XXHighEnd

Has anyone tried this? http://www.astoundsound.net/

It's just an expander but is the best I've heard and works with XX. Maybe you won't need it if your speakers are already highly efficient and it would just make them sound too distorted with too many artefacts, but for my system it really does seem to improve clarity (with some sacrifice to the soundstage).

If anyone can be bothered to give it a go please share with me what you think (especially the more technically minded who can understand what it is doing to the sound).

Happy Early Christmas all!

Hi Eastern

You probably won't get many replies to this, audiophiles being what they are (for the most part). But hey I'm an "enjoy the music no matter what" music/audiophile and an underfunded one to boot, so I'm always interested in new technology (particularly when reasonably priced) that relates to music and sound production.

Having said that, I'm always pretty leary of the new "answer." Nevertheless after a careful perusal of the website and a quick listen to the on site demo, Astound seems interesting and the people behind it knowledgeable. Unfortunately there's very little technical information available as to how it does it's thing and no details on how it affects high quality recordings and sound systems. It seems as if it's meant more for lesser quality computer audio and games (or at least that's what they're promoting), which of course doesn't mean it can't work for higher quality music/systems.

Since it auditioned free for thirty days I think I'll try it. If it turns out not to be good for high quality recordings, it may still have a useful affect on lesser ones. I'm particularly interested to see how it affects some of my older recordings that sound boxy and dense, great music that I don't listen to because the recording quality gets on my nerves.

What kind of music do you listen to, and what has Astound done for it that you like and/or don't like? What kind of audio system do you listen to?

My system is a mixed bag, a fairly high end front end and speakers but mid-fi amplification and basic cables. By the way, I think amplification makes very little difference. I've tried hi-end solid state, tube and compared them to a mid-fi receiver and found negligible, if any differences, certainly not worth the price of admission. And the mid-fi receiver has one option (not to mention all the dsp/eq stuff) that when engaged snapped a soundstage into place that the others couldn't come close to.

So I basically have that setup and a very simple hi-end amp that I use with XX (no pre-amp) and the speakers for a "keep it simple" comparison. I also believe in "keep it simple," which is what attracted me to XX. With the two setups I can always compare the very simple, to whatever Astound or other processor/dsp to keep me grounded, so to speak.

Now that you've read--if you've gotten this far, more than you wanted to, Happy Early Christmas to you too.

Chris

@Chris@Eastern

From audiophile or technical standpoint let me describe AstoundSound software for PC or Mac.  GenAudio uses a proprietary digital signal processing (DSP) technology, we call AstoundSound, to create what we term "4D audio". Many 3D audio solutions require specialized encode/decode hardware and/or multi-channel output through 4, 5, 6 or 7 speakers. In addition, most 3D audio solutions provide a 360-degree soundscape, but only on the horizontal plane of the speakers. AstoundSound provides a completely different approach. First, we require no specialized hardware. Our technology is software based. Second, we achieve the 4D experience from as few as 2 output channels (e.g. stereo speakers or headphones). Third not only do we provide a 360-degree soundscape in azimuth, but we also add elevation cues from 90-degrees above to 90-degrees below the  listening position. This creates a spherical soundscape, where the listener is in the center of the sphere. We say "4D" because we not only address azimuth, elevation, and distance, but we also address movement over time (time being the 4th  dimension). Our technology allows us to move sound sources anywhere within the spherical soundscape in real time.
 
Whether you like to just listen to iTunes, Pandora, or play online games or watch Netflix on your PC or Mac, it just gives your audio a kick.

Enjoy!

Kelly 

Recent Reviews
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1413/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/204580/enjoy_3d_sound_from_your_pc_with_astoundsound_expander.html?tk=rss_main

Hi thanks a lot for the reply. I have a few comments:

1. Astoundsound doesn't seem to work with upsamplers (or at least doesn't seem to play at higher than 44 sample rates). Is that something in the development pipeline?

2. I understand the Astoundsound's purpose but would you mind sharing a little more technical information on how it is done?

3. What is the difference between movie, music and gaming modes? How does the dsp differ in its treatment of the source in those modes?

I have been testing it on my system and am impressed with the improved clarity but with I think a lot of soundstaging gets lost (especially for high frequency instruments like the hi hat). I'm also not noticing any elevation.

Overall I think it's quite an interesting little plugin but, as I said, I think it introduces distortion (let me know if I'm wrong).

@Eastern

I appreciate the questions, but I personally can't speak intelligently to some of the technical aspects, nor can I give you the "recipe" of our favorite dish;-)  In regards to upsampling, I will forward your comments to our CTO and see if we have that coming down the pipe.  If you email me directly at knutsonk@genaudioinc.com I will put you on our beta list and we would love to have you test new releases.  This company has put 20+ years into R&D, doing years of fMRI scans (fancy way of analyzing how our brains interpret sound) and figuring out if there is a mathematical model we can construct that replicates the same human process to auditory stimuli to localize a sound source in 3 dimensions and we think we have it with AstoundSound.  This is a great application for the "common" user like myself (who just enjoys the enhanced audio), but there is "pro" aspect as well the addresses the hardcore audiophiles out there.

The Listen Modes (Music, Movies, Games) adjust the digital signal processing parameters in such a way as to make the expansion effect more appropriate for the given mode. For example, in Movie mode there is a slight increase in center channel gain and increase in %-Center Bypass. This results in a more prominent center channel, which is more appropriate for movies since dialog is generally in the center channel. Games mode on the other hand, has DSP settings that increase the localized side-signal. This results in an increased expansion effect, which is more appropriate for the sound effects typically found in gaming audio.