Re: What are the best sound and video cards?

["Shawn Trimble" <fate7@removespam.swbell.net>]

Thanks, Supertimer...  I've gotten a few other replies that seem to confirm
what you're saying in that there aren't really any good video upgrades,
other than Second Sight, which is useful only for the ability to use SVGA
monitors..

I've heard some mixed things about sound cards, including a few comments
that the Mockingboard and Phasor are valuable mostly for the speech
emulation they are able to do with select games.  A few commented that the
Sonic Blaster had some problems with cabling and advised finding one with
better shielding.

Shawn


"Supertimer" <supertimer@aol.com> wrote in message
20030727145034.27618.00000529@mb-m23.aol.com">news:20030727145034.27618.00000529@mb-m23.aol.com...
> "Jason Whorton" <jason at microxl.com> wrote:
>
> >Hi, Supertimer.  Are you saying the AE Sonic Blaster is the best stereo
> >card for a IIgs?  I don't have a stereo card in my IIGS, but I was
> >thinking about getting one sometime.  Do you know of any others that are
> >available?
>
> What I meant to say was that the built in IIGS sound
> was the best in the Apple II world.  Stereo cards don't
> matter as much because they are not true sound
> cards.  They just decode stereo from the IIGS' sound
> chip.
>
> That said, I do think the Sonic Blaster was one of
> the better sound cards.  If I remember correctly, it
> was a lot quieter than the SoundMeister and it could
> record in stereo.
>
> You'd be surprised at how little a stereo card does.
> It does not improve the sound quality.  In fact, it
> degrades it slightly unless the card is really good
> and you do not notice any added electrical noise.
> If you don't mind mono, then the cleanest sound
> is going to be from the headphone port built into
> the IIGS.  For input, the slotless HyperStudio card
> is one of the better ones although it only does
> mono.  Very clean recordings if set at the right
> sampling rate.