First post, by gerwin
- Rank
- l33t
A few days ago my only creative ISA card was a CT2800 Vibra 16S Value (without the CD-ROM connector and chips). Now that card is not perfect, but paired with a Roland MPU401-AT it was fine. Now I noticed they made similar card that is more compact, one that would not obstruct my mainboards Power+Led headers: It is the CT2860. Images of both variants can be found on vogons here:
1) Any Information about SB16 - CT2800?
2) CT2860 Mau1wurf1977s picture
Well, In practice there is a major difference between the two cards, at least my specimens. Regarding the amplified output: The CT2800 has a noise floor that is acceptable for gaming. The CT2860 has a noise floor that is unacceptable for me. The CT2860 noise floor can not be removed even with all mixer sliders set to zero.
The amplified output components are the same for both types of cards, but the CT2860 uses a strange jumper system, for which I cannot find the documentation. There is just 16 Ohm between amplified L and R on the CT2860!? I traced that J5 jumper block, pin near C78 and C79 give a more direct connection to amplified out L and R. Normally these pins are jumpered to somewhere else. But connecting my headphones directly to these jumpers I avoided the mysterious 16 Ohm circuitry.... but the noise is still there.
Next thing to test is wheter the unamplified Line out is already noisy on itself.
If the line out is OK, then I will try to obtain/make a small computer powered stereo amplifier with volume control. Like this http://cgi.ebay.com/120426525114. As it is not good to be dependant on the Soundcard amplifier.
Edit: changed topic title
--> ISA Soundcard Overview // Doom MBF 2.04 // SetMul