Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards and audio peripherals designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology. The first Sound Blaster card was introduced in 1989.
Creative Music System sound card
Sound Blaster 1.0 (CT1320B); C/MS chips in sockets (labeled U14, U15) are seen.
Sound Blaster 1.5 (CT1320C); C/MS chip sockets (labeled U14, U15) seem empty.
Sound Blaster 2.0 (CT1350B), without C/MS and FM chipset
A sound card is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces used for professional audio applications.
Close-up of a sound card PCB, showing electrolytic capacitors, SMT capacitors and resistors, and a YAC512 two-channel 16-bit DAC. The integrated circuit on the left is a 3403 single power supply quad operational amplifier.
8-channel DAC Cirrus Logic CS4382 placed on Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
A VIA Technologies Envy sound card for PC, 5.1 channel for PCI slot
Three early ISA (16-bit) PC sound cards showing the progression toward integrated chipsets