Manufacturer: Skywell Tech: PCI based A3D audio board Bundle: Nuttin Price: $69

While many of us are eagerly awaiting the second generation of PCI/3D audio boards such as Diamond's MX300, we here at Sharky Extreme still wanted to give Skywell's Magic3D Sound a spin so here's a review.

Opening the box we find a tiny soundboard with its many ins and outs and at the core Aureal's AU8820 chip set also know as the Vortex. The Vortex chip has been developed by Aureal and NASA, and is used in a lot of simulation software in the American army (according to Aureals webpage that is). Taiwanese manufacturers, Skywell, aren't the only ones to have used it. The likes of Diamond with their Monster Sound and Montego's Turtle Beach have done likewise.

Other than the board there's little more to be found in the box than the obligatory driver CD which contains some samples and a few MIDI tunes for you to listen to as well as the drivers for the board itself.