My MP3 Player Will Top Most CD Players

witchdoctor · « **on:** 18 Jun 2003, 12:18 am »

and no I am not high. My front end consists of a HTPC from digitalconnections.com >GW Labs Upsampler>fully modded Art Di/O dac from Boulder Cable.
I use Musicmatch Jukebox as my player.
This set up alone will best many CDP. What has delivered the clear knock out punch is the addition of a plug in called DFX.
It is billed as an MP3 enhancer and was developed by a recording engineer.
This $10 plug in makes such a big difference it is literally night and day.
I encourage all PC and MP3 users to check it out. I encourage all non users to convert.

System:
Front End is above>Sunfire TG3 pre/pro> 3 Paradigm Reference Active 40's in front, 2 Active 20's in rear.
Boulder digital cables, bogdan audio interconnects, virtual dynamics power cords
Monster HTPS 7000 PLC

eico1 · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Jun 2003, 12:37 am »

W,

Have you tried the OctiMax plug-in?

steve

witchdoctor · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 Jun 2003, 12:40 am »

No, should I?

eico1 · « **Reply #3 on:** 18 Jun 2003, 03:12 am »

worth checking out, just use caution as it can go full squash which can be usefull for listening in your car or for mixes. If used carefully can add subtle enhancement and make lesser equipment or recordings shine!.:)

steve

Phat Phreddy · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 Jul 2003, 12:44 pm »

I am not much of a fan of DFX or other manipulative plug ins with the definate exception of SRS CSII (circle surround) this provides the best 2ch to 5.1ch matrixing of any that I have heard...

Over on AVS there have been some advances in the last week at getting this working as a directshow filter so it will work with other playback than simply WMP9...

For a small lean and clean player the foorbar player is well respected and can upsample and interpolate for 24 or 32 bit and 88.2 or 96 khz etc conversions... Not sure I hear much in those though... Jury is still out for me...

witchdoctor · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 Jul 2003, 02:33 pm »

Thanks for the tip. What is a foorbar player?

EchiDna · « **Reply #6 on:** 5 Jul 2003, 01:03 am »

Quote from: witchdoctor

Thanks for the tip. What is a foorbar player?

Foobar is a software media player like musicmatch jukebox or whatever...

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #7 on:** 16 Jul 2003, 08:36 pm »

I just bought Musicmatch and I really dig it, too. I don't use it to play files off the computer yet, but it burns discs very nicely. At the highest bit rate done at VBR the discs are very close to the regular 16 bit PCM version. Sounds pretty rough, though, under 320 kbps.

witchdoctor · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 Jul 2003, 11:12 pm »

Download the DFX plug in and then let me know what you think. The difference is amazing.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 Jul 2003, 11:14 pm »

Do you purchase is right from the Musicmatch guys? I didn't notice it on their list of upgrade options.

witchdoctor · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 Jul 2003, 11:21 pm »

Here is the url http://www.fxsound.com/
Experiment with the pre sets. I find it worked best for me when I turned off the ambience and 3d settings. Their is a preset for different genres. I think the classic rock one works best on the right material ( Who, Led Zep, Stones,etc)
Please post your findings,
Doc

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 Jul 2003, 11:46 pm »

Thanks. I checked the link, but I still have a few questions. 1) If I use the DFX plug to burn a disc, then play it back on, say, my DVD player, will the disc sound better that a regular MP3 burned at the same rate? Or must it be played back on the PC? 2) Is DFX 'backward compatible' with regular MP3?

I'm not understanding if the improvement in sound if from the encoding end (eg like Dolby HX pro for cassettes, if you're old enough to know that one

) or if it relies on proprietary coding and decoding (like Pacific Microsonics HDCD).

Mostly just want to be sure it's compatible.

witchdoctor · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 Jul 2003, 02:20 am »

I don't know if it will effect recording, I would send them an e-mail. Regards to being more like Dolby or HDCD I would say Dolby. It works on all MP3 files. They don't need any special recording like HDCD.
When I turn off this plug in it sounds like I threw a blanket over my speakers. Check out the comments from the audio engineers at the site if
you need more info.

witchdoctor · « **Reply #13 on:** 17 Jul 2003, 02:25 am »

PS- From their site:

Bought the enhanced version of DFX a couple of days back and was really pleased. Having now discovered that the plug-in works in conjunction with the Disc-Writer Output plug-in, I'm really, really pleased. It's definitely improved the quality of the wave-file and the finished quality of the burned CD."
- Laurie Davies (lid@laurie1.demon.co.uk

I guess it will work when you record,
Doc