I think real OPL3 = CT2760, CT3900, CT3980 models. They all have SIMM slots and wavetable headers. The first two are non PnP, the last is PnP. IMO, the CT2760 sounds a bit rough.

Yeah, I can vouch for the CT2760 as havving all of those features/connectors... I've previously had several of them.

Yup, the CT3980 too - and it sounds pretty much ok. Hanging notes = very rare 😉

Don't forget the SoundBlaster 32 model CT3930. This is actually the only card in the SoundBlaster 32/AWE32 family with a true discrete Yamaha YMF262. The CT2760, CT3900 and CT3980 all use an ASIC variant of the YMF262 found inside a custom Creative ASIC labeled CT1747. However, the sound is identical between the ASIC-based YMF262 found in the CT1747 and a discrete YMF262.

Also, some models of the SoundBlaster 32 and AWE32 have solder spots for the Yamaha YMF289, a low-power variant of the YMF262. This is true for the SoundBlaster 32 model CT3600 and the SoundBlaster AWE32 model CT3990. But Creative, being the cheap ******** they are, decided to leave the solder spots for the YMF289 and all support circuitry for the accompanying DAC, the YAC516, empty and use CQM instead, which doesn't reproduce OPL2 and OPL3 music with 100% accuracy. I'm still curious as to what would happen if you were to add in the YMF289, the YAC516 and all support circuitry to a SoundBlaster 32 model CT3600 or SoundBlaster AWE32 model CT3990. Would the output from the YMF289 be mixed with the output of CQM or will CQM be automatically disabled(I know some models of the SoundBlaster 16 with CQM have YMF289s on them, and I believe only the YMF289 outputs sound. CQM is left silent)?