Question Sound Blaster Sound Card - Which should I invest in?

[Richy1985]

Hi everyone,

I am looking to add a Creative Labs Sound Blaster sound card to my old computer to finalize my restoration project.

I am looking for advice. Does anyone know which sound card produces the best quality sound out of the following options (model numbers listed below):

Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 CT1600
Sound Blaster 16 CT2700
Sound Blaster 2.0 CT1350B
Sound Blaster 16 CT2230

Many thanks.

 

[Lutfij]

Sound Blaster 16 CT2230

 

[Eximo]

I'm partial to the AWE32 with midi daughter board. That may have been the CT2760.

Though if I am honest, much of my DOS and early Windows gaming was done with a Sound Blaster Live with the SB16 Emulator. I couldn't tell much of a difference between it and my old ASOUND clone.

 

[NedSmelly]

I vaguely remember a handful of games not being 100% compatible with SB16 and AWE32, such as Syndicate. A few of its sampled sounds (like explosions) didn’t work quite right unless it was through an original 8-bit SB or SBPro. So SBPro may provide widest compatibility. Just something to be aware of.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Wow. The good old days. Anyone remember when they introduced EAX?

Tempts me to get a sound card for my modern pc just because it seemed back in the day sound was actually better than today. Not that audio is bad today, just meh.

 

[Richy1985]

Update: I decided to go for the CT2230. Installed the drivers and removed all the old entries in my Autoexec.bat & Config.sys relating to the sound card I removed.

I can say the CT2230 is noticeably better than the CT2260 that was installed previously. However, I still have not found that sound card that gave just the right musical tones in Doom that I relished as a young child. i am happy with the CT2230 but I may explore the Sound Blaster Pro 2 models. If only I knew the model of the sound card that was installed in my dad's machine back in 1994!

Thank you to all that contributed.

 

[hotaru.hino]

However, I still have not found that sound card that gave just the right musical tones in Doom that I relished as a young child.

This is the problem with MIDI based music back in the day. Everyone used different samples or ways to generate the sounds, so they all sound different.

You could try to find which one sounds like what you remember from this video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXFYWJ7dbz0

 

[Richy1985]

You could try to find which one sounds like what you remember from this video:

It's funny you mentioned this video because I was watching it this morning. The only other card played in this video that produced sounds similar to how I remember Doom was the Sound Blaster Pro 2, which interestingly is the most replayed section of this video.

I seem to remember we had a Sound Blaster 16 all those years ago in 1993/1994 but I cannot be certain. There's no way I will ever recall the model number of the card.

There is a lot of praise regarding the AWE32. Personally, I do not think this is a very good card, and I say that ensuring that AWE32 is selected in the setup program for Doom and not General Midi.

The CT2230 produces sounds that are 95%-- 99% close to how I remember them. It is an excellent card IMO and I'm very pleased with it but unfortunately I have now run into another problem: I can only get sound when I first boot up and enter MS-DOS despite installing the correct drivers. There is no sound in Windows 3.1. I have run DIAGNOSE.EXE and the sound card has successfully passed all the tests and my SYSTEM.INI file has been updated accordingly.

Does anyone have any ideas? I may need to create a separate thread.

Richard

 

[Richy1985]

Oh joy! I've just resolved the second issue I was having, with no sound in Windows 3.1. More great information to add to my appendix!