I'd just like to add that, for those who are OK with using the normal3x scaler and running in a window, everything else is possible using the stock 0.74 DOSBox that's included with the game. The audio stuff, which I agree is well worth it, will work fine.

I've run DOSBox games with MUNT and with soundfonts. MUNT is great for getting authentic Roland sound like you might have from the original release. Soundfonts can aim for this too, or can make things sound more modern if desired. FluidR3 is a good one, and would probably be my pick for soundtracks with more electronic music sounds. For acoustic instruments (horns, strings, bells, etc.) I really like CrisisGeneralMidi3.01, although it's a very large download.

Right, the different build of DOSBox is only needed for people who want to use as much of their screen as possible while still adhering to the proper integer ratio and without resorting to blurry scaling. The sound magic is all made possible by VirtualMidiSynth or MUNT.

(And just in case it isn't clear to others, it's also possible to use normal4x and fullscreen.)

High-end orchestral soundfonts (like the one you mentioned, and also Musyng Kite) didn't quite sound right to me for this game (or Lands of Lore which I just played). I went with a faithful Sound Canvas soundfont for LoL. This preference is probably often determined by if someone has nostalgia for old games or not. Higher quality than the abominable MS GM library, which was actually a downgrade when introduced, is one thing, but it just sounds weird to me when a DOS game seems to have a sample library suitable for a film score. :P

That was just a general recommendation; I haven't tried a soundfont for any Might and Magic game (yet). I actually used CrisisGeneralMidiv3.01 for a more recent indie game that had a retro aesthetic and, surprisingly, used MIDI music. I also really liked FluidR3, and generally speaking I recommend everyone try a few soundfonts and make a selection on a game-by-game basis. VirtualMIDISynth makes it easy to do this, you can change soundfonts on the fly while the game and its music are running. I think it depends a lot on the particular game soundtrack, and, as you say, whether players want to replicate an authentic sound from the original or are happy making it sound more modern.

When I played Betrayal at Krondor I went with an authentic Roland soundfont (specifically the SC-55), and I used MUNT for Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (which actually doesn't even support general MIDI, so I couldn't use a soundfont). Back when I first played World of Xeen on an actual DOS machine I had no clue about tweaking music settings and probably had horrible Soundblaster music. I'm looking forward to replaying it with a nice soundfont!

I played BoK with the same SC-55 SF. Another cool feature of VirtualMidiSynth is the ability to stack SFs so that if your main SF lacks a certain instrument, it will look to the next in the chain to fill the void. This is useful with an incomplete dump. I had Scc1t2 backing up SC-55 I believe as the latter was thought to be incomplete according to the place I downloaded it. It's possible the game didn't route to any of the missing instruments at all, but it's a cool feature for a little extra RAM expenditure.

That's cool, I didn't know that. I used only the SC-55 soundfont, but never noticed any missing instruments. But maybe they were there! Regardless, now that I have more experience with this sort of thing, I wonder if using MUNT with Betrayal at Krondor may have been even better.