My preferences for single card would be

1. ES1869F (ESFM Enahnced + SB Pro + ESS DOS Protocol + No MIDI bugs)
2. Aztech Pro16 (OPL3 + SB Pro + No MIDI bugs)
3. Media Vision Pro Sonic 16 (OPL3 + SB Pro + MIDI Bugs)
4. Vibra16C (CQM + SB16 + MIDI Bugs + SB DMA Clicking/Ringing)
5. Guillemot Maxi Sound 32 Wave FX (Crystal FM + SB Pro + SAM Wavetable - Seems cool but unlikely to trigger nostalgia)

The best to worst list from NeoG_ would also be my preference.

But it's also important to test it yourself as number 1 and 2 are very close compatibility wise and one could sound better or worst depending of your sound preference and state of the card.

My choices in order:

1) Guillemot Maxi Sound 32 Wave FX
2) COMPAQ Premier Sound X071 / ES1869F
3) Media Vision Pro Sonic 16

The Guillemot Maxi Sound 32 Wave FX has both a built-in wavetable and a wavetable header for an external MIDI daughtercard. The mid 90s was basically peak time for General MIDI, so I would want something that can do decent General MIDI playback.

The COMPAQ Premier Sound X071 (ES1869F) would be good for FM playback since ESS's FM synthesis is almost identical to Yamaha's OPL3.

The Media Vision Pro Sonic 16 has a genuine OPL3 chip (YMF262), so you could use that in lieu of the COMPAQ card. For me, it would come down to which card has cleaner output.

If you have two ISA slots available, I would just install the Guillemot and one of the other two (ES1869 or Media Vision Jazz16) for FM synthesis.

Oh thank you for your answers.
It helped me a lot.
I will try first the Compaq one for best DOS compatibility and try to see if it works well.

iosys wrote on 2026-03-11, 11:35:

Hi, […]
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Hi,

I need to build a 486 configuration, and need to chose one sound card from my list.

Here is the models I have:

- Aztech Multimédia Pro 16 Iiis / AZT2320 OPL
- Creative CT4180 / VIBRA 16C
- Media Vision Pro Sonic 16 / JAZZ16
- COMPAQ Premier Sound X071 / ES1869F
- Guillemot Maxi Sound 32 Wave FX / AD1845JP + SAM9233

Could you help me to list from the worst to the best for DOS and early win 95 games please ?

Why do you need to choose only *one* card from the list? There are good reasons to combine two of these cards in one machine.

That said, your ID of the relevant chips on the Guillemot Maxi Sound 32 Wave FX isn't exactly correct - the AD1845JP is just the CODEC chip. The actual sound controller is the 100p "Compumedia" chip, better known as C-Media these days.

The reason you might want two cards is that there are different features to judge the cards on, and that "DOS" is a long period with different emphasis in different eras.

For the oldest DOS games that support sound hardware, FM synth is most important, the 'AdLib' standard.

Tier 1 - real Yamaha hardware, licenced implementations or 1:1 clones: Aztech (2320 contains licensed OPL3), Mediavision Jazz(YMF262 OPL3 chip)
Tier 2 - good non-Yamaha implementations: ESS1869 (ESFM), SAM9233 (CSFM)
Tier 3 - poor non-Yamaha implementations: SB16 Vibra (CQM)

For later DOS games, Sound Blaster support is relevant.

Tier 1 - Sound Blaster 16 & 100% compatible: CT4180
Tier 2 - Sound Blaster Pro 2 & ~100% compatible: Aztech 2320, ESS1869, Guillemot, Jazz
Tier 3 - Bad Sound Blaster compatibility: none of this lot, fortunately

For later DOS and Windows, General MIDI wavetable music is desired

Tier 1 - Good GM wavetable MIDI that sounds close to Roland SC-55: Guillemot
Tier 3 - everything without MIDI synth: the rest

Finally in Windows, Windows Sound System support up to 48kHz is very nice to have
Tier 1 - Full 48kHz WSS support: Aztech 2320, ES1869, Guillemot, Jazz
Tier 2 - WSS support, but not to 48kHz (so potentially needing resampling, although in practice very rare): CT4180

So which to choose? Depends on your games and your tastes. If someone gave me these cards and put a gun against my head, I'd choose the Guillemot, as it's the only one with wavetable onboard, it is an excellent Windows card and competent enough in early (CSFM) and late (SBPro2) DOS. However most of my systems have two or more cards and here I would add a second card. If you want real OPL3 for early DOS games, I'd add the Aztech (or Jazz, but I find its init software more irritating - AZT2320 can just use Unisound). If you want SB16 support for late DOS games, I'd add the CT4180 instead.

1>- Guillemot Maxi Sound 32 Wave FX / AD1845JP + SAM9233
2>- Media Vision Pro Sonic 16 / JAZZ16
3>- COMPAQ Premier Sound X071 / ES1869F

4>- Creative CT4180 / VIBRA 16C
5>- Aztech Multimédia Pro 16 Iiis / AZT2320 OPL