1. Introduction. Testing methodology.
2. The best, or anything above 75 dB SNR.
3. The midrange, or 60 to 75 dB SNR.
4. The worst, or anything below 60 dB SNR.
5. Summary.
 

There are only 3 sound cards left:

• Aztech 368DSP
• Creative SB16 (CT2980)
• Creative AWE64 (CT4500)

 
Aztech 368DSP
 
A PCI sound card made in 1999. Two linear outputs, one linear input, one microphone input. SigmaTel 9704 (STAC9704) audio converters. Supports playback and recording at up to 48000Hz. Based upon an VLSI Thunderbird 128 chip. No wavetable MIDI synthesiser. A WaveBlaster header for an optional MIDI daughterboard.
 

SNR 58.7 dB	THD 0.07400%	THD+N 0.1200%	IMD 0.0160%
screen shot (34Kb)			screen shot (35Kb)

A poor sound card.
 
 
Creative SB16 (CT2980)
 
An ISA sound card made in 1996. One linear output, one amplified output, one linear input, one microphone input. Built-in audio converters. Supports playback and recording at up to 44100Hz. No wavetable MIDI synthesiser. A WaveBlaster header for an optional MIDI daughterboard. An IDE interface.
 

SNR 44.8 dB	THD 0.10500%	THD+N 0.5700%	IMD 0.0700%
screen shot (34Kb)			screen shot (33Kb)

Scrap.
 
 
Creative AWE64 (CT4500)
 
An ISA sound card made in 1997. One linear output, one amplified output, one linear input, one microphone input. Built-in audio converters. Supports playback and recording at up to 44100Hz. E-mu 8000 MIDI synthesiser (32 voices, 2Mb GS waveset, 512Kb of memory for samples expandable through one proprietary memory module).
 

SNR 43.3 dB	THD 0.09700%	THD+N 0.6800%	IMD 0.1300%
screen shot (34Kb)			screen shot (33Kb)

Scrap, though the MIDI synthesiser could be of some use.