ESS Audiodrive 1869f vs. Crystal 4237b \ VOGONS

ESS Audiodrive 1869f vs. Crystal 4237b

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First post, by lawyerpepper

Posted on 2022-02-23, 18:26

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I have these two cards to choose between for a P233MMX system I'm working on that will run DOS/Win98SE and occasionally NT or OS/2. They're both in good shape and sound fine, have drivers for all the systems I want to use, etc. From my testing and research I can't find any reason other than personal preference to pick one over the other. In general, I like Crystal FM, so that's the direction I lean in, but before I make a final call, can anyone think of a strong argument in favor of the ESS? I don't currently have a wavetable module, but both cards have the header present if I ever decide to get one.

Reply 1 of 6, by Grzyb

Posted on 2022-02-23, 18:52

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I have an argument in favor of the Crystal: WSS compatibility, might come in handy some time...

Edit: that also means 48 kHz, while the ESS is limited to 44 kHz.

Nie tylko, jak widzicie, w tym trudność, że nie zdołacie wejść na moją górę, lecz i w tym, że ja do was cały zejść nie mogę, gdyż schodząc, gubię po drodze to, co miałem donieść.

Reply 2 of 6, by AirIntake

Posted on 2022-02-23, 19:06

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Does your Crystal 4237b come with an onboard wavetable chip? Mine did so that might help in your decision. It's the chip labelled CS9236-CL in this picture: https://flaterco.com/kb/audio/ISA/AOpen_AW35_Pro.jpg

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Reply 3 of 6, by lawyerpepper

Posted on 2022-02-23, 19:30

lawyerpepper Offline

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AirIntake wrote on 2022-02-23, 19:06:

Does your Crystal 4237b come with an onboard wavetable chip? Mine did so that might help in your decision. It's the chip labelled CS9236-CL in this picture: https://flaterco.com/kb/audio/ISA/AOpen_AW35_Pro.jpg

No wavetable chip on mine, and I was mistaken - it's 4236b, not a 4237b.

Reply 4 of 6, by dionb

Posted on 2022-02-23, 19:33

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Personally I prefer ESFM to Crystal FM, but that's subjective. Otherwise they are both late ISA models, period correct for the system and have similar feature set. WSS is a thing though - the ES1869 was supposed to support it but didn't, the CS423x did but only if you didn't run something using SBPro2 support first. If you feel WSS is important, I'd recommend 3rd/4th gen Aztech or OPTi 929/930 based cards instead. Of course, then you get real (or 100% clone) OPL3 as well.

Reply 5 of 6, by AirIntake

Posted on 2022-02-23, 19:48

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I've had no luck with WSS on a 4th gen Aztech card. It gets enabled but never detected in DOS games. I made a post about it here: Aztech AT6800W (AZT2320 chip) Windows Sound System issue

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Reply 6 of 6, by badmojo

Posted on 2022-02-24, 03:30

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WSS is great for the relevant era games and Crystal implemented it well in my experience.

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