are any of these sound cards worth keeping? \ VOGONS

are any of these sound cards worth keeping?

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First post, by DaveJustDave

Posted on 2017-07-06, 01:56

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I picked up a giant box of sound cards recently. Lots of 2xxx and 4xxx series sound blasters, and then some of these that I can't identify...

one has an ESS chipset that seems to have OK OPL3 from what i've read, and one has an XG chip, which i have zero experience with.

are all of these "value" boards? anything worth keeping?

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Reply 1 of 5, by Jo22

Posted on 2017-07-06, 10:04

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It depends on your definition of value. 😉
ISA cards are generally becoming scarce. The XG card is interesting, though.
I heard it sounds similar to SYXG-50 softh synth or so.

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Reply 2 of 5, by gdjacobs

Posted on 2017-07-06, 14:31

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The "XG" card uses a Yamaha YMF724 chipset. This is one of the few cards with a genuine OPL3 core that can output SPDIF, so definitely a keeper. The Audiodrive and YMF719 (red) based cards are one's I'd keep as well.

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Reply 3 of 5, by elod

Posted on 2017-07-09, 20:24

elod Offline

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These OPTIs are a bit strange. Aren't they supposed to have opl3 clones? Besides the 931 that has it built in of course...
As someone else already said: ISA cards are becomming scarce... I generally pick up all of them.

Reply 4 of 5, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-07-11, 08:49

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Whatever you wont keep.. Let me know 😁

Reply 5 of 5, by calvin

Posted on 2017-07-11, 10:54

calvin Offline

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Ones with an Analog Devices chip are most likely Windows Sound System compatible. They'll be basically an alternative standard to SB - they still use OPLs for FM though. (Note some WSS cards broke the standard and could appear in arbitrary locations, and added SB compat.)

The Yamahas I hear are quite nice - they're your typical WSS deviant, but basically guaranteed real OPL IIRC.

The OPTIs are OK as a basic card for low end machines and business/workstation usage, though drivers past 9x/NT 4 are a massive PITA. Crystal is similar but I'm unsure about drivers and such. ESS is also similar, but the driver story is much better. (I myself am interested in the ESS based ones; I've got an OPTI 933 that's a very bad choice for 2000.)

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