iPod SRS iWOW

[cube]

So, I got this iWOW and I notice something:

If I start iTunes and play with iWOW disabled, it sounds kind of OK. Turning on iWOW makes the music sound much better.
Then, I switch off iWOW and the music sounds REALLY flat. Is it some mess up by the plugin or is it a psychological thing, now that you have heard the song sounding much better?

 

[Gymnut]

Wouldn't that mean that the plug-in is doing what it's been designed to do? To make your music sound "better"? I use octiv's VolumeLogic and the sound certainly is much better with it. If you think the plug-in is intentionally mudding up the sound when turned off, uninstall the plugin and hear for yourself.

 

[cube]

No, I meant that the sound is very flat when I switch if off.
My question is whether I was listening to such bad sound before or if having this plugin installed messes up the non-processed sound somehow.

 

[bartelby]

It's just your perception.

 

[cube]

I think it's mainly a question of bass, although I can hear it also adds definition.

I just heard a song which seemed a bit better without processing.

 

[-kritter-]

i noticed the same thing when i tried out srs iwow, i would switch iwow off and on just to noticed the extreme contrast between the enhanced music when iwow was on and the muddled nothingness when it was off, but yah its just the stark contrast that makes the music without srs iwow sound so dull, now i dont have it and you cant really tell because there is nothing to compare it to and you get used to it... but yah music without it sounds sick when your comparing it to what iwow gives you, so no i dont believe that the plug-in messes with the sound when its not in use...

 

[Killyp]

I might just add to this thread, SRS WOW does no more than just increase bass and treble, and add reverb. If you try without SRS WOW, and a decent pair of speakers, if you listen properly it will sound far better. When you turn up bass + treble, something has to go down, and that's midrange. Considering midrange frequencies carry the most tonal information, and bridge the very very VERY large gap between bass and treble, it's kinda important that it stays prominent in the sound.

 

[cube]

As I suspected, you are wrong. It's nothing as simple as that.
It does exactly what I thought: it convolves with HRTFs.

 

[Chilz0r]

I gave the SRS iWOW demo a bit of a run. I really like it to be honest but of course it's all down to personal preference, I don't think somebody who likes classical music would really want the iWOW effects screwing up the original sound. I have the Sennheiser HD 212 Pro headphones and I listen to a lot of Drum'n'Bass music. The biggest difference is that the bass doesn't die on me or go really flat on this style of music. I'm going slightly off topic but does iWOW do the same thing as the "icemat siberia usb" 7.1 virtual surround sound stick? I'm thinking of getting a pair and just wondering how the siberia will match up to my Sennheisers? I'm thinking of going for some kind of surround sound headphones. If anybody has some good recommendations that would be great.

 

[cube]

It seems this Icemat is only for headphones. If you want to support speakers, you also have to counteract the spatial positioning of them and the effect of the environment.

Of course these consumer products only filter in a generic way, you cannot load your own measured transfer functions.

 

[drugs!]

you're dealing with extremely data reduced/digitized files.... no program is going to make it sound better or add any definition

 

[cube]

It does psychoacoustic reconstruction. It's not any kind of classic sound processing.

In fact, I liked it enough to want a solution for all the audio from the Mac, not just from iTunes. As I couldn't find any SRS software or hardware to do this (except some older processor), I just ordered a Creative Xmod, which does something similar. We'll see how it goes.

 

[cube]

I received the Xmod. I'm not convinced.
I guess it's back to waiting for a general SRS solution.

 

[tektonnic]

I've just uninstalled iWOW and think the quality has improved since removing it, I read in alot of place online that it interferes with sound when its turned off but no removed, because its not like its a script and therefore its not really controlled by the user...