That depends on what you will do with it.

CT1600 is the most compatible, has genuine OPL3 and no MPU-401 hanging note bug but does not have 16-bit audio support or a wavetable header. It is a non-PnP card so it will run flawlessly on systems with troublesome ISA PnP. It also has a terrible noise floor, and is one of the cards better known as a noise blaster.

CT2800 is the most silent of the lot, and has no MPU-401 hanging note bug as well as a wavetable header, has a genuine OPL3 FM Synth chip, but it suffers from general Vibra bugs like hissing FM and audio clipping due to generally terrible mixer settings. It is a PnP card, so better suited for late 486 and onwards. It supports SB Pro compatibility in mono only.

CT2290 has variable noise floor depending on the CT1703 chip (although even the best of the lot has more noise than the Vibra) on the board and no MPU-401 hanging note bug due to incorporating CT1745, as well as genuine OPL3 FM Synth Chip. Some boards have an ASP chip or a slot for it, though it is generally useless. It is a PnP card, so better suited for late 486 and onwards. It supports SB Pro compatibility in mono only.

Pick your poison.

I just want to point out that the CT1600's MIDI interface is not MPU-401 UART compatible (like on your SB16 or other clones from 1993 onwards).

Sorry, but I believe that you're confusing several things:

appiah4 wrote:

That depends on what you will do with it.

CT1600 is the most compatible, has genuine OPL3 and no MPU-401 hanging note bug but does not have 16-bit audio support or a wavetable header.

CT1600 does not have MPU-401 at all. So yeah, it doesn't have bugs, but that's because you can't use it with external MIDI modules or waveblaster daughterboards. 😀

appiah4 wrote:

CT2800 is the most silent of the lot, and has no MPU-401 hanging note bug as well as a wavetable header.

I don't think any Vibra is free of hanging note bugs — it will give you issues in Doom. However, it does have a very clean output, so it's a great card for those who don't need MIDI or use MIDI through a dedicated card (like Yamaha SW60XG, for instance). Or you can just install a cheap non-Creative card into another ISA slot (like Yamaha or ESS) and drive a MIDI device/daughterboard through that card.

appiah4 wrote:

CT2290 has variable noise floor depending on the CT1703 chip (although even the best of the lot has more noise than the Vibra) on the board and no MPU-401 hanging note bug due to incorporating CT1745, as well as genuine OPL3 FM Synth Chip.

It's CT1747, not CT1745. AFAIK it's free from most MIDI bugs (so it will sound properly in Doom), but it's not completely bug-free. I have a similar CT2230 with a Dreamblaster X2 daughterboard and I haven't noticed any issues though. Also, I don't feel like it's noisy (I'm using a CT2940 Vibra for comparison), but AFAIK there are differences between newer and later revisions of the same card.

And then there is Sound Blaster CT1740. I have absolutely no experience with CT17**, so don't quote me on that, but I know that some revisions of CT1740 are supposed to be completely bug-free. But you have to know the DSP version number — it's silkscreened on the biggest square chip, so it's kind of impossible to catch on the photo. You can either ask the seller or maybe someone here knows an easier way to tell the version of the card. Here's some info.

Personally, I'd go for CT2290. The bugs are next to non-existent, and you can always mitigate noise by tinkering with the mixer and your speakers' amplifier.

Oh.. 😲 I owned an SB Pro 2.0 between 1993 and 1996 and I never knew it was incapable of MPU-401; I always assumed it was. Are there any 8-bit sound cards that can do MPU-401 or have a wavetable header?

appiah4 wrote:

Oh.. 😲 I owned an SB Pro 2.0 between 1993 and 1996 and I never knew it was incapable of MPU-401; I always assumed it was. Are there any 8-bit sound cards that can do MPU-401 or have a wavetable header?

That depends on your definition of 8-bit.
Cards with only an 8-bit ISA interface or, cards that does have a 16-bit ISA interface but, cannot output 16-bit 44.1 KHz stereo (like your Sound Blaster Pro)?

Most Sound Blaster clone cards (that has a 16-bit ISA interface) normally has a wavetable header with an MPU-401 UART compatible MIDI interface.
However, most of these are only Sound Blaster Pro II compatible under DOS but are full 16-bit 44.1 KHz stereo under Windows.

There are no 8-bit cards (either Creative or clone cards) that has a wavetable header with an MPU-401 UART MIDI interface (this is now referring to both the sound output and ISA interface).

appiah4 wrote:

Oh.. 😲 I owned an SB Pro 2.0 between 1993 and 1996 and I never knew it was incapable of MPU-401; I always assumed it was. Are there any 8-bit sound cards that can do MPU-401 or have a wavetable header?

Technically, most SB clones are only SB Pro-compatible (not SB16), so they do 8-bit sound in SoundBlaster mode and still have MPU-401. Of course, a lot of these cards supported Windows Sound System (16 bit) or even had their native modes in some games.

Also, if I am not mistaken, something like an ESS AudioDrive will actually work in an 8-bit ISA slot (just like the original SB Pro/2 would). The extra ISA part is used for additional IRQ options. At least, I've read that some people use these cards on XT machines — just like some people use 16-bit ISA videocards in 8-bit slots.