The AWE64 Gold is considerably more expensive than the other models for very little tangible benefit and is probably not at all worth considering.

Otherwise, if your current system is adequate??? for your needs, then be happy with what you have. Have you encountered anything that you actually want to run that suggests you might have an improved experience if you use an AWE64?

No nothing in particular, just a curious if the sounds in games is that much better. If not then I won't bother looking into it.

The noise floor is very much definitely reduced from that of the AWE32/SB32 for sure, so it will definitely sound better. It still doesn't have OPL3 though

I've not tried the AWE32 but the AWE64 GOLD does put out some very nice sound, also a very nice looking card, if you find one for a good price I'd go for it, very capable in both DOS and windows 98, currently have one in my P3 rig.

Edit: the AWE64 is also free of the hanging note midi bug and had 4mb of onboard ram, expandable if you get the a simm board for it, whereas the AWE32 has SIMM slots onboard.

Upside:
Reduced size (compared to your original AWE32).
Much better SNR ratio
No MIDI hanging note bug

Downside:
No Wave Blaster header
No OPL3
No simm sockets (you had to buy Creative's expensive proprietary memory upgrade modules) - although, there are some mods available.
Still not 100% Sound Blaster Pro compatible

There is another card that uses the same chipset as the AWE64, namely CT3670. It was marketed as the SB32 and didn't have any onboard RAM, but did have simm sockets.

jesolo wrote:

Much better SNR ratio

Not sure if this still goes for the Gold version, but my budget variant (CT4520) was very noisy and made my Live sound good in comparison.

For DOS you want a SBPro2 with a OPL3, Wavetable header, and a bug free MPU-401.
For Windows, the choice is much vaster.

Like jesolo said, the AWE64 doesn't have an authentic OPL3, no Wavetable header, no SBPro support, and still has some MPU-401 bugs (Duke3D and Tie Fighter stuttering).
Personally I don't recommend the SB16, SB32, AWE32, AWE64 for DOS at all.

At some point, could you please summarize the SB16 clipping issue you've documented previously, James F? Perhaps it could be posted in Vogonswiki? I would like to test my CT2770 for that problem next time I'm in proximity.

Yes, I think a summary of the known SB16 issues would benefit all.
I think all the problems appear at some point in "My SB16 CT2230 Review" thread.
Most if not all of the problems are also on the AWE32 cards as they are basically a SB16.

The Vogonswiki is locked, only Qbix has the ability to edit it.

Jorpho wrote:

The AWE64 Gold is considerably more expensive than the other models for very little tangible benefit and is probably not at all worth considering.

Otherwise, if your current system is adequate??? for your needs, then be happy with what you have. Have you encountered anything that you actually want to run that suggests you might have an improved experience if you use an AWE64?

^this

The AWE32 / SB32 has real OPL3 witch is an advantage over the AWE64 (even the gold version) when it comes to older dos games.

James-F wrote:

For DOS you want a SBPro2 with a OPL3, Wavetable header, and a bug free MPU-401.

Those would be the Yamaha chipset clones like the Audician 32 Plus. The real Sound Blaster Pro doesn't have a wavetable header nor an MPU-401 interface, so to do everything it needs a companion card.

There are a lot of SB16 and AWE32 variants out there. Some of them are actually based on AWE64, some match or beat the SNR via different chipsets and sometimes still include a real OPL core. SB16 chipsets are buggy one way or another with no exceptions, though, as we've learned recently.

The AWE64 still shares some digital audio bugs with various SB16's. Ace reported missing sounds in the floppy version of X-Wing, for one: SB Vibra 16S / Vibra Pro / AWE64 output quality

All SB16, SB32, AWE32, AWE64 have the MPU-401 stuttering bug with high sampling rates.
All SB16 and AWE32 have the single-cycle DMA clicking bug, except the Vibra cards.
All Vibra cards have the Ringing bug, which is the opposite to the DMA bug.
All Vibras with the CT2504 chip distort the audio.
All SB16 and AWE32 cards have the hanging note bug if they don't use the CT1747 chip.
A lot of them are noisy if they don't use the CT1703-A or CT1703-TBS DAC chip, the CT1703-T is noisy.
A lot of SB16 and AWE32 don't have an authentic OPL3.
All AWE64 cards don't have a Wavetable header or authentic OPL3.

