Disk players on the edge - Lexicon RT-10 DVD player - Oracle Audio CD1500 CD player - Brief Article

IF YOUR JONES IS ultimate video and audio replay in the home, then treat your senses to these special machines ... and if you want to buy one, have a high-limit credit card on hand.

The RT-10 from Lexicon, an upscale brand in the house of Harman Kardon, is compatible with any five-inch-format you can throw at it: DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, even the newest five-channel, all-audio formats SACD and DVD-A. In addition to featuring the latest high-resolution innards designed for audio, the RT-10 has video capabilities that are among the best in the world. And that's why this universal player just may be worth every bit of its asking price: $3,495; www.lexicon.com

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
If you're a purist who spends more time listening to music than watching videos, Oracle Audio's CD1500 may be your ultimate CD player. Its dynamic range (106 decibels) is spectacular, whether your ear prefers Prokofiev or 50 Cent, and because its signal-to-noise ratio is ultralow, even a subtle triangle note will be discernible in the midst of big-band bedlam. The unit is a work of art, and at 70 pounds its biceps-building heft is equal to its $6,350 price tag. www.oracle-audio.com

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_10_19/ai_108838842

Windows Media Player 9

Media Player 9 is definitely a more mature and feature rich product than previous versions of Microsoft's famous media application. In particular it shines in terms of audio and video playback quality, something that Jeff Harris - Group Program manager for Windows Media Player is keen to point out: "It was our number one priority to improve the users playback experience...."

While Windows Media Player 9 visually has an improved look and better media-management skills it does have one let down - It won't let you make audio tracks in the MP3 audio file format, unless you pay for a third-party plug-in! Whilst this will definitely not break the bank at around US $9.95 for the plug-in. It would have been handy for many folks who still enjoy enjoy the MP3 audio format, to have included it for free! A link on the Windows Media Player 9 "Options" panel brings you to a Web page offering various vendors MP3 plug-ins that are currently for sale.

Having said that, MP3 audio is a 10 year old format and there ARE better audio file formats to record your favourite CD tracks onto your computer - namely Microsoft's NEW Windows Media Audio 9 (WMA) file format. Microsoft would rather their own audio format was used to create your digital music content! (By the way they have done the same with Video too... now they are pushing the new Windows Media Video 9 (WMV) file format, instead of the older AVI or the direct competitor to Windows Media Video 9 - the new MPEG-4 file format.)

The MP3 niggle aside, I still think that it makes good sense to upgrade to Windows Media Player 9, particularly if you own Windows XP. The most attractive goodies in the new Windows Media Player 9 are reserved for Microsoft's flagship desktop operating system. The technical guys at Redmond explain this is because Windows Media Player 9 is a core component of the XP operating system and is designed to work with other core media components of XP. (Older operating systems like Windows 98 and Windows 2000, just don't have the digital media capabilities for Windows Media Player 9 to exploit.)

Windows Media Player 9 - Codec's
If you do own Windows 98, Windows ME or Windows 2000 then Windows Media Player 9 is sill worth the upgrade for the new media management capabilities alone. Combine this with the new and improved 9 series file formats (WMA & WMV) that give you the potential for better sound and video quality and I think these two reasons alone warrant the upgrade to your system. Be warned though it is around a 10 Mb to 13 Mb download depending on your operating system!

Windows Media Player 9's codec's are explained below. However, it is worth noting that if you like your current version of the Windows Media Player, but wish to listen to music and watch videos created in the new Windows Media Series 9 file formats. You can simply download the Codec's from the Main Windows Update Website. The package is about 900 Kb installs without a PC re-boot. You will then be able to access all the great new Windows Media content being created on the web right now!

I have just mentioned the new file formats that Windows Media Player 9 uses by default, and will explain them in more depth in a moment. However another technology associated with digital content are "Codec's". For those unfamiliar with the term "codec", it is essentially a way to "compress" the data so it can be stored then then "uncompressed" when you come to listen (or view) the data. For example in the case of movies created using digital camcorders. The footage is usually stored on a MiniDV tape and then put onto a computer for editing. Well for every second of your home video it would require 25Mb of disk space!!! And it is the same for when you record a CD onto your computer, without codec's you would need very large hard drives... So that's why we use codec's.

ALL media players use codec's, and each company uses their own proprietary Codec technology to create their media players default, and preferred, audio file format.

For example the Real One player from Real Networks uses the "Real Codec" within the media player. This is used to create digital files from the contents of your CD in the current series 8 Real Audio (RA) file format. (It also contains the codec's for creating WAV and MP3 audio files too, although again to get CD quality MP3 audio files you have to pay for a plug-in.)

Windows Media Player 9 - Audio File Format
Windows Media Player 9 is part of a family of products that Microsoft call Windows Media Series 9. The new player uses the new series 9 Windows Media Audio file format .WMA to record your CD's to the computer. But when creating files on your hard drive using the Windows Media 9 Audio Codec, there are THREE choices depending on the quality of WMV file you wish to create.
These are:

Windows Media Audio - At it's best data rate this option will take up around 86Mb of Hard Drive per CD

Windows Media Audio (Variable Bit Rate) - At it's best data rate this option will take up around 155 Mb per CD

Windows Media Audio Lossless - At it's best data rate rate this option will take up around 411 Mb per CD.

So which do you choose?
I largely miss the first option and use the second, the Windows Media Audio (Variable Bit Rate). This makes a great library of tracks from my CD collection and then gives excellent quality playback on my XP machine using the Windows Media Player 9.

The last option is really for the true "audiophile" - someone who really appreciates a good recording. This option is good enough to archive your entire CD collection in as it compresses with NO loss of quality. However, for most folks you are really not going to hear a great difference between option 2 and 3, and you also do not want to use up all that valuable extra disk space...

