CheshireCat86 wrote on 2020-10-13, 18:42:

good day, […]
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good day,

I have this card for a while now but information around it seems very scarce.
I'm looking to improve the sound yet I simply can not find any modifications nor pin-out diagrams for this card.
All I've seen is a rare MX25 card which would give the card S/PDIF coax out in Dolby 5.1 with little no no further info on the MX-Link / MX25.

Nothing else. Whilst creative cards from that era seem popular enough for modding and tweaking.

Is there no love for the Vortex?

IMHO, there seems to be a lot of love going around for Aureal based cards, just maybe not specifically for the Diamond MX300 .

I love my MX300, but I have the MX25 as well. The SQ versions of the vortex are usually affordable when they appear and have either spdif coax or toslink built in.

I see where I went wrong here. I bought a MX300 a year back reading it has spdif out. I thought you just needed a bracket, just like the the Audigy cards.
Seems not, you really need that MX25 card.

Indeed, I should've gone for that Aureal SQ card.

I'm a dumdum.

Thanks folks. A pinout and more info would still be great, but I at least I can now stop my frantic search .

You don't need MX25 card: https://www.dearhoney.idv.tw/SoundCard/Vortex … sing_cmedia.htm

*GASP* THIS!

Rider, thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for.

So grateful!

What's the deal with the Diamond MX300 anyway? I have a bunch of Vortex2 cards but never even seen a real live MX300. Why are they so pricey and why do people like them so much better than Aureal's reference design?
The only advantage I can think of is it's easier to use the wavetable header on the MX300. Am I missing something?

Am I missing something?

GOLD CONNECTORS!!!111

They are subjectively better at producing clear sound.
For me it was something stupid: I like the brand. Had a few pieces of hardware from them way-back-when, and I was very happy with them at the time.

Also, don't laugh.... black and gold.
People dig black and gold man, go check creative's cards. black PCB's get a premium over the same card in green PCB.

Ok yeah, the raw superiority of the gold connector masterrace. 😉 And aesthetics. De gustibus non est disputandum.😅
(What Creative card is avaliable in black and green variants btw?)
But on objective points:
I have no idea about the analog circuitry on either but I'd always assume the digital output on the reference design is certainly more interesting to those who are actually serious about sound quality.
I mean with all the noise in the PC and 90s sound cards' noise floors in general isn't the TOSLINK another argument for getting the reference design?

For me it was something stupid: I like the brand.

Even more funnier, when you know that these cards were made by Aureal for Diamond. Later Aureal sold them branded as SQ2200.

I believe the Soundblaster Live! , Audigy and X-Fi did this.

AND... I'm wrong. Creative changed the connectors from plastic coulored to gold plated, not the PCB.
The blue or green coloured PCB might carry the name, but were OEM or stripped versions like the Extreme Music variant.

My bad!

CheshireCat86 wrote on 2020-10-13, 20:45:

Creative changed the connectors from plastic coulored to gold plated, not the PCB.
The blue or green coloured PCB might carry the name, but were OEM or stripped versions like the Extreme Music variant.

My bad!

No worries! Btw. now that you mention the coloured plastics on those connectors I imagine a green PCB too. Weird! 😅

Doesn't gold connectors on a card merely dictate galvanic corrosion (when used with normal cables), unless you specifically use cables which also have gold connectors?

In that sense, gold connectors on a card could either be a blessing or a curse.

Shreddoc wrote on 2020-10-13, 21:44:

Doesn't gold connectors on a card merely dictate galvanic corrosion (when used with normal cables), unless you specifically use cables which also have gold connectors?

In that sense, gold connectors on a card could either be a blessing or a curse.

That is indeed so.
But for the average customer it's nice bling 😉.

Has anyone successfully gotten SPDIF Out from the MX-300? The linked site above says pin 18 is SDIF out with pin 17 being a ground pin. I tried connecting these to the aux connectors of a SB Live Drive as well as the Digital CD SPDIF connector on the SB Live and I'm not getting data on either. In the Aureal settings, the Digital Out selector shows 48Hz but is disabled.

Are you using 2048 reference drivers ? Try another set

darry wrote on 2020-10-18, 22:57:

Are you using 2048 reference drivers ? Try another set

I was using the 2048 reference, but I just tried 2041 reference and the Diamond Monster Sound II 1.02beta drivers.

Neither the 2041 nor 1,02beta reference digital out in their control apps. And I'm not getting sound through SDIF.

SScorpio wrote on 2020-10-18, 23:45:

darry wrote on 2020-10-18, 22:57:

Are you using 2048 reference drivers ? Try another set

I was using the 2048 reference, but I just tried 2041 reference and the Diamond Monster Sound II 1.02beta drivers.

Neither the 2041 nor 1,02beta reference digital out in their control apps. And I'm not getting sound through SDIF.

I think you might want to try setting one or both of these registry keys to 1 and rebooting .

; Turn on/off the Digital Out support
HKLM,"Software\Aureal\Vortex\AU8830\Customization","SupportDigitalOut",0x00010001,1,0,0,0 ; DWORD Value: 1 - on, 0 - off

; Set default state of Digital Out
HKLM,"Software\Aureal\Vortex\AU8830\ControlPanel","DigitalOutState",0x00010001,1,0,0,0

darry wrote on 2020-10-19, 06:20:

I think you might want to try setting one or both of these registry keys to 1 and rebooting . […]
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I think you might want to try setting one or both of these registry keys to 1 and rebooting .

; Turn on/off the Digital Out support
HKLM,"Software\Aureal\Vortex\AU8830\Customization","SupportDigitalOut",0x00010001,1,0,0,0 ; DWORD Value: 1 - on, 0 - off

; Set default state of Digital Out
HKLM,"Software\Aureal\Vortex\AU8830\ControlPanel","DigitalOutState",0x00010001,1,0,0,0

I ran into some issues with all the driver swapping and started getting a BSOD and it took a while to get a stable clean install again.

Neither of those keys existing, I created them both and I'm still seeing the Digital Out option in the control panel disabled.