I saw that some people in the forum couldn't tell the difference between the ES13** PCI series sound cards, so I posted a piece of information for reference.
This was compiled by me around 2008. limited by regional environment and other factors,There may be many errors in it——Please correct for me，very thanks.
As we all know, Singapore's Creative is a great IT company. In 1996, Creative launched the classic work of the ISA interface - AWE64 GOLD. This stunning work made its logo deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.The following year, Creative launched the EMU-8008 audio control chip and its first PCI sound card：the Sound Blaster AWE64 Digital. EMU-8008 was not outstanding, and AWE64 Digital seemed a bit lame in front of the powerful Diamond PCI series sound cards. Therefore, in December 1997, Creative merged with the American company Ensoniq.
There are three PCI audio control chips developed by Ensoniq - ES1370, ES1371, and ES1373, of which 1370 is the highest version.1371 is a two-channel simplified version, and 1373 is a shrunken version：mostly used for motherboard integration. Few functions, good sound quality, and excellent signal-to-noise ratio are the distinguishing features of the Ensoniq series.
Before Ensoniq was acquired, it produced mid-range products Audio Pci 1000/3000 using ES1370——non-AC97 structure, using full linear audio data stream transmission, excellent channel isolation and signal-to-noise ratio, and using SMDs only used by high-end graphics cards type filter capacitor, the board stability is quite good.
After being acquired, Creative continued to produce the Audio Pci series, such as the Audio Pci 5000/5200, which used ES1371 and shrank materials.The difference is that the Creative label is added to the card, doubling its value.The early SoundBlasterPCI 64 is one of the classics.(PCI64 is just a layer of stickers added to the Audio Pci 3000 chip. At that time, some people said that Creative was "selling software" rather than selling sound cards.)
In July 1998, Creative launched a new product, Sound Blaster PCI128, at an extremely attractive price ( In the early days, 1373 was adopted, and later clone chips of 1370, such as CT5880, etc.) and VIBRA 128 (further shrunk), effectively prevented users from falling into the Diamond camp. At the same time, PCI512, an upgraded version of PCI128, was launched, using the high-end EMU10K1 chip.The Creative Live! series corresponded to the high-end market at that time, completing the PCI sound card series with high, medium and low levels.
At that time, Creative was also aware of the disadvantages of using drivers and models to fool users. Out of market considerations, it launched a new version of Ensoniq Audio pci. The chip used was a simplified product called es1371. Most of the boxed products entering the Asian market used this Chip.The subsequent CT2518, CT5502, and CT5880 are unpredictable. They are essentially clones of the 1370/1373, and their quality seems to have declined instead of rising.
Under the XP platform, the sound quality of Audio Pci 1000/3000 including SoundBlasterPCI 64 is quite satisfactory, clean and crisp, with high resolution, better than Live! The thin digital sound is more durable.
In short, the ES series of PCI sound cards have left a good memory in the history of sound card development, and are a new force in the transition of sound cards from ISA to PCI.Overall, there are so many companies acquired by Creative (Ensonoq, E-mu, Aureal,Cambridge, Ectiva, Digicom, 3DLabs, Aztech, Silicon) that many ordinary players think that sound cards = Creative.
The Matthew Effect in the IT world is always so cruel and dazzling.