If I was limited to a single card, I would probably use an ESS186x over an SB16. The native ESS support in games is not good though IMO, it enables some kind of filter that completely kills the fidelity of game audio. Better using SB Pro compatibility.

The quality improvement of 16-bit mixing in DOS games is not worth the tradeoff to me. But since I do have multiple cards, I can use another card to cover the downsides of the Sb16.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-02-09, 00:11:

The native ESS support in games is not good though IMO, it enables some kind of filter that completely kills the fidelity of game audio. Better using SB Pro compatibility.

This is only the case with games which use the HMI Sound System (e.g. Tomb Raider, Command & Conquer, Daggerfall etc).

Anything that uses the Miles Sound System (e.g. Mortal Kombat 3, Heroes of Might and Magic II, Settlers 2...) will sound great in native AudioDrive mode. But there's a caveat: most games only support the ESS 688 in this mode by default. For later cards, you need to backport AUDIODRV.DIG from a newer game to make it work.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-02-09, 05:38:

This is only the case with games which use the HMI Sound System (e.g. Tomb Raider, Command & Conquer, Daggerfall etc).

Anything that uses the Miles Sound System (e.g. Mortal Kombat 3, Heroes of Might and Magic II, Settlers 2...) will sound great in native AudioDrive mode. But there's a caveat: most games only support the ESS 688 in this mode by default. For later cards, you need to backport AUDIODRV.DIG from a newer game to make it work.

I can vouch for this. HMI SOS is not as nearly as good API as MSS3.