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After a long run, Diamond Multimedia's venerable MX300 audio card is being replaced soon with a new audio card that promises to improve upon the MX300's strengths while eliminating its weaknesses.

The "Monster Sound MX400" charts a different path for Diamond as it eschews the use of an Aureal-designed sound processor, which powered the Diamond MX200 and MX300 sound cards in previous years.

Instead Diamond has opted to utilize a new high-end chipset for the MX400 that was designed by ESS Technology Inc..

Named the Canyon3D, the MX400's ESS power plant offers large advantages on paper compared to the more limited Aureal Vortex 2 audio processor that powered the previous MX300, while not increasing the card's price tag versus the last generation.

One of the principal reasons Diamond selected ESS's Canyon3D audio processor over other possible chip options was the fact that the software game developers they spoke with indicated the need for greater simultaneous audio stream support from dedicated hardware.

They offered suggestions to Diamond's reps early on concerning the MX400 regarding the level of simultaneous stream support they wanted to see, which was approximately 20 - 24 streams of regular or 3D audio supported via hardware in order to deliver a more robust gaming environment.

Whereas previously the MX300 supported a maximum of 16 DirectSound Hardware Streams as well as 16 hardware DirectSound 3D Streams, the new MX400 supports up to 32 streams in each category. Quite an improvement.

But the MX400 isn't just about games, it's meant to be a total audio entertainment solution, meaning that Diamond hopes it will appeal to gamers, DVD enthusiasts and users who collect/play MP3 files equally.