The SonicVortex2, like many of its brethren, offers an exceptionally clear sound quality. Hissing can be heard at some fairly loud volumes, but this is expected with a speaker setup like the Midiland S/4100's. Much to our chagrin, however, this level occurred a little bit sooner than with the Sound Blaster Live!, and even slightly sooner than with the MX300. Most of these volumes are well above what normal gaming would take place at anyway, and we don't recommend making a buying decision based on this.
Like the rest of the Vortex2 based cards, the gameport support is still lacking in some areas. While detecting a far greater range than their Vortex1 based counterparts, some 10 button gamepads (the Gravis Grip in particular) are still detected as only 4-button solutions. While this is meant to be fixed at some point with drivers, we're not holding our breath.
With support for a set of fronts and a set of rears, we really must say that Aureal's algorithms for 2 speaker setups are really damned good. With only two speakers, sounds in Valve's Half-Life come alive. With monsters creeping up from around the corner and doors closing behind you, the SonicVortex2 really puts you in the game, delivering some of the most realistic positional sound we have heard from a two speaker output card.
As far as a four speaker setup goes, the SonicVortex2 again delivers on the Vortex2 chipset's standard - average. While many of the algorithms perform well above the expected in a two speaker setup, the four speaker mode performs almost exactly as expected. With the Cambridge Soundworks four-point surround, sound placement is easy, but bass output is very subpar. Upgrading to a four speaker setup is certainly not the recommended mode for this card. The extra money is better spent elsewhere.
While many of its competitors have opted for expensive daughtercard add-ons and pricey games in the bundle, VideoLogic has decided to keep their SonicVortex2 simple. Besides the Aureal technology demos, the SonicVortex2 comes bundled with game demos for some quick gratification of your purchase. With demos of Incoming, Tomb Raider, Extreme Assault, Destruction Derby 2 and a few more, the game demos won't disappoint.
Also included on the SonicVortex2 CD are some utilities to take better advantage of the 320voice MIDI capabilities. Using Yamaha's XG SoftSynth, this sound card will be able to play all of those great Lucas Arts games in all their MIDI glory. Finally, included on the CD are some very easy to use tools for compressing CD Audio tracks into MP3 format and software to play them back. Its refreshing to see companies confronting the MP3 onslaught with open arms.