to be mixed on the card for the ability to let Windows play more than one sound at a time. So you can easily play multiple sound files with two or more Sound Recorders or any other program. The A3D sound is just awesome in the games that support it, and for only two speakers, the M80 does its job very well. The card can play 23 streams of 44khz audio at once with "zero processor intervention".

This card uses a 32-voice wavetable chip to play MIDI, but it includes a WaveBlaster connector to allow users to connect their own MIDI solution. It also has what is known as an accelerated game port. The theory behind this is that old analog joysticks, to keep costs down, used simple parts and required the computer's CPU to execute time-consuming loops to read their position. This sound card is powerful enough to poll the joystick for the computer under DirectX, allowing the CPU to spend time on other things. The port does nothing to accelerate newer digital joysticks, however, which do not require CPU polling anyway.

Beyond all the technical parts of this, the 3D sound simply kicks. Games like Unreal which support full A3D positioning simply do not compare to older, non-3D sound titles. The incredible amount of immersion added to such games simply has to be heard to be believed.

Gameplay compatibility:

Not much to say here. If a game supports 3D audio, you can bet it will run on your Monster Sound M80. It supports DirectSound3D for the fact that it is the baseline, and it is enhanced for Aureal's A3D just because it looks to be the 3dfx Glide of 3D sound. All DirectSound games I tried on it ran beautifully. The only problem this card has is with DOS-based games. While the card emulates the Sound Blaster Pro in a DOS box, it lacks support for FM music and will not work at all in a pure DOS mode situation. This seemed to include the pass through on my card, meaning I had to plug my speakers directly into my old ISA card and then back when I rebooted to Windows. This problem will not affect users that run in Windows only, though.

Software:

Back in the old ISA days, a sound card software bundle was often minimal and included drivers, a mixer program, and some of Voyetra and Midisoft's many programs. PCI gamers demand much more, however, but the Monster Sound fails to deliver. It includes the drivers, mixer program, and even Midisoft's Recording Studio and Internet Sound Bar. The card has four nice technology demos and a 3 level demo of Jedi Knight. Only a few small programs finish out the bundle, though, leaving me wanting more.

Conclusion:

Well, what is there really to say? This card is a great add-on for anyone who wants 3D sound but doesn't want a full four-speaker setup. It's high on features, low on price, and easy enough for anyone to install. Overall, this card deserves a nice 7.5

Comments are appreciated
Reviewed: July 21, 98

All content, design and work is © 2001 - 3D Sound Surge Please respect the copyrights of the articles and writers herein. All copyrights are enforced by 3DSS.  
View the 3DsoundSurge Privacy Statement