I have this same card, it suffers from hanging notes and stutters in Build engine games when using external MIDI.

i'm not aware of any creative card that doesn't do this in build games when doing MPU-401 and sound effects at >8khz mixing on the same card. just use two seperate cards.

p6889k wrote on 2020-08-24, 01:58:

I just came into possession of SB16 Value (CT2770) with CT1747 OPL chip for $5. Googling this card it looks like it's a value card with real OPL3? Is there anything else interesting about this card? Any personal observations? Does it support external general midi without any problems via its joystick port? How does it compare to SB Pro 2.0. I already have two SB Pro 2.0 (CT1600 and CT1690), I have no other SB16, but do have AWE64 Value and AWE64Gold.

I have a few of them. The CT2770 has a few different revisions and the performance of my set does differ from card to card. My favorite uses a CT1745A-TBP mixer chip from 1994. It has a pleasantly low noise floor.

gdjacobs wrote on 2020-08-25, 06:46:

p6889k wrote on 2020-08-24, 01:58:

I just came into possession of SB16 Value (CT2770) with CT1747 OPL chip for $5. Googling this card it looks like it's a value card with real OPL3? Is there anything else interesting about this card? Any personal observations? Does it support external general midi without any problems via its joystick port? How does it compare to SB Pro 2.0. I already have two SB Pro 2.0 (CT1600 and CT1690), I have no other SB16, but do have AWE64 Value and AWE64Gold.

I have a few of them. The CT2770 has a few different revisions and the performance of my set does differ from card to card. My favorite uses a CT1745A-TBP mixer chip from 1994. It has a pleasantly low noise floor.

I thought majority of the noise was due to the CT1703 DAC revision used on the card? Interesting. I always wrote mine off because it has a CT1703-T which is considered noisy. Incidentally, my CT2770 has a CT1745-S, is this a more or less desirable mixer chip?

EDIT: I just noticed my card also has some extra components next to the CT1745 mixer, things like capacitors, inductors etc.. Interesting.

appiah4 wrote on 2020-08-26, 13:10:

I thought majority of the noise was due to the CT1703 DAC revision used on the card? Interesting. I always wrote mine off because it has a CT1703-T which is considered noisy. Incidentally, my CT2770 has a CT1745-S, is this a more or less desirable mixer chip?

EDIT: I just noticed my card also has some extra components next to the CT1745 mixer, things like capacitors, inductors etc.. Interesting.

It's possible the DAC plays a role, although I noticed quite a bit of noise pickup even with PCM channels muted (only running FM).

appiah4 wrote on 2020-08-26, 13:10:

I thought majority of the noise was due to the CT1703 DAC revision used on the card? Interesting. I always wrote mine off because it has a CT1703-T which is considered noisy. Incidentally, my CT2770 has a CT1745-S, is this a more or less desirable mixer chip?

I'd suggest arriving at your own conclusions, rather than relying on the profound amount of subjective, non-academic (mis)information floating around this forum. Per my own testing, differences in the various CODEC chips (CT1701 and CT1703 alike) do not account for any measurable noise differences, whereas differences between the suffixed and non-suffixed mixer chips measurably, if imperceptibly, do.

Cloudschatze wrote on 2020-08-26, 20:22:

I'd suggest arriving at your own conclusions, rather than relying on the profound amount of subjective, non-academic (mis)information floating around this forum. Per my own testing, differences in the various CODEC chips (CT1701 and CT1703 alike) do not account for any measurable noise differences, whereas differences between the suffixed and non-suffixed mixer chips measurably, if imperceptibly, do.

Absolutely. I haven't done any proper lab analysis of it's sound output, so I can neither quantify nor qualify the difference in performance. I can't really narrow down any subjective differences to the mixer chip, either, as the card design is quite different from my other ones.

The point I would like to emphasize, though, is how this one card is very different and still marketed with the same model number as my other ones. If Creative makes radical changes and still calls it the same model, what subtle changes have they made? How relevant is my experience with a similar four jack CT2770 to how much you'll enjoy the sound from your card?