Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/177



A3D & PCI Sound Cards, those are two terms which are rapidly gaining popularity and ground in the Computer Gaming Arena.  The reason for the increased use of the terms boils down to this commonly asked question: "If we have 3D games, why not have 3D audio?"  The whole 3D-First Person Shooter scene has been done a million times over, it is time for something new and revolutionary. Diamond PCI Sound Round-up

Companies like id Software and Epic Megagames are constantly working on improving the visual quality of their titles, and companies like 3Dfx and nVidia are meeting the challenges they pose with newer and more advanced hardware to supplement the games.  Unfortunately, until recently, little attention has been granted to improving the audio experience a gamer gets when he/she sits down to play their favorite game. 

The industry has been using the same old ISA standard for sound cards ever since the sound card became more of a 'must have' device for a Home PC back in the early 90's.  The sound card is one of the last devices to make the journey from the aging Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) Bus over to the more advanced Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus, however it is finally making that journey and Diamond Multimedia using Aureal's A3D Technology has made their presence noticable in the journey. 

What is A3D?

With the advent of DVD Technology there has been a strong move towards more advanced forms of Surround Sound to improve the sound quality associated with the term, Home Theater.  The high quality speakers available for Home Theater systems are also available for Home PC's either through the use of an external receiver, or through the use of really expensive speakers, in any case the limiting factor in the case of the Home PC's sound evolution has been the sound card.   Speakers have become increasingly more powerful, more advanced and able to produce a more crisp and realistic sound, but you must keep in mind that a speaker can only do so much.  Without a good sound card, even the best pair of speakers will be rendered useless as far as high quality sound production is concerned, and without good speakers even the best sound card is reduced to nothing more than a place holder for an expansion slot.

The first obvious step in the evolution of the sound card was the move to the PCI bus, with a greater available bandwidth the PCI Bus paves the way for an entirely unexplored realm of realistic sound, which brings us to the topic of 3D positional audio.  The theory behind being able to produce 3D audio is very simple, it basically states that since humans are equipped with only two ears and are able to hear sounds in three dimensions there should be a way to produce sounds to be heard in three dimensions using only two speakers.  Simple enough, right? This is where A3D comes in.

While surround sound has been around for ages now, surround sound does have its limits in the PC gaming scene.  This is mainly because unlike movie theaters, the common playground for surround sound systems, you are not a stationary object when playing a game.  While watching a movie you are a static being who receives the sounds sent out by speakers surrounding you, since you aren't moving or changing your perspective any this approach works out perfectly.  If a glass bottle breaks to your right, a speaker on your right will produce the sound associated with the glass breaking, and since you aren't moving the speaker on your right will always be the speaker on your right.  However when playing a game, especially a 3D-first person shooter like Quake 2 or Unreal, you have the ability to change directions, turn around, and even move deeper into an area.  If a glass bottle breaks to your right, and you turn to face the bottle as it breaks, the sound should no longer be coming from your right hand side rather from directly in front of you.  This is where surround sound is limited, in its level of interactivity, which is basically nothing.  

A technology called A3D, from Aureal, was designed to break the limits of surround sound, taking PC gaming to entirely new levels.   According to Aureal, the creators of the technology, A3D Interactive "is a new technology that is interactive and allows for realistic, fully three-dimensional placement of sounds."

A3D Surround

A3D Interactive is the technology commonly referred to as just A3D, however in reality there are two types of technology referred to by the name A3D.  The first has already been discussed, and is A3D Interactive, however A3D Interactive is mainly for gaming and other interactive situations.  But what happens when you are not interacting with the environment around you?  That question brings us to the next type of A3D technology from Aureal, A3D Surround. 

Aureal's A3D Surround technology allows for a computer using as few as 2 speakers to produce the desired effect of a surround sound decoding technology (i.e. Dolby ProLogic or Dolby Digital AC-3).  A sound card equipped with A3D Surround technology will interpret the sound signals generated and will use your two speakers to project other, "virtual" speakers into the space around you essentially providing the desired surround sound effect using just two speakers.

