| Summary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parameter | My Opinion |
Mode of Operation | ||
| Full Duplex
Loop Back |
Analog > Digital | Digital > Analog | ||
| Frequency Response | Very good | 50-15kHz +/-0.1 dB | 50-15kHz +/ 0.1 dB | 50-15kHz +/- 0.1 dB |
| 1 kHz Total Harmonic Distortion | Very good | 0.0066% @ -0.6 dB | 0.01 @ -0.6 dB | 0.008% @ -0.9 dB |
| Signal to Noise Ratio | Very Good | 76 dB | 77 dB | 76 dB |
| 19 & 20 kHz - 3dB Intermodulation Distortion | Very Good | 0.0086% | 0.012% | -0.096% |
| Dynamic Range | Very Good | 79.5 | 81.3 dB | 79.6 dB |
| Jitter Distortion | Very Good | -115 dB | -115 dB | -115 dB |
| Software Used: | Windows95 950B; Driver Release: 4.05.1038 | |||
Technical Tests of Ensoniq PCI Sound Card
Analog I/O tests of the Ensoniq PCI sound card show fine performance. Remember that the distortion and frequency response shown is for a round trip through the card - using both the ADC and DAC components of the card. They are therefore show about twice what one would see using this card as either a ADC or DAC. Round-trip frequency response is smooth, and within +/- 0.2 dB up to 17.5 kHz. Two-way THD at 1 kHz is 0.0051 %, and S/N is 74 dB. Only the S/N is substantially poorer than the TB Fiji to a degree that could be possibly audible with music. Of course, this card also lacks digital I/O. This is all quite good performance, particularly considering the price. Installation experience with this card has been good - it follows general Win95 plug-and-play specs. If you have formerly installed a SoundBlaster Pro or SB16 in the system, you may want to run the provided SETUP program to get the DOS driver installed, or you may get Windows Protection Error on boot. If you are running Windows-only multimedia programs, you can disable the "Legacy" driver and reclaim an IRQ. This card has been out of new production for some time and the review is primarily for archival purposes.
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