ESFM > CQM

otherwise there's not much difference

The ESS based cards in the first post use an ES688 chip which, AFAIK, does not have an FM synth integrated . The first of the two ESS based cards has what appears to be an OPL3 clone (S-062) with a YAC512 DAC clone next to it . For the other one, it is less clear .

Other that ESFM being miles better than CQM for FM synth, there are some major differences between the SB16 CT4170 and the ESS sound cards.

- Better 16-bit mixing support on later DOS programs for the SB16, however the Vibra16XV chip sucks on that regard. You can disregard this if you don't care about this.
- MPU-401 support on the ES688-based sound cards may require TSR to work, based on what I have heard.
- While not really a big deal, the SB16 is not compatible with SBPro (especially with very old games with stereo support except Wolf3D) while the ESS sound card does.
- Some of the ES688-based cards may have a real OPL3 FM chip.

The second ESS card seems to have the FM synth chip covered by a "QC PASSED" sticker but I don't see any YAC512 chip there.

maxtherabbit wrote on 2021-09-02, 14:59:

ESFM > CQM

otherwise there's not much difference

Which means?

ildonaldo wrote on 2021-09-02, 16:54:

Which means?

FM synth music will sound better on ESS cards which use ESFM than it would on Vibra cards which use CQM. Here's a comparison: OPL3 vs. ESFM vs. CQM vs. SBLive

That said, I don't think ESS 688 cards use ESFM. If I remember correctly, they started using that with 1688 cards.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2021-09-02, 16:59:

FM synth music will sound better on ESS cards which use ESFM than it would on Vibra cards which use CQM. Here's a comparison: OPL3 vs. ESFM vs. CQM vs. SBLive

That said, I don't think ESS 688 cards use ESFM. If I remember correctly, they started using that with 1688 cards.

And that means concerning my cards - which one would you recommend?

ildonaldo wrote on 2021-09-02, 19:06:

And that means concerning my cards - which one would you recommend?

The Vibra XV doesn't support High DMA, so Build engine games like Duke Nukem 3D may have some problems with it. It also comes with the relevant SB16 bugs. Whether those bother you or not depends entirely on your use case. Finally, I don't think the Vibra's CQM sounds that good.

On the other hand, I'm not that familiar with ESS 688 cards, so the best I can give you is an educated guess. If they have an 1:1 OPL3 copy on-board, then I would certainly recommend one of them over the Vibra. But if they don't, then you need to listen to all three cards and pick the one which sounds better to you.

I had been able to identify the second ESS card (position "c").
It seems to be a "MediaForte SoundForte SF16-MCD-02" and there seems to be an (unknown) OPL chip under the "QC passed" sticker.

Has anyone further information on this model and DOS-drivers?

You could try these: http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1461

These are for another ES688 card but it contains ENMPU which you need to enable the MPU/Waveblaster. ESFM isn't integrated in the ES688, so they all rely on an OPL clone for FM. Games with late Miles Audio drivers you can get 16-bit audio from it (Dungeon Keeper, Mortal Kombat 3).

AFAIK you can use the Vibra in games like Duke 3D by editing the config file to get around the limitations of the setup program.

For either ESS card, try these drivers:

http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=3 … menustate=48,38

http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1 … menustate=48,38 (edit: already linked ^^)

My vote is for the second ESS card (c) based on the assumption that it has an OPL3 clone under that sticker. Handy screenprinted jumper settings too.

That said, see the S-012 and S-062 chips at top centre of ESS card (b)? They look a lot like the LS-215 and LS-212 chips on my ES688. The LS-212 is an OPL3 clone:

No-name ES688F card: Time to ditch it?

I also say use the second ES688 card. Documented layout on the card makes it easy to use.

Make sure the onboard amp is disabled using the jumpers to the far right, and it will sound reasonably decent.