| Type |
Plus |
Minus |
SB 16
(OEM) |
- The cheapest card.
- Absolute compatibility with Ms-Dos Apps / Games.
- Does not need CPU & Ram . Can work with all x86 machines.
- Can accept daughter board (external Midi Wavetable cards) |
- No Wavetable |
SB AWE64
(OEM) |
- Absolute compatibility with Ms-Dos Apps / Games.
- Does not need CPU & Ram . Can work with all x86 machines.
- Can upload Wavetable Samples . |
- Limited Wavetable (1MB Rom 0.5MB Ram) |
| PCI 128 |
- 8MB Wavetable / 128 midi voices.
- 4Speaker out / 3D Surround functions (who cares ...)
- Nice line-in sensitivity / speaker-out power .
- (At last) PCI interface |
- Very Bad Compatibility with Ms-Dos (SB Pro / crash in many apps) .
- Cannot Upload Wavetable Samples
- Not compatible at all with AWE applications .
- Not compatible SoundFont Banks
- 3D functions cannot be disabled.
- Consumes much CPU when there is signal on Line In or CD In !!. (3D effects always On).
- Consumes CPU & Ram when play Midi .
- Cannot be used with slow machines (less than P/100)
- Cannot have both Speaker Out & Line out
- In Fact this is an Ensoniq card copyrighted by Creative !. |
| SB Live! Value |
- Best Value for Money card EVER !
- (At last) PCI interface
- Pure Hi-Fi clean signal
- Can Handle many WAVe streams (can mix waves)
- Best s/n ratio
- Utilize half of your system RAM for Wavetable (I have 190 MB Ram so I can load about 94
MB samples !)
- 256 midi Voices (plus Software Synth)
- Digital I/O (some wiring needed)
- Many internal line-in sources.
- 4Speaker out / Excellent 3D Surround (who cares ...)
- All 3D controls can be disabled (for absolute Stereo Hi-Fi) |
- Not so good MS-Dos compatibility. ( Clicks & Pops in many apps .
Buzz in MsDos Box) [*].
- Not compatible with some AWE applications
- Consumes CPU & Ram when play Midi .
- Cannot be used with slow machines (less than P/120) .
- Cannot have both Speaker Out & Line out . |