Building on the Foundation

Now that we have the technology to immerse a user in high quality 3D positional audio, let's take a look at one of the most popular multimedia companies, Diamond Multimedia and their three attempts at the PCI Sound Card industry as AnandTech explores the Diamond Monster Sound MX200, Diamond Monster Sound M80, and the Diamond Sonic Impact S70.



The absolute top of the line A3D equipped PCI sound card add-on from Diamond Multimedia is their highly regarded Monster Sound MX200. Replacing the original Diamond Monster Sound, the MX200 brings quite a few new toys to the table as well as improved legacy compatibility and a more down to Earth price. mx200.jpg (13020 bytes)

Out of the classic Diamond attractive packaging, the Monster Sound MX200 box contains the card itself, featuring a replaceable 4MB Dream 64 MIDI Processor daughter-card, a software installation CD, a fairly hefty game bundle, and a monster cable.

In spite of the lack of any sort of real installation instructions short of "install the card in an open PCI slot" the MX200 had no problems being detected in the AnandTech test system. While Diamond has yet to announce any sort of Windows 98 compatible drivers for the Monster Sound series, the card worked perfectly fine under Windows 98. The only precaution you must remember to take is that you do not install DirectX over your Monster Sound drivers as it will cause a driver conflict, rendering your Monster Sound useless until you de-install DirectX and reinstall the Monster Sound drivers. setup.jpg (12637 bytes)

The card itself is composed of a Diamond Freedom 5600 PCI controller, an Analog Devices 2181 Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for the sound processing, and as mentioned above, a Dream 64 MIDI daughter-card with 4MB of ROM on-board. While the memory on-board itself isn't upgradable, you can replace the MIDI daughter-card with something of your choosing, however it is doubtful that this should be much of a problem for most users.

The DSP allows for up to 23 audio streams to be processed simultaneously entirely in hardware, meaning you can be playing an MP3 while listening to a wave file, running Quake 2 all while listening to your favorite CD without having to sacrifice even a split-second of audio as all of it, in spite of the odd mixture, will be pumping out through your speakers and surrounding you like a tiger on its prey. desktop.jpg (14269 bytes)

Supporting sample rates up to 48kHz, the MX200 supports a true surround sound configuration courtesy of its 2 Buffered Stereo Line-Level Outputs at the sacrifice of a standard Line-out. In essence, the MX200 doesn't have any more outputs than your standard sound card however it is packaged with utilities that allow you to make the most of those two outputs. There is a standard Line-in port on the back panel of the sound card, with CD, Modem, and Auxiliary inputs on the actual card itself.

The MX200 processes all game port signals on the board which should decrease CPU utilization when making use of a gameport joystick. However if you're planning on picking up a USB Joystick or Gamepad then you shouldn't really be concerned with this feature of the MX200.

The weakness of all PCI Sound Cards seems to be Legacy support for older DOS games. While running a game in a DOS window the MX200 will be detected and function as if it were a Sound Blaster Pro, unfortunately, for older DOS games that won't run in a DOS box you're probably out of luck using just an MX200. This is where that Monster Cable from the packaging comes in handy. Using the heavily shielded and extremely thick monster cable (the name does it justice) you can connect the MX200 to your current sound card so you can still run your older DOS games.

Under Windows, the MX200 fully supports DirectSound, DirectSound3D, and A3D as mentioned before. DirectSound is the new audio standard by Microsoft designed to phase out the term "Sound Blaster Compatible" for a new generation of sound cards, naturally the MX200 fully accelerates DirectSound and DirectSound3D games.

