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I wonder how many people are turned off of personal digital audio players by the compromised sound quality of lossy codecs? The price per megabyte isn't nearly so attractive for those that prefer lossless quality.

When MiniDisc was new (and expensive), manufacturers targeted audiophiles while the advertising emphasized custom mixes and sound quality (even though ATRAC is also lossy). With "MP3 players," the emphasis is usually on quantity, not quality. Being able to accomodate realtime filters like DFX might be a way to find some middle ground.

I realize that most consumers either tolerate or are unaware of the fidelity loss, hence the continued dominance of the now inferior MP3 format. Still, I think that in order for this market to grow more quickly, it should educate consumers about the options available to them with these devices: CD quality if you want it, or OGG (etc.) if you want more tracks per MB.

I wonder how many people are turned off of personal digital audio players by the compromised sound quality of lossy codecs? The price per megabyte isn't nearly so attractive for those that prefer lossless quality.

When MiniDisc was new (and expensive), manufacturers targeted audiophiles while the advertising emphasized custom mixes and sound quality (even though ATRAC is also lossy). With "MP3 players," the emphasis is usually on quantity, not quality. Being able to accomodate realtime filters like DFX might be a way to find some middle ground.

I realize that most consumers either tolerate or are unaware of the fidelity loss, hence the continued dominance of the now inferior MP3 format. Still, I think that in order for this market to grow more quickly, it should educate consumers about the options available to them with these devices: CD quality if you want it, or OGG (etc.) if you want more tracks per MB.

I wonder how many people are turned off of personal digital audio players by the compromised sound quality of lossy codecs? The price per megabyte isn't nearly so attractive for those that prefer lossless quality.

When MiniDisc was new (and expensive), manufacturers targeted audiophiles while the advertising emphasized custom mixes and sound quality (even though ATRAC is also lossy). With "MP3 players," the emphasis is usually on quantity, not quality. Being able to accomodate realtime filters like DFX might be a way to find some middle ground.

I realize that most consumers either tolerate or are unaware of the fidelity loss, hence the continued dominance of the now inferior MP3 format. Still, I think that in order for this market to grow more quickly, it should educate consumers about the options available to them with these devices: CD quality if you want it, or OGG (etc.) if you want more tracks per MB.

A 128kbs mp3 does not sound too bad if you put it though some good sound filters specificly for your speakers.. i use a dfx plugin does wonders for my system,

there's this program called DFX out already that is a plug-in for winamp, reaplayer, and sonique. You can easily adjust sliders in four sound-control areas: fidelity, ambience, 3d sound, and dynamic boost. finding the right combination is really easy, plus the program works very well. it filters the sound and makes it louder and clearer than normal. you can immediately hear the improvement. plus, it's free! (sort-of). anyways, it's really useful =)
-ryry

Really, the technology is sound (no pun intended), if not perfect. For streaming audio, DFX really sounds great. For 128-K MP3 files, the improvement is only noticeable on good sound systems or headphones. It sounds really good!

They threw in some other DSP's, such as 3-D sound, Dynamic Range enhancement, and Ambience. These extras tend to make low bitrate streams sound muddy and worsen the "underwater" effect, however. I tend to turn these off, and just use the "Fidelity" enhancement (which is worth the low price all by itself.)

The extra overhead on your CPU is not very much -- about half of what it takes to play an MP3 file.

Y'Know, Why don't they release a bunch of demo songs with things like this... and show us what all this "Supreme Drive" techno-stuff does? FYI, There is a nice program out there by DFX, if you didn't know. It's a plugin for Winamp and other players. This too will "take the missing harmonics -- known as 'fundamental' -- and mathematically re-processes the data through a sound generator to achieve a more natural sound". I like this one, it lets you change fidelity, ambience, level of 3d surround, and dynamic boost.