iTunes sound enhancer

[thabridawg]

I'm just curious as to what everyone else has their sound enhancer set to in iTunes.

off, 1st tick(low), 2nd tick, 3rd tick, 4th tick or 5th tick (high)?

I have mine set on the 2nd tick

[vniow]

Well because of my sh|tty Creative speakers, it's on the 5th tick.

Can't wait until I can afford a real sound system.

[thabridawg]

Just out of randomness here's my 'set-up'

harmon/kardon hk550 Vxi reciever
jbl d38 speakers...

yeah... it's decent.

[vniow]

Originally posted by thabridawg
Just out of randomness here's my 'set-up'

harmon/kardon hk550 Vxi reciever
jbl d38 speakers...

yeah... it's decent.


mmmmmmmm..........yummy

[voyagerd]

Logitech Z-560's here and soon to be run by an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 sound card. Different songs sound better on different enhancements.

[yamadataro]

I have my iTunes' sound enhanser set to the middle (3rd tick). Sometimes too much effect messes up with my certain MP3 playbacks.

Also, too much effect seem to mess up my brain too :D

Not sure how it does that, but I just get irritated when it's set to the highest level.

[TMA]

yeah I also have mine on the second notch. I've found if it's too high it can distort certain mp3's and especially streams.

It makes a big difference I think, though some say they can't notice it.

[AssassinOfGates]

JBL Creature 2.1, enhancement off, bass and treble turned a bit higher on the speakers themselves. Sounds great!

[mnkeybsness]

if you are using well ripped mp3s, then the sound enhancer really doesn't change anything

[yamadataro]

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
if you are using well ripped mp3s, then the sound enhancer really doesn't change anything

Are you sure about this? I'm not really sure how that enhancer works, but I was under the impression that it's more than about the encoding quality.

I know there actually are sound enhancing technology (both hardware and software) which makes any music sound better.

The one in iPod doesn't do that??? Anybody know what it does to sound?

[mnkeybsness]

the sound enhancer pretty much just works like the equalizer, bringing up the sound levels from the frequencies that are not being output as well as other from the track (ie: when an old song that was originally not digital gets made into a digital track, some sound ranges are a little distorted and don't sound nice [bass, treble])

so if you have quality mp3s and good speakers...turn the sound enhancer off...it's just using up a little more of your system resources

[King Cobra]

Eck, sound enhancer. I keep it off whenever possible (usually when I turn it off for the first time when loading iTunes). It makes my audio files sound "wrong", with or without crappy speakers or earplugs.

I used to use a special custom Equalizer setting for speakers w/o a lot of bass. Since I have been using my 4.1 system for a while, it's been off. Also, since I have a pair of quality earplugs (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=6HwdoQf5rxgdgznJbs8Xqkjpz3ZXlS8Qmcw=?CatalogCategoryID=SOIKC0%2eNtkIAAADyntbHl%2eBY&ProductID=r38KC0%2eNbzoAAADyXIrHl%2eBc&Dept=pa) I don't need to worry about adjusting the audio settings on my iPod or in iTunes, except for the volume control.

[thabridawg]

thanks mnkeybsness for the info.

i use to have my setting on low but now i turned it completely off.

[yamadataro]

Huh, iTunes sound enhancer has started to smell fishy to me...

By the way, I use a hardware sound enhancing unit made by BBE. I used to know a sales guy and he gave one to me a while back. It is amazing what is does to the sound. Their chips are also used in high-end audios systems.

http://www.bbesound.com/products/ars/ars.asp