4. Software: Exclusively Creative

The software package is both complete - since it has all the latest Creative programs - and minimal since no non-Creative program is included. But let's not complain: there is a lot in the Creative range, with a player/recorder which handles all the usual sound formats (WAV, MP3, WMA, etc.), can rip CDs in MP3 and has a format conversion program. So you'll have no trouble creating your own MP3.

There are also the usual Creative sound card functions, with the EAX system and its range of effects, the 10 band equalizer and the space effects supposed to produce surround sound. Don't expect too much of the surround though: MP3+ only has a stereo output. This is its main competitive disadvantage, though we should add that the EAX effects do not match those of an internal card: you can't create your own effects and the functions are confined to choice of environment with effects percentage adjustment. The karaoke has gone, but the CMSS 3D effect, audio clean-up and speed adjustment remain.

Satisfactory Performance

The MP3+ surprised us pleasantly with its good behavior in the sound tests. Off course, at 44.1kHz, like other Creative cards, it uses resampling (its EAX engine runs at 48kHz), which means a small loss of bandwidth above 15kHz, but it remains tolerable. The noise is not great enough to be irritating in most applications and distortion is very low in every instance. Nor is there any problem with crosstalk, where it performs much better than you could reasonably demand. Obviously, none of this is near as good as a top-range card, but perfectly adequate for all sorts of uses. In most cases, the inadequacies - in sound quality - will not be due to the MP3+...