Rio Diamond Monster Sound MX300

Pros: Great sound. Excellent value.
Cons: Some compatibility issues.

When I was building a new system a couple of years ago there were only two choices in the highend soundcard market, the Creative Lab Soundblaster Live and the Diamond MX300. I've always found myself rooting for underdogs, so since the Soundblaster cards...

Pros: NOTHING..Sounds OK
Cons: EVERYTHING. No Drivers. Loves IRQ Conflicts

What a pain...I have yet to enjoy my new computer because I bought this sound card. My brother and I have the same parts in our PCs with the exception of the sound card; I have the Monster 300 and he has the Blaster Live!. Yet, his works perfectly and...

Pros: At one time (1999), was one of the better soundcards
Cons: Compatibility and driver issues with new hardware

I bought this card quite a while after it came out. I previously had an Ensoniq AudioPCI card, which was one of the first PCI soundcards. It worked fine for me, but I wanted to upgrade to the MX300 to play games with 3d sound.

Hearing the 3d...

Pros: Good high quality sound, reasonable price.
Cons: Difficult to configure.

When I purchased the Monster 300, it was a toss-up with the Sound Blaster Live! Value card that had just been released. It was the only card currently in stock, so that's what I bought.

The card wants to load 5 different driver types and uses...

Pros: Excellent features
Cons: ...but they don't always work right.

I got this sound card because of a glowing review in PCGamer. I was also buying the best speakers I could so I could get the most out of this sound card. My old sound card wouldn't play two sounds at once, so I couldn't run some programs, such as...

Pros: Generally good sound quality.
Cons: Noise, compatibility problems.

Having tested the MX300 OEM in the same computer with a Creative Live Value (OEM), the MX300 has lost favor with me. Unfortunately I cannot repeat what I have stated in my review of the Creative product, but I can paraphrase it. Keep in mind that this is...

Pros: Great sound, better price
Cons: Incompatible with DOS

I bought this card for a system I was building. I didn't have much money, but the store I worked at had an opened package, (customer didn't have PCI), and they sold it to me at a great discount.

Diamond Multimedia is probably #2 on my list of...

Pros: Studio-quality 320-voice
Cons: Technical Support, No drivers, not compatible with all games

It was about the middle of May 99 when I started to build my computer. I ask one of my friends, who is a very competent computer person, what he recommends as far as sound cards go. He told me about the MX300 and how he has it and his works great....

Pros: Great chipset, great sound quality, Aureal cares about their customers still
Cons: Horrible support (Diamond), this card's got a short shelflife ...

This card was good - two years ago.

I originally wrote this review a while ago. I just noticed epinions messed up and moved my review and a bunch of other peoples into the Diamond MX80 category. Can we say OOPS GUYS?! Anyhow, I am reposting my...

Pros: cheap
Cons: Hard to set-up, Diamond drivers have compatability problems

purchase the card due to the fact that it is very cheap compared to others. The Drivers from diamond just pain suck and so does the customer service. If you have a Athlon system get the most recent drivers from www.aureal.com or www.vortexofsound.com,...

Pros: Great deal, great sound
Cons: A3D 2.0 isn't widely supported

This sound card is geared much more toward gaming enthusiasts than music buffs, but except for those who spend large amounts of time working with MIDI, it is a better deal than any Creative Labs product.

How much this sound card will appeal to...

Pros: Easy to set-up, many features, cheap
Cons: Aureal may not be supported in the future

I was using a sound card that was built into my motherboard, and it didn't seem to work well with many programs. I had read good things about the MX300 and when the MX400 got poor reviews I decided that I would try and acquire the 300 model.

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Pros: Price, sound quality
Cons: not as many connectivity options as the Sound Blaster Live

Introduced in 1998, shortly after Creative Labs launched the Sound Blaster Live, the Diamond Monster MX300 Soundcard is still one of the best sound cards available today. (Even better than the MX400 from Diamond for most applications, but more on that...

Pros: Cheap, Great Sound
Cons: Not the latest model

This card is terrific. It's priced less than the Soundblaster Live and sounds better. I play games and mp3's using this card with my Cambridge FPS2000 speakers and they totally rock. People can't believe how it sounds. It supports four speakers and is...

Pros: Quality sound
Cons: space hog, poor drivers, incompatibility

Monster Sound has great possibilities and is compatible with most computers, but not this one. Since it's installation, I've experienced continuous screen freezes, and drive crashes that require cold booting (turning your computer off and on).
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