A major disappointment for many users will be the fact that id Software does NOT take advantage of Aureal's A3D Interactive Technology as of now, so Quake 2 advocates won't be too impressed by this pricey sound card ($149 MSRP). Fans of Epic Megagames' newest title, Unreal, will have a blast knowing that their brand new MX200 is fully supported and taken advantage of by this year's visual wonder to make it a total audio-visual masterpiece. If you have room for a second set of speakers do not pass this opportunity up as A3D definitely makes a difference when playing Unreal or any of the other games that offer support for it (see www.diamondmm.com for all supported titles).

Speaking of games, Diamond packaged the full version of Outlaws, a first person shooter that takes advantage of A3D as well as special editions of Jedi Knight, and Incoming. Also bundled with the sound card is your standard set of "filler software" consisting of: Intervista's WorldView 2.0, Midisoft's Internet Sound Bar 2.0, Microsoft NetShow, Midisoft Studio Recording Session, a Wave Editor & CD-Player, and of course, what filler software bundle wouldn't be complete without a copy of Microsoft Internet Explorer which is also provided free of charge.

If you appreciate high quality audio and love the feeling of being immersed in it (i.e. you are the type of person that likes to listen to their music a little louder than most, or likes to turn on every speaker in the house to watch the newest action flick on DVD) then the Diamond Monster Sound MX200 is probably the answer to most of your prayers. However, if you're the type of person that focuses on gameplay and doesn't really care about the sounds coming out of your speakers, or if you don't play too many (if any) titles that would benefit from a Sound Card with A3D support then the Monster Sound MX200 quickly turns into a luxury device that serves no purpose but to take up a precious PCI slot.



Identical to the Monster Sound MX200 in virtually all areas, the M80 from Diamond provides a little more bang than the firecracker it is named after. The only differences between the M80 and the MX200 lie in the software bundle and a few variations in the hardware used. m80.jpg (13123 bytes)
The installation process for the M80 went exactly by the book, and didn't stray at all from that of the MX200. The M80 is a much more affordable yet purposely toned down version of the MX200, supporting only 32 wavetable voices in hardware courtesy of its AdMOS Adwave 32 MIDI Synthesizer daughterboard in comparison to the 64 voices supported by the Roland Dream 64 on the MX200.

devices.jpg (12418 bytes)

MIDI is hardly ever used in newer games and will probably never be found in a first person 3D shooter, so this little difference may not be of any interest to you.

The DSP on the M80 is the same exact unit present on the MX200, both capable of processing up to 23 simultaneous audio streams in hardware and the M80 carries the same Diamond Freedom 5600 PCI controller to make the two cards virtually identical. From a physical point of view, the M80 features one less Stereo Line-Level Output making it impossible to connect 4 speakers to the card, the inputs on the board remain unchanged from its more expensive MX200 counterpart.

Once again, by using the Monster Cable you can connect the M80 to your existing legacy ISA sound card for support when running older DOS games. Under Windows, the M80 accelerates all DirectSound and DirectSound3D games/applications and provides the same crisp, clear, and beautiful sound quality that the MX200 does. The only other thing lacking from the M80's package other than the MX200 label is the presence of the 2 CD's containing Outlaws and the special edition of Rage's Incoming. cable.jpg (15066 bytes)

Provided that those differences don't matter to you, the M80 is a much better buy than the MX200 since it produces the same audio effects as the MX200 (minus the support for a quadraphonic speaker setup) at a price more affordable to most, the M80 will set you back around $99 retail.



Is A3D not your "bag?" If all you need is a PCI sound card then Diamond has exactly what you're looking for. Currently, the PCI sound cards you've probably seen in retail stores consist of the generic brands, and most likely the Creative/Ensoniq AudioPCI. These sound cards are mainly intended to bring affordability over to the PCI Bus and nothing more. What has been lacking from just about every PCI sound card is the high end advantage that Guillemot and Creative Labs held over the rest of the market with their Game Theater Pro 64 and AWE64 Gold during the days of ISA sound cards. Diamond is hoping to restore that high end advantage with their Sonic Impact. s70.jpg (15470 bytes)

The Sonic Impact S70 brings nothing over from Diamond's Monster Sound series which is mainly intended for the serious gamer, as the S70 is not intended for 3D Audio. The S70, based on the ESS Maestro-II DSP doesn't sacrifice any quality in order to remain somewhat competitive from a pricing standpoint. The ability to process 32 audio streams simultaneously supercedes the capabilities of even the Monster Sound MX200 reiterating the fact that the S70 is not an el-cheapo sound card. The 64-voice hardware wavetable MIDI is also provided for courtesy of the ESS Maestro-II.

