Update:This is just a preview, if you want to read our final conclusion check out or full review.

On Monday September 13^th, Aureal announced two new sound cards along with a major shift in their business strategy in entering the retail market! First the strategy. If you have been following the recent trends in the computer industry Aureal's announcement should come as no surprise. 3dfx recently merged with STB, a move designed to strengthen their position in the market. Even more recently Diamond and S3 announced their merger. Both of these moves create entities with more control of things like product timing, marketing, price and shelf life.

Those of us following the sound card industry raised a few eyebrows when Diamond and S3 announced their merger, especially given that S3 had once ventured into the audio market only to later drop that side of its business. Until recently, we had no idea what that merger might mean to Diamond Multimedia’s future in the sound card market. When Aureal first shared the news of their move to the retail market a few weeks ago we speculated that it was one more sign that Diamond was getting out of the sound card market. We also speculated that this would have played a large part in Aureal’s decision enter the retail market, given that Diamond is currently the major retail presence for Aureal, at least in North America. For this reason, as well as the other benefits noted above, it makes sense for them to shore up their market, as any setback in retail presence could be disastrous in the cut throat PC audio market.

Well, it’s the chicken and egg situation here. Perhaps DiamondMM could not commit to staying in the sound card market when Aureal needed a commitment or perhaps Aureal wanted more control of their products. We likely will never know what initially precipitated this shift in the market.

What we do know is Diamond is staying in the sound card market. Hot on the heels of Aureal’s official announcement was an announcement from ESS that they had entered into a partnership with DiamondMM!  Through the strategic alliance agreement between Diamond Multimedia and ESS Technology, Diamond Multimedia becomes the exclusive retail provider of ESS-based audio solutions in the Western Hemisphere. The announcement notes that "this partnership will be a key component in enabling Diamond to provide top-of-the-line, high-quality 3D audio solutions under its Monster Sound and Sonic Impact brands". We are quite sure that this leaves no room in Diamond's audio line for new chips or boards from Aureal, at least for the foreseeable future.

Another unknown is just what this move means to the still growing list of Vortex 1 and Vortex 2 partners. Aureal has not announced any changes relative to their current partners. We also know that they are currently exploring opportunities in Europe and started some initial discussion at ECTS. With new Vortex 2 partners still coming onboard one would think there is room for more than one player if they focus on different markets.

We have also been following up with some of the major players and while we don’t want to violate their trust we can share with you the range of comments we received. No one said Aureal should take a long walk off a short pier. The comments ranged from "no comment" (from a company that typically has no comment so don’t read into that) to noting that there are different markets to access and that what happens in Europe and the US are sometimes different. We have not heard from Diamond, but no one has indicated that Aureal’s announcement will have any short or medium term impact on their relationship with Aureal. The bottom line is that at least for now, its business as usual.