There is also a series 9 codec for Voice eg Radio broadcasts and Advertising. Series 9 also brings us the worlds FIRST codec for creating digital surround sound on the web! Neither of these codec's can be used to record audio within Windows Media Player 9. But of course the new media player can be used to listen to audio content created using these new audio codec's! Something no other player can do at the moment!

Windows Media Player 9 - Video File Format
Although you can not create content in the Windows Media Video (WMV) file format from within Windows Media Player 9, much of the content in the WMV file format will start to be created using the series 9 codec. Because this codec is part of the new media player, you are up and running the moment you open the video on your PC (or even Pocket PC.)

Like the WMV file format, there are also several options available when encoding video into the WMV file format. Microsoft realise that not all situations are going to use video playback in the same way. Therefore they allow for the video to be "compressed in slightly" different ways to obtain better results for video that is played on a PC, video that is watched directly over the internet and many other different situations. These video codec's are: Windows Media Video 9, Windows Media 9 Professional and Windows Media 9 Screen.

As a consumer, when you watch video in these different ways Windows Media Player 9 understands how the video was "compressed" and so will "decompress" the data very efficiently to deliver your entertainment on the screen. One such program that you can use to create video content yourself is Windows Movie Maker 2 for XP. It to has the 9 series audio and video codec's built in and will take care of all the codec decisions for you based on the type of content you want to crate. For example creating a video for a CD will be handled differently to creating a small video clip to be streamed from the internet.

Windows Media Player 9 - Media Management
Many of the new features in Windows Media Player 9 are designed to make organizing, managing (now called "smart management"), and playing your libraries of CD tracks, downloaded music, and videos easier. Auto Play lists, which work off your songs' ID3 tags to create lists of music, let you easily switch up your tunes depending on your mood. For example, you can create play lists of tracks that you generally listen to at night, put together the best songs for a road trip, play tracks you only listen to at night by female artists or literally anything else you want.. Windows Media Player 9 lets you rate songs on a 1 to 5 star scale, so you can create automatic play lists made of your favourite tunes. The program even remembers which songs you play often and which you hardly play at all, and it automatically organizes your library based on those preferences! A very neat and useful feature.

If you find you can not seem to keep tabs on all your tracks, then Windows Media Player 9 makes it easier to manage libraries of CD songs, downloaded music, and videos. For example, when you delete a media file from the library, you can choose to have it removed from your hard drive at the same time. You can also rename batches of tracks ripped from "Unknown Album" by "Unknown Artist", using information (called "Meta Data") automatically grabbed from a special information website on the the Internet.

And if you tend to be overly meticulous about tagging your files, you will definitely appreciate the advanced tag editor, which lets you view and edit more than 35 fields of info, so you can add photos, videos, and even synchronized lyrics. We've already seen players that offer a composer tag, telling you who wrote the piece (good for classical-music fans), but Microsoft even offers a conductor tag, letting you know who conducted the orchestra - a great bonus for classical music fans).

If you use an older OS, you'll enjoy the Smart Jukebox features, but the big guns--such as the advanced tag editor, the ability to add lyrics to a file and synchronize them with a playing song, Video CD playback, auto play lists, volume levelling, and cross-fading--are available in only the XP version. Still, you will love how much easier it is to organize music files with version 9, and I think that the ability to synchronize playback with the lyrics is an excellent idea, even if it does threaten to turn every party into a karaoke night!


Windows Media Player 9 - Conclusion
Windows Media Player 9 loads more quickly than its predecessors, especially for streaming media using a new technology called fast start. I like to play my videos full screen and so the ability to access the controls panel from full screen is a welcome choice, something that is lacking in the Real One player! From the Media Guide tab, you can check out entertainment and news video clips, some of which are encoded especially for Windows Media Player 9 codec's. The new option to put the player into mini mode and have it sit on your task bar is a brilliant feature in my opinion.

Another cool new feature I tried out was the "Rename and Re-Group" feature. Basically I had a load of WMA files on my PC. After I ran Windows Media Player 9 I switched on the this feature and it then searched my PC and found the files then grouped by artist and album - Fantastic.... This saved be a couple of hours at least!

Windows media Player 9 is not perfect BUT it does offer great features, is ahead of the other major players from Real Networks and Apple, and demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to digital media on its XP operating system. Remember too, you can always download just the 9 series codec's if you want to keep your current player for now!

http://www.updatexp.com/windows_media_player_9.html

Choosing a NextBase Portable DVD Player

Features of Portable Players
Different portable DVD players come with a discrete set of features that you need to consider carefully, before you purchase one. The screen size, the weight of the player, widescreen options, disc formats supported and audio/video outputs are important aspects that any discerning buyer should look at.

Screen Size and Weight
When you buy a portable DVD player, it is important that it is light enough for you to carry around. Weight is dependant on the size of the player, its screen and its batteries. Look for weight specifications on the side of the box but do hold the player itself: 300 grams doesn’t really mean that much to anyone unless they are an avid chef! A large screen model although being an attractive proposition because of enhanced image size and quality, will be heavier. The dimensions and weight of the player are important, if you have to sit with the unit on your lap.

Video quality
Make sure that your portable DVD player incorporates progressive scan technology and, if you intend to watch films, has a widescreen format. Since many of us use these players as either spares or as a player for an additional room at home, you may also want to check that your player is compatible with your television or home entertainment system. The player must have the requisite outputs including perhaps S-video output, which provides high video quality and optical out for surround sound audio via your own surround sound processor.

The different disc formats the player will support also matters a great deal. Take a good hard look at the DVD regions in your current film collection. If you intend to play music, many of the latest portable DVD players play all major disc formats: CD-Rs, CD-RWs, and MP3s, as well as home burned CDs.

