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Tom Fine wrote:

> 4. The situation I described above with the Soundblaster card was also true
> with my old Dell 4100 box I used to use for video, so it seems to be a
> standard problem with that card, either all of them or my specific unit. As
> I said, no problems with an older/cheaper Ensoniq card in my workshop
> computer, which is a homebrew amalgam of castoff parts and is probably very
> noisy and hashy inside since it's in tight quarters and has two extra
> cooling fans, a separate IDE card, 4 hard drives and a CD burner. That
> Ensoniq problem has no issues going unbalanced out to the unbalanced in of
> my preamp in the workshop. Since the speakers for that system are right over
> my workbench, I hear hum and hash loud and clear if there is any. So, again,
> I'd say it's bad manufacturing practice on the part of some or many card
> makers that lead to this assertion that quiet audio _can't_ come from an
> internal card.

A few years ago, Creative bought Ensoniq. They butchered the circuitry 
for the "Live Value" and degraded it somewhat for the "Live". The 
original Ensoniq PCI Audio was a superb card for general use and a 
remarkable bargain at about $25. Unfortunately, the Win2K drivers were 
poor and it's hopeless in XP. So much for 'progress'.

Mike
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