Both the SBLive! and the Diamond MX300 have midi ports that double as their joystick connectors. The MX300 adds an accelerated "Monster Gameport" feature to their card (similarly to how their previous Monster Sound 3D, and MX200 audio cards had) which serves to improve the preciseness and stability of most mainstream joysticks.
Several owners of those past Diamond PCI cards complained (via the Sharky Extreme Discussion Board) of incompatibility and general sketchiness with certain MS DirectInput controllers. We tested a variety of both new and old sticks with both cards to find a weak point or problem area, and came up with nothing. Both ports functioned perfectly, on a wide variety of applications.
This topic is really the heart of the whole debate of which audio card is better for the gaming audience. Until just recently we haven't had an actual shipping game that utilizes A3D 2.0, so comparisons between the two APIs were irrelevant.
Now that Half-Life is out, with both EAX as well as A3D 1.0 and 2.0 support, a back to back comparison of the two formats is relatively easy.
To test the clarity of the two 3D positional audio formats, we assembled the Sharky Extreme staff and equipped two test machines with Cambridge Soundworks new Desktop Theater speaker rigs.
Containing a six speaker Dolby Digital setup along with an AC-3 capable subwoofer/base unit, the Desktop Theater package is as close as you can come to achieving a home theater system on a PC. At a price of $299, not many users will opt for this solution, especially when Cambridge Soundworks offers a five speaker "PCWorks" set that's almost as capable as the Desktop Theater for only $99.
Since both the SBLive! Value and the MX300 don't offer full Dolby 5.1 speaker support from their base configurations (both cards offer an add on daughtercard that includes the necessary SPDIF port) we used the connectors that they do come equipped with instead.
The MX300 and SBLive! Value's base audio setups include discrete left and right channels for both front and rear positions. Interestingly, the Diamond MX300 is able to "downmix" any DVD 5.1 digital audio that's output through the card into it's standard 5.0 channel support (they mix the center channel into the left and right satellite speakers).
In listening to DVD movies on both cards the advantage went to the MX300 because of this reason. The SBLive! was only able to use the four satellite speakers for Dolby's older Pro Logic Surround Sound mode, which while not being dramatically inferior to Dolby Digital, is still audibly noticeable in newer DVD movies.
To test the 3D audio gaming environment for both MS DirectSound3D EAX and A3D 2.0, we used the two games that each manufacturer felt was the best example of each audio format. For EAX that meant Unreal Special Edition EAX, for A3D 2.0 Half-Life was the recommended title. Luckily Half-Life also supports EAX as well as A3D 2.0 so it was very easy to replicate certain gaming environments for the eval staff to determine which API was more accurately reflecting the same level of atmosphere.