Pricing
Most portable DVD players are now reasonably priced, reflecting intense competition in the marketplace. Most also offer superior video quality and are built to function equally well if stationary or on a moving train, plane or car.

The prices of portable DVD players vary according to the screen size, manufacturer, model, and the features they possess. At the time of writing, an excellent portable player can be acquired for under £115. A model which sports a seven-inch colour LCD screen as well as MP3, CD-R, and CD-RW capabilities, will be available for around £105. Alternately, a 7" slimline model which plays DVDs, CDs, and MP3s, and includes complete cabling, built-in stereo speakers, and a cigarette lighter adapter will cost about £110. Prices are ever changing, reflecting continuous advances in technology.

NextBase Portable DVD Players
NextBase DVD players are made by Merconnet and are now one of the better known portable DVD player brands. One of their claims to fame is the production of the world’s first tablet type DVD player. They also offer a range of conventional models to address most budgets.

Among the most popular models from NextBase is a flat, lightweight offering with a 7-inch widescreen format TFT display, which is fully portable. The player is flat, and can be easily attached to a car seat headrest so that children seated in the back can watch a movie during the drive. It supports all of these formats: DVD/ VCD/ CD/ HDCD/ CD-R/ CD-RW/ MP3/ and WMA.

Conclusion
The portable DVD player offers hours of uninterrupted portable entertainment and helps take the tedium out of a long journey. Players are available in a range of models, and at affordable prices. As the technology continues to advance and more manufacturers enter the market, models are being differentiated from one another by the inclusion of ever more features. Some of these will be of use to you and some will simply be white elephants. Most importantly, stick to the basics: make sure that any player supports the formats present in your music or video collection; that the balance between screen size and overall weight is right for you and that if you want to connect it to equipment at home, the right outputs are present.

About the Author

Jason Flowers is Managing Director of 3 Wise Monkeys

With e-tailers like 3wisemonkeys.co.uk you get the best of both worlds with a guide to buying portable DVD players. As well as producing quick guides such as the one above to improve your on-line shopping experience, we are always happy to respond to your queries and to give detailed buying advice over the phone with no pressure to purchase.

Things to consider before you buy an Mp3 player

Portable mp3 player has changed the way people use and listen to music. Because of new technological innovations both in software and hardware has kept this field fresh and exciting and a bit confusing for any first time purchaser.

Today there are many portable mp3 players available in the market and it might seem difficult to choose the right mp3 player for you. So you need to gather some information about the mp3 players available and their price range and then compare their features and decide which one shall suit you the best. This is because if you are a music lover you would always wish to have an in built FM tuner or if you love to play games then you would ask for something else. There are different accessories and lots of add-ons available.

The major criteria for mp3 player comparison would include its music store download system, its capacity in gigabytes, music storage in hours, music formats supported, video formats supported, image formats supported, built-in FM tuner, built in microphone, accessories included, other third party accessories available, navigation, dimensions, weight and price.

Open and closed systems
The primary factor that differentiates between players is that whether they form a part of a closed download music store system or an open one. Closed systems have all elements such as online music store, PC music store, portable software and portable player that are fully integrated to work together. An example of closed system company is the Apple ipod that operates iTunes.

Open system provides you a selection of music stores and portable players from different companies and because they share the same music file format you can easily mix and match players and services. Microsoft’s windows media audio is the largest such open system.

It is also important that the terms “closed system” and “open system” describe the online music store to software to portable player relationship and the copy protection their respective formats use. You can download and play mp3 files from other kinds of internet websites such as band websites and pod casters. You can also import music from your personal CD’s to your computer and then transfer the songs to your portable player in your preferred format of mp3.

For further information, visit our recommended website freedownloadmp3song.info

About the Author

Olivia Andrews, writer of freedownloadmp3song.info is a freelance journalist and has written many reviews on subjects such as finance, education, health, entertainment, music, gifts, crafts, travel, apparels and mobile phones.

Types of MP3 Players

MP3 players are the most lovable source of entertainment in today's life. There are already lots of MP3 players are available in the market and many consumer don't understand what to look for before buying a good MP3 Player.
Mainly there are three types of MP3 players available in the market Hard drive based, Micro hard drive based and Flash based.

Hard Drive based MP3 Player
As it name, Hard Drive Based MP3 players are having a large capacity of hard drive. These types of MP3 players are generally heavier and larger than other players and these players consists large capacity of storage which is approximately 10 GB or 2,900 MP3 files and can be more. These players consists rechargeable batteries and which can not be replaced. As Hard Drive Based MP3 players can store large number of MP3 files, most consumers prefer to buy it.

Micro Hard Drive based MP3 Player
Micro Hard Drive based MP3 players are small than Hard Drive in size and storage capacity. These types of MP3 players can easily store 1500-1700 MP3 files, or it can save files up to 6GB. Micro Hard Drive players consists rechargeable batteries, which can not be replaced. Due to its lightweight and compact size these players are more popular than hard drive based mp3 players amongst the consumers.

Flash based MP3 Player
Flash Based MP3 players are the most small size MP3 players that come with a moderate capacity which can store 10 to 570 songs or can be store the file from 32 MB to 2GB. These players do not contain any moving parts or not any skip function. Due to its lack of functionality it allows minimal battery usage. These players did not contains any rechargeable batteries as other Hard and Micro Drive based players, battery of these players are mostly replaceable or disposable. Larger part of MP3 community are not interested in these players.

