The Power of Old Sound Cards Better Than the new onboard! Check this with Old Sound Blaster and OPL3 Yamaha!

Can the old overcome the new? Are old sound cards better than the new ones? Comparative Test see the results and be amazed!

Testing a Yamaha OPL3-SA3 Slot ISA (1990) in Linux Mint. Surprising!

Check the Test Result of an ISA Card with Yamaha OPL3-SA3 and TEA 2025B Integrated Amplifier! 

 

    Making Sound on a computer is something that has existed since 1951 (Ferranti Mark 1), when there was any record of it. Of course it wasn't a super HI-FI 3D Surround Dolby Digital, but... it was fascinating to have an electronic device reproduce its first musical notes at that time.

    Already in the era of the famous 286 (1984), computers already used a small speaker in their case. With this, games could reproduce soundtracks, many of them exciting, all this using beeps (distinct tonal frequencies). 
    Until then, this was the best available for computer SOUND. However, the need for more technology led to the development of the famous SOUND CARDS, which were plugged into computers as an accessory, greatly improving the user experience with digital music.

SOUND CARDS (The most famous)

    Sound cards had a dedicated "processor" that could provide better sound processing, as well as circuits capable of applying effects and filters to the audio signal, bass/treble adjustments, and MIDI music playback (those played by keyboards).

    In the 90s, the signs of "AdLib" and "Creative" with 16 bits, which transformed the computer into a true multimedia center. Some old games took advantage of these cards to play very exciting music and soundtracks. It was a really great improvement, which practically made the computer's internal speaker (8 bits) useless.

    Still in the 90s, Creative brought to the public its amazing Multimedia kits (Creative Sound Blaster). This kit included:

• 16-Bit Sound Card (with CD/ROM support+amplified output+microphone input,MIDI)
• CD/ROM (2X) + Game Titles on CD-ROM
• CD with Drivers for MS-DOS/Windows 3.11/95
• Passive Speakers (NO Amplification) with great acoustics for bass/treble

    This made any computer user crazy to buy it! Here in Brazil this kit was so successful that the term "Multimedia Kit" was used commercially to highlight computers that had this capability.

    In terms of SOUND, it was state of the art!

Yamaha OPL3-SA3 A151-A00 (Features and Technical Specifications)

    The A151-A00 (Addonics) is a 16-bit sound card, fully amplified! Powerful but still connects to theold buses ISA 16 BITS, typical of computers from the 90s. In the picture the 16-Bit ISA bus is black, and the famous PCI (more modern) is white.

    Fortunately the 16-Bit ISA bus is better than its old 8-Bit ISA! This board is more current and has superior performance, compared to the first generations of ISA 8-bit boards!

    This board was manufactured by several different companies (addonics, yamaha, etc.), which could add different functionalities to each one. Basically, it had a MIDI/Joystick connector, output for passive speakers, microphone input, line input (to connect radio, cassette deck, etc.).

    Electronically, they could have a different internal "layout", since each manufacturer could change the additional features a little.

    The Original board (OPL) manufactured by Yamaha itself, had all the basic features of the A151-A00 plus an excellent MIDI controller, internal connection for CD-AUDIO, and additional inputs/outputs. 

A151-A00 with CD-ROM Support

    Many old motherboards (80/90) did not yet have the famous controller for CD-ROM drives! This feature was provided by the sound card (from the Multimedia Kits), which had a 40-pin IDE connector, so that the CD-ROM control flat cable could be connected there. This way, the computer could read the CD-ROM via the sound card, and not via the motherboard! (in the photo, the CD-ROM connector is on the left corner).

    Cards external to the multimedia kits did not have this feature, and in this case only the sound could be increased (our test board).

The Yamaha YMF718- chip was the sound processor, using 16 bits.  It is also responsible for controlling the CD-ROM functions (when available on the board), compatibility with SoundBlaster, Adlib, WAV and MIDI resources, MPU-401. In addition, it could also add bass/treble control and the incredible 3D-Surround feature, making listening to music an unparalleled experience (even though the board is Stereo-2 channels).

    On Windows, the driver for this Controller is standard on Windows 95/98/ME and on GNU-Linux, the driver that was tested is the OPL3-SA3 already provided, just needing to be configured (Linux MINT/Ubuntu and others). On other systems, you should research support for OPL2-SA2 or OPL3-SA3.

    All the power of this sound card was due to the TEA2025B circuit, from ST, a STEREO amplifier chip, with an incredible 2.3W per channell! This could easily play passive speakers, loud and clear!

EXAMPLE of AMPLIFIERS WITH TEA2025

    The TEA2025B was originally used as an amplifier chip for AM/FM radios, including Tape K7, or any other portable equipment, since the chip works with a wide range of voltages (3V min and 12V max). The higher the voltage, the higher the power!

    It can still be connected in "bridge" mode, which will cause it to lose the STEREO function, but it will gain in power, the only one being up to 4.7W with an 8-ohm load!

    Due to the practicality of this circuit, it is used on a large scale, serving as the basis for amplifier circuits in many external speakers (even today).

    On the A151-A00 OPL3 board, this chip was already integrated into the board, and configured to use almost all of its 2.3W per channel! 

    Finally, the sound quality was reproduced in high-quality speakers (SBS30) from Creative, with fidelity, marking the presence of bass and treble with perfection above average. 

    As you can see, better, LISTEN, the sound quality of these old boards + passive speakers, is superior to the current kits. Not to mention thatToday's amplified speakers, for the most part, can't even reach half of this board!

    Today we have sound chips, built-in "onboard" but they are NOT amplified! Many of them also do not have 3D-Surround effects, not even a bass/treble control. 
    Only high-quality motherboards have better sound chips, but even then, they still depend on external amplification!

    Result: Yes, old sound cards can be better than new cards, even 32-bit ones, because here we are not comparing signal/sampling resolution, but rather resources and power!

    It can be better than 85% of the sound of Notebooks/Netbooks on the market, and 65% of the amplified speakers on the market.

For Windows 3.X Systems and D.O.S systems, follow the link to Download the Drivers, which are so rare to download

OPL3-SAX Driver Download for D.O.S

OPL3-SAX Driver Download for Windows 3.X

Drivers for Windows 9X (up to XP) are already built in so they should be automatically configured!

    He who has ears, let him hear this!

    I'll leave the TEA2025B datasheet for download, in case anyone wants to play with this chip (you can buy it or take it from another used equipment)

Download TEA2025b.pdf Information No MidiaShared 

    This way, electronics lovers, you can learn more about this fantastic integrated circuit, which was/is used in audio equipment, mainly portable ones.

See you next time.
JMJG
Electronic Engineer