The SB Live! features EAX (Enviromental Audio Extensions) which are extensions to the DirectSound 3D API that add some extra functions to it and are fully accelerated by the Live! in hardware, anyway Sound Blaster cards aren´t going to be the only cards able to use EAX since it isn´t a propietary API, even the upcoming Diamond Monster Sound MX300 which uses the Vortex2 audio processor is going to be able to use these extensions without problems, which is an advantage since developers are supporting EAX a lot and also because Vortex2 cards also support their own, very supported A3D API.

I played Unreal SE which comes with the card and uses EAX technology, first I used a 2 speakers setup, I liked the sound a lot, and without a doubt there was a huge difference than playing with an AWE64 card but when I switched to 4 speakers I was just speechless, very impressed, when using 4 speakers, sounds in a game go to a whole new level, the enviroment in Unreal was... Unreal ! - how you could hear screams on your back and what else can I say, if you have the money and are a hardcore gamer go and buy a SB Live! and a 4-point surround sound system.

Although it´s not very important anymore, the SB Live! fully emulates an old Sound Blaster card in MS-DOS.

SB Live! is also an excellent MIDI card, with 64 voices hardware and 512 when counting software it´s for sure that you´ll see background music improved in your old games, you can choose from 2 to 8mb sample sets. Also SoundFont technology is a cool tool for developers which are able to produce CD quality MIDI music but that depends in whether they decide to use it or not.