For more information about Music visit http://www.4freemp3song.com

About the Author

Larry John is a freelance journalist writing about Car Insurance, Baby Names, Online Games, Music, Used Cars. He has written many informative articles and e-books on these topics.

iRiver SlimX MP3 CD Player

Like many of you, I like my music collection and have amassed a large collection of music CDs over the years. Because I commuted a lot and wanted to listen to a large range of my music collection I purchased a portable minidisc recorder/player. Later I replaced this with a full deck and a portable player. Now, the problem having moved to Canada recently from New Zealand it was not worth me bringing over my full deck and with my large range of music, I found it time-consuming copying audio to the MD discs at 1x speed. Recently SONY introduced the NetMD format for their new range of MD walkmans but I decided it was not what I was after. I did not like the software “checkout” system they used and heard there were problems with variable bit rate mp3 files.

I started to look at other solutions and had the Nomad Jukebox II for a short time. I found the USB copying of large number of tracks to be flakey, and the software to be full of bugs that would cause it to crash. I delved into the world of CD based mp3 players and found the iRiver iMP-350 SlimX. This unit has solved some of my issues and provided a great means of listening to my tunes.

Hardware Specs
Dimension: Approx. 135(W) X 145(L) X 16.7(H) mm
Weight: Approx. 189g (Excluding Batteries)
CD Type: CD-DA, CD-Text (8cm/12cm), CD-ROM Mode1, Mode 2 Form1, Enhanced CD, CD-Plus
CD-R/RW Readability: Packet-Write, ISO9660, Joliet, Romeo, Multi-Session

File Support:
File Type MPEG 1/2/2.5 layer 3, WMA, ASF
Bit Rate 8Kbps ~ 320Kbps
Tag ID3 V1 Tag, ID3 V2 2.0, ID3 V2 3.0

Power Supply: AC Adapter DC 4.5V, 300mA, Rechargeable Two STICK Type Ni-Mh Batteries, External Battery Two 1.5V AA Size Batteries

Connections: Headphone Out (combined with special remote connector), Line Out, AC Adapter
Additional Features: Built in FM tuner, Backlit Graphic Display on Remote, Adjustable equalizer (5 Presets and 1 User Defined), Supports multiple languages.

Box Contents
• SlimX 350 CD/MP3 Player
• Remote control
• Bud style headphones
• Instruction Manual
• Cloth bag
• AA battery extender
• AC Adapter (I forgot to put it in the photo!)

The big thing to note about this unit is that it is slim line at 16.7mm and is currently the worlds thinnest CD based MP3 Player. It plays standard audio CDs, Enhanced CD, CD Plus, home-made CD-R and CD-RW discs, supporting the popular music formats of MP3, WMA and ASF!

There is also an 8 minute antis-shock buffer to avoid any skipping during playback and the unit’s firmware is user upgradeable. This means when future audio formats are released or features added to the player software, these can be downloaded from the company website and burnt to a CD-R. The unit is powered on and the firmware is upgraded to include the new changes. I have already successfully completed this capability twice.

Build Quality
I found the build quality to be excellent. It feels solid to hold and possibly would take a few knocks (Not that I tested that out!!) The design and look of the player is very nice.

Remote Control
Unfortunately, I found the remote to feel “squarish” in the hand, and a bit awkward to use with the small buttons. While trying to navigate the menu I often would press the wrong button. Now, having a remote is a major consideration for me for buying a portable music-playing device. I like to have the player tucked away in a bag or in a pocket and control it from my remote. I found the clip to be tight and strong. Ideally my favored style of remote control has both the wire from the headset and from the unit connected on one side, like some of the AIWA MD player remotes are designed. This enables you to clip them easier to the outside of your jacket and have the wires coming from one general direction.

It would be great if iRiver release a more ergonomic styled remote. Update, September 2002, iRiver have released a new remote with the iRiver 400 player that looks to resolve the problems I mentioned above!

Rechargeable Batteries & External AA holder
The other great feature for the player is that it uses rechargeable batteries. These are of the “gum stick” varieties that are now commonly used in many types of portable devices. (Walkmans, cameras etc). If you are out and find out you have run out of juice, you can use 2 x AA batteries in the supplied pack to provide more playback time. A great idea and concept. Unfortunately the pack does not attach to the player but dangles precariously from it by the attached power cable when used.

Support
After about 2 weeks, I actually lost the tiny spring to that holds the clip to the body of the remote. It pretty much came off when I was walking down the road and I was clipping the remote to my jacket.

I gave a quick call to the friendly guys at www.mp3playerstore.com and asked about the warranty for the unit. They directed me to the manufacturer, who I contacted at their North American web-site at www.iriveramerica.com. I emailed them explaining my plight with the remote control and after a few days without an acknowledgement of receiving my email, I gave them a call. The person I spoke to checked their email and said they had had it in their inbox. Warranty claims were dealt with another party and my email will be forwarded to them. I would expect to hear from them and receive a RMA in about 10days time. (That was over 6 weeks ago and I STILL have not heard a thing from either of them) Update – September 2002, still no word from iRiver or their warranty team.

After about 2 weeks, I called the guys at Mp3PlayerStore up and had a chat to them explaining my problem with the missing remote control spring. They said that they had received similar returns and that I could infact return it to them and they will swap it out. They promptly sent me an RMA and I sent in the remote. Within the week, I received an email stating that my remote had been shipped. (They shipped it XpressPost as well)

Needless to say, I am very, very pleased with the customer relations from mp3PlayerStore and would like to thank the guys there for helping me out when they did not really have to. (My only association with them is that I am a happy customer!)

Iriver have a great product, but their marketing/sales/team could do better. Ok, this may be one of *those* “one-off” experiences, etc but in my email to them I actually highlighted the fact that I was in the process of reviewing the player!!! Something I did not mention this to the Mp3PlayerStore guys.

That said and done, the product is great.