AnandTech's Windows 98 test system had no troubles at all installing the S70 board, unfortunately, once again, the board did not come with any sort of acceptable written documentation meaning that if you happen to have any problems with the installation, albeit unlikely, then you're pretty much on your own unless you decide to take advantage of Diamond's technical support...but who ever does that?

Like the Monster Sound boards, the Sonic Impact fully supports and accelerates DirectSound/DirectSound3D games and applications. The DSP can process and accelerate up to 5 simultaneous DS/DS3D streams giving it a slight advantage over some low cost PCI Sound Cards as well as most ISA Sound Cards.

While the card itself doesn't support A3D Surround or A3D Interactive technologies, the S70 features a total of 2 outputs consisting of one Stereo Speaker Out and one Line Level Speaker Out. In theory you could connect 2 sets of speakers to the S70, however it wouldn't give you the same experience that doing so to a MX200 or M80 would. A stereo line in and a mic-in compose the other 2 ports on the back panel of the S70, leaving just enough room for the standard MIDI/Gameport interface. On the actual card are your CD, Modem, Auxiliary and Digital input ports for CD-ROM drives, modems, auxiliary device sources and Video decoders.

The S70, as with virtually all sound cards that don't allow for a connection to a Legacy Sound Card, provides very little support for legacy DOS games. If you're a big fan of the old classics you probably won't want to ditch your ISA sound card in favor of this puppy just yet. For those of you that are tired with the problems associated with installing ISA Sound Cards, the Sonic Impact S70 will definitely be a blessing from above as it will probably be the easiest sound card you ever had to install.

The bundle with the S70 could be improved, however in order to keep costs down the only things you'll find inside the package other than the board itself are Microsoft's NetShow, Midisoft's Internet Sound Bar 2.0 and Studio Recording Session, the same wav-editor found in the Monster Sound Bundles, a CD-player, and the full version of SimCopter by Maxis.

With a price above that of the AudioPCI from Creative/Ensonic you need to remember to ask yourself whether the features the S70 offers over the competition is worth the $20 of separation between the board and the AudioPCI for example. For a decent high end PCI sound card at a low end price, the Sonic Impact S70 from Diamond definitely brings home the gold. A better software bundle and a slightly lower price would give this card the advantage it needs over the competition, unfortunately you can't have it all in this industry.



To sum things up, here's how the three cards in this round-up can be broken down:

Monster Sound MX200
------------ Pros

Cons

------------  4 Speaker Output  Cost
------------  64 Voice Hardware Wavetable MIDI Synthesis  Poor Documentation
------------  DirectSound, DirectSound3D, & A3D support
------------  Full Legacy Support when using provided Monster Cable
------------  23 Simultaneous Audio Streams

$149.95 MSRP

Monster Sound M80
------------ Pros

Cons

------------  Lower Cost  Only 1 Output
------------  Same DSP used in the MX200  Poor Documentation
------------  DirectSound, DirectSound3D, & A3D support  Only 32 Voice Wavtable
------------  Full Legacy Support when using provided Monster Cable
------------  23 Simultaneous Audio Streams

$99.95 MSRP

Sonic Impact S70
------------ Pros

Cons

------------  32 Simultaneous Audio Streams  Poor Software Bundle
------------  64 Voice Hardware Wavetable MIDI Synthesis  Poor Documentation
------------  DirectSound & DirectSound3D Support  No A3D Support
------------  Relatively Low Cost  No Legacy Support

$69.95 MSRP

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