I got a socket 7 (or super socket 7; I am not 100% sure which) board using the SIS 530/5595 chipset which works great for DOS games and has an ESS Solo1938s built in. The board is a GIgabyte GA-5smm.
As noted, it has been working great in DOS without any problems or sound quality issues. The only problem I have really encountered is that the WIndows 3.1 drivers for the MPU401 port don't work, at least for me. They lock the system up whenever I try to use them. If you don't care about MPU401 in Windows 3.1, this may not be a problem for you and everything else works in Windows 3.1 FWIW - FM, wave, etc.
The only other thing worth mentioning is that in spite of using multiple tricks/methods that are discussed in different threads on this forum and elsewhere, I haven't been able to set a custom IRQ for the ESS Solo. I don't know how much if any of that is that it's a card built in to the motherboard, or even something about the motherboard firmware or BIOS or something itself, as opposed to it being an issue with the ESS "card" itself. The only reason it has mattered to me is that I got a second card to put in in order to get MPU401 output from Windows 3.1 and I had a slightly hard time configuring the two to work together.
If you're not looking to do any of this stuff, though, the board seems like a good/cost saving option and has been working really quite well for DOS compatibility and sound quality.