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/iriver_slimx_mp3_cd_player_review

Tweaking the Light Fantastic

High end audio gets away with murder. By the standards of the non-audiophile, most of the stuff we buy, and what we pay for it, can be explained only by a form of selective dementia affecting us in all areas having to do with reproduced sound. How many other industries cater to a demographic as fanatical, as restlessly compulsive, and as willing to suspend its collective disbelief? The answer may lie in another question: How many businesses are charged with selling something as slippery and unquantifiable as the aesthetics of sound?

In high-end audio the rules which govern the realm of normal consumerdom do not often apply. While mid-fi and mass market gear tends to be sold based on common and easily quantifiable factors like price, abundance of features, and reputation, the high-end hawks its wares with an avalanche of subjectivity, with lures which are less easily grasped but far more enticing to the truly addicted audiophile. Features? Value? Ha! Wrong end of the store pal. This stuff is sold with something you can't see on the spec sheet; the promise of soul stirring musical experiences in your very own home, of music which bears no trace of its reproduction. Once these sonic fruits are tasted, and the passion and dedication with which many audiophiles pursue them understood, the concept of loudspeakers costing more than luxury sedans begins to seem, if not sane, at least conceivable.

Venture a little deeper into the high end's lunatic fringe, however, into the innocuously named world of audio accessories, and things get downright perverse. By normal consumer logic when mature adults are spending substantial sums of money on cones, stones, pucks, wraps, sprays, and phosphorescent discs to be used in conjunction with their stereo systems something is terribly wrong. In high end audio it's called tweaking, and it's pretty popular.

Many would dismiss tweakery outright, claiming indiscriminantely that all such products (which often seem to have little or no rational explanation and little, if any, perceived value) are tantamount to snake oil, the people who use them gullible rubes, and that the whole business just contributes to the high end's image as a hobby for insane, obsessive madmen more interested in the quest for some holy grail of sonics than in enjoying music. The Continuum of Tweakery

While this may be true in many cases it's unfair to most serious audiophiles. Like most things tweaks and tweakers occur in degrees; or for purposes of convenience here, on a continuum (see graphic). Starting at left, or zero, is the practical, logical, inexpensive and often home made tweak, which may not involve purchasing anything at all; like floating the ground on your amp to avoid hum or putting tennis ball halves under your equipment for a little budget isolation. Somewhere in the middle are commercially available but seemingly logical and reasonable tweaks which don't cost a ton of money and aren't impractical or inconvenient to use. Our own Audio Ideas Imagers are a good example: cheap, effective, easy to understand and, once installed, can be forgotten about. At the far right (from seven to ten, say) are expensive, impractical, arcane tweaks which, if their alleged effects can be explained at all, are explained in very nebulous terms dealing more with the timbral signature of a violin or the placement of the soprano in your soundstage than with any understood acoustic or electronic theory. In other words these tweaks are so mysterious and so unusual that they require serious suspension of disbelief. More often than not these are what I call audio placebos, improving the sound only in the listener's mind. I would put products like the Bedini Clarifier in this final category (see my review in Vol. 17 #1)

As a tweaker I would place myself somewhere on the left side of the line. I'm inherently skeptical but when faced with a weird tweak I do my best to try to decide with my ears rather than with a sense of predestined impossibility. In other words I try to refrain from muttering things like "this can't possibly work". My approach is more like "I don't fully understand why this should work, and the supplied literature is pretty lame (and it usually is - see below), but let's see how it changes the sound." Besides, my job is to tell you how it sounds, not to delve into a deeply technical speculation of what's its doing or not doing.

With all this in mind, let's look at some tweaks which have been piling up at the AIG offices over the past few months.

Harmonix RF-11 CD Tuning Sheets: $22 (CAN) for a package of 8 Harmonix Tuning Sheets

The first of several CD-specific tweaks Harmonix RF-11 tuning sheets are thin, adhesive-backed pieces of plastic meant to be stuck on the label side of a disc. Although largely transparent (allowing you to read the label once applied) the sheets have green rings around their inside and outside circumferance and four, evenly-spaced cross shaped cut outs.

What is sticking a sheet of plastic to the backside of my CDs going to accomplish, you may well ask? Well, according to the back of the package (the only available literature) the sheet "helps achieve the full musical potential of the compact disc format by eliminating resonances and jitter induced by the CD drive mechanism and airborne vibrations." Upholding the grand tradition of audio accessory literature this explanation is not only confusing and vague it's so awkwardly worded that it reads like a bad translation (which it most likely is). The cardboard flap goes on to say that with the RF-11's stuck to a disc "the music reproduction becomes sweet and pure, free of hardness often associated with CD sound... extraordinary clarity, greater delineation of individual instruments and voices, and expanded sound-stage presentation." Hot dog! They've found a way to make a CD sound like an LP!

While the explanation of how they work might be frustratingly vague it's easy enough to conclude that weighing down a spinning object may, if done evenly, smooth and steady its rotation, and in the case of a CD, make it easier for a laser to read information off the disc.

Listening tests helped justify relatively central position on the continuum for the Tuning Sheets, revealing a very subtle but audible improvement in sound. Using a couple of sets of identical CDs (A Koss Classics edition of Beethoven's Ninth [KC 1003], which I happen to have in duplicate, and our own Test & Reference CD) I placed a sheet on one disc in each set and alternated back and forth between the bare disc and the CD wearing a sheet. Drums became a little tighter, transients and dynamics a little more lively, and, true to the promise made on the package, the delineation of instruments did marginally improve. It must be kept in mind, however, that these improvements were on a very small scale, equivalent perhaps to the difference between two digital interconnects. In other words, it won't make your CDs sound like good vinyl.