Call me a liar, but it's all been proven.

firage wrote:

James-F wrote:

For DOS you want a SBPro2 with a OPL3, Wavetable header, and a bug free MPU-401.

Those would be the Yamaha chipset clones like the Audician 32 Plus.

Or the Aztech with a AZT2316-A/R chip.
Or a Crystal CS4232-KQ + YMF262 like the Acer Magic S23 and Turtle Beach Tropez.

James-F wrote:

For DOS you want a SBPro2 with a OPL3, Wavetable header, and a bug free MPU-401.

This is correct, assuming you plan to have extra device(s) to connect to said wavetable header / MPU-401.

If you go for the minimalistic approach, and wish to have a single card covering as wide a range of games as possible, then the AWE are nice options, since they basically do what any Sound Blaster can, and have the nice little benefit of the onboard AWE synth, which, in games that support it, sounds quite a bit nicer than FM, although not as nice as your typical GUS/Roland solution.

Munx wrote:

jesolo wrote:

Much better SNR ratio

Not sure if this still goes for the Gold version, but my budget variant (CT4520) was very noisy and made my Live sound good in comparison.

Sorry, should probably have added: "compared to earlier SB16/SB32 models" (at least, according to Creative's technical specifications - http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=5800)

James-F wrote:

All SB16 and AWE32 have the single-cycle DMA clicking bug, except the Vibra cards.

I actually thought that this was related to the CT-1747 bus interface chip, since I have this problem on my CT3980 AWE32.
By disabling the high DMA channel (and only using the low DMA channel), the problem disappears.
I don't recall hearing this on my CT2950 SB16 PnP, but it's been a while since I've used that card.
Or, are you referring to something completely different?

James-F wrote:

firage wrote:

James-F wrote:

For DOS you want a SBPro2 with a OPL3, Wavetable header, and a bug free MPU-401.

Those would be the Yamaha chipset clones like the Audician 32 Plus.

Or the Aztech with a AZT2316-A/R chip.

I second that - I have two of those Aztech based cards with the AZT-2316 chipsets, both running in my DOS based PC's and they are rock solid (100 % Sound Blaster & Sound Blaster Pro II compatible, no MIDI hanging notes and no reverse stereo). The only downside is that they don't support Sound Blaster 16 under MS-DOS (but, they are full 16-bit capable under Windows).

jesolo wrote:

I actually thought that this was related to the CT-1747 bus interface chip, since I have this problem on my CT3980 AWE32.

No, It's a DSP problem.
4.05 to 4.13 all have it.
4.16 of the AWE64 don't.

jesolo wrote:

By disabling the high DMA channel (and only using the low DMA channel), the problem disappears.

Disabling how?
With the SB16 I've tried setting the High DMA the same as Low = 1, no difference.
Using CTCU setting without High-DMA also didn't work.
I have a CT2950 SB16 PnP, it click like all of them.

If I remember correctly, in pure DOS you use CTCU and change the profile. There should be one without a high DMA.

James-F wrote:

firage wrote:

James-F wrote:

For DOS you want a SBPro2 with a OPL3, Wavetable header, and a bug free MPU-401.

Those would be the Yamaha chipset clones like the Audician 32 Plus. The real Sound Blaster Pro doesn't have a wavetable header nor an MPU-401 interface, so to do everything it needs a companion card.

Or the Aztech with a AZT2316-A/R chip.
Or a Crystal CS4232-KQ + YMF262 like the Acer Magic S23 and Turtle Beach Tropez.

Yeah, one of the clone cards is probably the ultimate one card solution. Yamaha sets a pretty good standard to beat, since you were even able to easily modify them to enable a functional lowpass filter. The missing ADPCM support isn't the worst kind of incompatibility you find out there either.

Myself, I'm totally resigned to needing two or three different cards. 😀

firage wrote:

Myself, I'm totally resigned to needing two or three different cards. 😀

🤣 Ain't that a hard truth.