I've managed to solve my low volume problem with the default WinXP drivers and the MX300 with a few very simple steps. Using the last beta drivers from Aureal for Win2K gives a volume boost, but on my system they would make my box hang when coming out of standby and BSOD when I accessed the floppy
(not a good thing).
The first solution and the easiest is to increase the AC97 volume in the windows volume control. It's something most people don't think to check, like me (doh!), and for some reason MS has it defaulted to a very low level:
1) Double click on the speaker icon in taskbar, or in Control Panel double click on Sounds and Audio Devices, and click the Advanced button to open the volume control.
2) Click on Options and Select Properties.
3) Click the Other button. It should have AC97 Controls displayed in the drop down box next to it.
4) Make sure that Front/Rear Control box is checked and click OK
5) The Front/Rear slider should be enabled and you can adjust volume with it. It helps to be playing an MP3 while you do this. I cranked my level to max.
If this still isn't enough volume for you, then I highly recommend downloading the Vortex Control Panel for Windows XP from
This Place, or
Here if you have trouble finding the link on the first page . It's a third party app being developed by one of us frustrated Vortex2 owners and it works nicely. It's undergoing frequent updates at this stage so you might want to bookmark the site and check in once in a while. You may also have to download the Essential Controls file which contains a pair of .OCX (ActiveX) support files that XP doesn't install by default.
To use it to boost your volume even more:
1) Click the AC97 Controls tab at the top.
2) Use the AC'97 Front and Rear Output sliders to adjust the gain. Left is louder and Right is lower.
Sliding them all the way down to 0 can give you quite a volume boost, especially if you have the AC97 volume control cranked to max, so be careful to turn your speaker volume down after making an adjustment and rebooting so you don't blow out your speakers.
It works by changing registry settings in HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\wdm_au8830\Customization, so you do have to do a reboot to make the changes take effect.
He also has fixes for people with Via chipset problems
Here.
(The following are just keywords so the forum search engine will pick this up: Diamond Monster Sound MX300, Aureal SQ2500, Aureal SQ3500 Turbo, VideoLogic SonicVortex, Turtle Beach Montego 2, Aureal Vortex 2 PCI, Aureal Vortex SuperQuad Digital, Vortex2, 2000, 2K, XP)