As for practicality and ease of use, there are worse (see below) but I'd say the likelihood of yours truly spending the better part of a day applying very expensive stickers to 300 odd CDs is roughly equivalent to that of AM purchasing a Radio Shack rack system and a stack of Kraftwerk albums this weekend. As for the money, I think it would be better applied elsewhere in your audio system or your music collection. If you're still keen to try these things consider one more thing: most car CD players will likely react negatively to CDs which are even slightly thicker than they should be. My life lesson in this involved a delightful hour with a pair of tweezers contorting myself in various ways inside AM's car. On the continuum of tweakery these rate a 6.5

QR Design Statmat $US 40.00 ea.
From one piece of plastic to stick on CDs we go to another. This time, however, both the goal, and the approach, are different. From the makers of the highly effective Ringmat (one of the best and easiest turntable tweaks extant) the Statmat is a very thin slice of polypropelyne film coated with a pattern of conductive inks which is meant to sit on the label side of CD while it plays. Unlike the Harmonix sheets it is almost weightless, non-adhesive, and is meant to be used and re-used with whatever disc is playing. Statmat

The stated goal of the Statmat is easy enough to glean from its name: to discharge static electricity from the CD as it plays. The conductive inks, we are led to assume, dissipate the charge into the air. Just as it is easy to see why the Tuning Sheets might help stabilize a spinning disc, it is logical enough to assume that the Statmat may help reduce or eliminate static electricity from CDs. However, while one may be able to infer that smoothing disc rotation may reduce reading errors, and therefore digital jitter, the assumption that a static charge is harmful to CD playback strikes me as less sound, if you'll excuse the pun. As for how static electricity could effect the reading of pits off a spinning CD, I'll leave that question to the electrical engineers and physicists among us. Needless to say the suspension of disbelief factor on this one is higher than with the Tuning Sheets.

Listening tests did not dilute my skepticism. Spinning various discs with the Statmat alternately on and off the CD in question produced mixed results. After several runs with both Chris Isacc's Wicked Game (Reprise CD25837) and Casandra Wilson's New Moon Daughter (Blue Note CDP 532861) I actually thought that the CDs sounded better without the Statmat, giving up more detail and a smoother more neutral sound in their naked form. Moving on to other types of music I could hear no discernable difference using our own T&R CD (the Bach cello suite at the very end) and Dick Hyman's From the Age of Swing (Ref. Recordings RR-59CD).

Not only did the Statmat not improve the sound of CDs it was a serious pain in the butt to use. Try getting something this light and flimsy (to say nothing of its propensity to become airborne with the slightest hint of a breeze) to remain centered on a disc as you try to put it in a player. With only mild suction keeping it on the disc I was always relieved to see it emerge from the player still attached to the CD, visions of trying to remove shredded bits of polypropylene from my drawer mechanism dancing through my head.

Combine the sketchy science with the lackluster sonic effects, the outrageous price (especially considering the materials!), and the inconvenience of using the thing and you've got a tweak which sinks deep into serious voodoo/placebo/mysterioso territory. I'd give it a ten but that would be unfair to all the insane tweaks which cost so much more money, so I'll give it a nine.

Audio Prism CD Blacklight: $65 (CAN) ea. Audioprism CD Blacklight
Yet another product designed to sit on top of CD comes from AudioPrism, the folks who brought you CD Stoplight (a green paint meant to be applied to the edges of CDs). With the CD Blacklight Audioprism has basically combined the goals of the Statmat and the Harmonix Tuning Sheets into one product, while adding one other dimension to the CD tweaking equation. Like the Harmonix sheets the Blacklight is fairly heavy, one of its stated goals to act as "an effective vibrational short circuit and rotational mass for dynamic stability." Like the Statmat it also uses a series of conductive lines to "effectively lower [the] electrostatic potential of the compact disc itself." The Blacklight, however, goes one step further by adding "a proprietary, frequency specific, highly emissive, phosphorescent surface layer" which "optically saturates the compact disc as well as the disc compartment." This last feature requires the user to "charge" the CD Blacklight by placing it under a light source for about a minute (fluorescent and natural light sources are said to work best), after which it will take on an eerie green glow, signaling that you're ready to apply the glowing side of the mat to the CD and play away.

As with the other CD tweaks, explanations or inferences about what's its doing are fairly easy to come by, the literature being slightly better than with the others. As usual it's when asking "why" that we have to suspend our disbelief. On the Blacklight box, for instance, Audioprism explains that stabilizing the disc through the addition of mass will increase "bass definition and slam"; that reducing the electrostatic potential of the disc will result in "less read interference with the laser sub-system, improving imaging and soundstage"; and that saturation of the disc compartment with black light will reduce "jitter resulting in a more open and smoother presentation." As for WHY these approaches should improve the sound in these ways we are, despite the eerie green glow, left in the dark ( This is not to say that all companies should have to explain exactly how all their products work. I think, however, that in a case such as this, where both the approach and the intended effects are quite unorthodox and unclear that a more rigorous explanation is required. In other words, if tweak makers expect people to buy these things they should do a better job convincing us that their products can be beneficial).

As far as listening results go the Blacklight fared similarly to the Harmonix Tuning Sheets, producing very subtle but audible sonic improvements. On the Dick Hyman Disc there was a slight improvement in resolution and transient attack, a phenomenon I also noticed on Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue (Prem-737-2). The Barber disc also demonstrated slightly better bass articulation with the Blacklight in place, giving some credence perhaps to the claim that mass loading the disc would firm up the bottom end. Listening to Frente's Marvin the Album (Attic MR 0083-2) and the Barber disc again the Blacklight seemed to open up the vocals a bit, the non tweaked discs sounding a little overly warm by comparison.

These minor benefits, however, do not outweigh the inconvenience of using the CD Blacklight. Not only do you have to spend a minute or so charging the thing before each use, it behaves much like the Statmat in that it does not like to remain centered on the disc during loading. What's worse, the CD player in question (a Pioneer Laserdisc transport) would often reject the disc if the blacklight was not perfectly placed; not to mention the fact that if the thing's not perfectly centered, rotational stability will actually suffer. In other words, this is not a "set it and forget it" kind of tweak, but a fiddly and irritating one. Combine this with the hefty price and the suspension of disbelief required to buy into why its changing the sound and you've got a tweak which ends up just slightly left of the Statmat on the ol' tweak line. Peg this one up at about eight.

Black Diamond Racing Pyramid Cones $85 (CAN) for three Black Diamond Racing Cones
I suppose once you've treated your CDs so extensively that they are impervious to instability, static electricity, jitter, bad miking, poor mixing, and bad music the next step is to attack the player itself; not to mention components further down the chain. A increasingly popular weapon in this attack is a trio of cones placed under a given component, de-coupling it from its shelf. Much of the popularity of "coning" can be attributed to the buzz surrounding Black Diamond Racing's Pyramid Cones, which have received an awful lot of attention of late (In case you're wondering (and I certainly was), the company got its start, and much of its experience with carbon fiber, in yacht racing).

About an inch in height the cones look exactly like what they are, little triangles of carbon fiber with smooth, rounded points. Subtle and nondescript in their matte black finish they feature a small 1/ 4-20 thread on the flat end which is compatible with bolts on certain equipment (i.e. B.A.T.) meant to hold the original feet.

As for the why and how of this tweak, the trend of the CD tweaks continues. While the Black Diamond product literature asserts that "vibration is having a far more significant effect on audio than most people had realized" it does not shed any light on why vibration is our enemy. Aside from pointing out that the cones use a "combination of high rigidity along with high damping rates" they don't say much about how their cones deal with this alleged problem either. At the same time, however, it's easier to conceptualize (even for a physics-challenged film major like myself) how a set of cones, especially ones which purport to have significant damping properties, could attenuate vibration by acting as a buffer between a component and shelf (while the rigidity of the cones keeps it solidly in place, avoiding added vibrations), than it is to understand how reducing a CD's static charge could change the way a laser reads its pits. Assuming that this damping could reduce effects like microphonics in "coned" equipment, the causal chain leading to the justification of such a product is a little more solid than for most of the other tweaks reviewed here. In other words, the suspension of disbelief factor is lower, giving the BDR cones a fair chance of a better placing on the continuum.

That fair chance becomes a sure bet once you hear what the BDR cones can do to the sound of a component. Of all the tweaks I messed with this was surely the most effective. The improvements were surprising to say the least, especially under my digital gear. Using the Pioneer transport and the Sentec DiAna DAC I listened to both the LD/CD player alone, and as a transport with the DAC (both alternately with and without cones). With the cones each component gave up more resolution and more low level detail creating a deeper, more seamless soundstage in which microdynamics were better preserved. In general the sound benefited from increased smoothness, delicacy, and three dimensionality making for more involving listening. In addition, these improvements were as audible and as substantial as upgrading a DAC or adding a good jitter reduction box, making the effects of the previous tweaks seem far less significant in comparison.

Using the BDR cones under other gear had similar results. Under the lovely Rega Mira integrated amp (see my review elsewhere in this issue) the cones opened up the sound a little and tightened up the bass a smidge but these improvements were not nearly of the same magnitude as those wrought with the digital gear. Under my Rega Planar 2 turntable, however, the effects were very positive. When I removed the original rubber feet and plopped three cones between it and the Ikea Lack table it sits on the sound took on a character best described as rock solid. Bass, image focus, and delicate low level transients all improved substantially making for much more palpable and involving sound. I'm so happy with how it sounds, in fact, that I'm going to leave it that way indefinitely. One note however, the Rega is an unsuspended table which reacts very well to being supported on light, rigid platforms. (the very light Lack end table and the BDR cones proved to be a synergistic combination - the Lack table is also spiked to the floor using a Target speaker spiking kit. This setup, by the way, makes for an ultra rigid stand, a great, and very cheap way, to support equipment). Suspended tables may react very differently to cones so try before you buy.

Throughout my listening I used the cones with their points down, BDR recommending that the point touch the more resonant surface, which in the case of a component on an MDF shelf, is the shelf. When using BDR's carbon fiber shelf (cheekily called The Shelf) it becomes the less resonant surface and the cones should point up.

The only negative experience with the BDR cones occurred in conjunction with yet another Rega product, the justifiably praised Planet CD player. The Planet, which comes with its own very soft, sorbothane type feet, did not benefit from the cones, sounding leaner, cleaner and doing a better job of rendering vocals on its own feet, thank you very much. One might thus assume that if the component you want to cone has been designed around a soft, compliant suspension then putting something as rigid as the BDR cones under it is going to fly in the face of that design and very possibly comprimise it.

Combine these unusually positive sonic results with the fact that the BDR cones are easy and practical to use, a "set it and forget it" type of tweak, and you've got a product which ends up damn near the coveted middle of the continuum. I would place them further to the left but, after all, it's still a lot to pay for three little carbon fiber triangles. I give em' a five and a half.

Golden Sound DH Cones: $70 US (set of three) DH Cones
Although less popular than the BDR cones, Golden Sound's DH Cones have been making inroads in the tweak world as well. Unlike BDR Golden Sound makes four sizes of its DH Cones, small (5/8"/$20), medium (7/8"/$40), large (1"/$50), and jumbo (1 3/8"/$70), supplying me with the latter. Much heavier than the BDR triangles the DH Cones are ceramic, finished in a glossy black on the sides and in natural white ceramic on the flat top. They also feature a sharper point than the BDR cones.

It is unclear whether the larger cones are supposed to sound better or just increase the distance between shelf and equipment. In fact, plenty more about these things is unclear, the Golden Sound product literature consisting exclusively of enthusiastic recommendations from happy customers. It neglects to offer anything in the way of technical or setup information. Having discussed some general thoughts on cones above I'll jump straight into listening results.

Listening to the DH Cones during the same sessions as the BDR cones I was able to put together a pretty good impression of what each was doing and how they compared. Under the digital gear the DH cones produced similar effects to the BDR's, yet to a lesser degree. As with the carbon fiber triangles the DH Cones helped bring out more ambient detail, a greater sense of delicacy and improved microdynamics, contributing to a more involving sound. Although they took on a slightly different tonal character than with the BDR cones, vocals also improved, sounding a little more open and natural. With the Planar 2 it was a similar story, the DH Cones producing a sound that was even closer to that achieved with the BDR cones. Performers became locked in the soundstage and the delicacy and involvement quotient rose substantially. With the Rega Planet CD Player the DH Cones, like the BDRs, could not improve upon the Rega's original soft rubber feet, bloating the bass and masking clarity in a similar way. Under the Mira integrated, however, the pattern reversed, the DH Cones sounding slightly more open than the BDRs; proving once again that such tweaks should be rigorously tested under various pieces of gear before buying. Not only are they likely to work very differently under various components in the chain, different brands and models will no doubt react differently to coning as well. From my experience with this kind of tweak the only constant seems to be that digital gear seems to benefit the most dramatically.

As far as our trusty continuum goes, I would place the DH cones just slightly right of the BDR pyramid cones, at about six. They're slightly less effective, and, due to very poor product literature, require greater suspension of disbelief to try.

Enacom Audio Noise Eliminators: Speaker ($220/pair) and AC ($95) Enacom Audio Noise Eliminators
Finally we have these odd little products from Combak Corporation of Japan. Looking like electric shotgun shells they consist of a small metal barrel with two bare copper cables emerging out one end (or in the case of the AC Enacom a standard 2 prong mains plug). Exactly what's in that little barrel is not entirely clear, the characteristically vague info sheet avoiding any detailed descriptions of what these things are doing. What is fairly clear is that there is a capacitor in there. One of the stated intentions of the noise eliminators, in fact, and the only possible function of the AC version, is to filter out RF noise making its way into both AC lines and speaker cables. Like the Audioprism Quietline wall wart filters they sit in series on your home AC circuit, filtering out anything above a given frequency (200Khz according to the manual). Apparently the speaker model works the same way but is also supposed to eliminate what they call "ringing distortion" caused by load resistance in the speaker/amplifier interface. How this happens is as elusive as a good explanation of exactly what constitutes "ringing distortion", and so some suspension of disbelief is, as usual, involved. As far as I'm concerned ringing distortion is a lot more likely to come from your phone than from your speakers.

I first did a little messing around with the AC version, cycling it in and out of an outlet near my audio system during a listening session. Having played with a few AC treatments before I'm familiar with the positive effects good RF suppression can have (see my review of the Innoye Synergistic Powerline Conditioner). Benefits can include darker sonic backgrounds, crisper microdynamics, and much more lively and involving low level performance in general. These, unfortunately, were not to be had with the Enacom AC filter, which caused no audible improvement once plugged in. It is possible that in greater number, used in several outlets around the room or house (like the much less expensive Quietline filters) that they would have a more noticeable, cumulative effect. However, I would much sooner put that money into a decent power conditioner like the Inouye, which will also protect your gear from surges and spikes.

Not expecting much from the speaker version of the Enacom I threaded them in parallel across the high frequency binding posts on my Newform Research R630 Ribbons (this the recommended configuration when dealing with bi-wired speakers) after having listened carefully to several selections of music. The Newforms are fed by about ten feet of Wireworld Atlantis speaker cable and were being driven on this occasion by the wonderful Rega Mira integrated.

Revisiting the amazing Ritmicas disc from Dorian Recordings (DOR-90245) it became slightly easier to decode the immensely wide and cavernously deep soundstage captured on this recording, the location of players coming into even greater focus. On Arvo Paart's Litany (ECM 78118-21592-2) I noticed a slight increase in low level detail and a more thorough rendering of subtle and delicate ambient decay; both common indicators of reduced RF interference. As for the mysterious "ringing distortion" it may very well be a factor in these improvements, but I'm holding out for a better explanation of what it is and what it sounds like.

Having lived with the Enacoms on the speaker for a few weeks now, however, I'd add that the system sounds smoother and more transparent than ever, the little caps having perhaps warmed up and broken in to a certain extent. So, despite this sketchy ringing distortion business the speaker Enacom turns out to be a pretty reasonable tweak, sitting in about at about six and a half on the continuum (they would have fared much better if not for the high price). Like the cones, a fair bit to pay for what they are, but they do work and are not a bad investment considering what they can do for a high resolution system, especially in RF rich urban centers. As for the AC Enacom, spend that cash elsewhere.

So, after all this tweak talk you may well be asking, if you had to pick just one of these things, which would it be? Well, as it turns out, the best system tweak I've come across lately isn't meant to be an audio accessory at all. It's the Ikea Lack table I mentioned earlier (special thanks must go to Ron Sanders for the hot tip on this one). If you want the maximum sonic benefit for the dollar spend twenty bucks on the table (the much nicer beech version is $40) and then another thirty on a Target speaker spiking kit (which even includes a drill bit and will leave enough spikes to do another table) and you've got an effective and attractive source stand for a song. If you're turntable or CD player is riding high on some wobbly, swaying, overloaded monstrosity than this is definitely worth a try. Combine this great homemade tweak with the runner up for value and effectiveness, the BDR pyramid cones, and you've got a killer source table for a fraction of what a good rack costs. If you still feel that, as an audiophile, it behooves you to be spending more money, I've got some little wooden pucks you might be interested in....

http://www.audio-ideas.com/articles/tweaks.html