Review: DFX Audio
Iain Laskey has his socks metaphorically blown off by this MP3 processing tool.
| Product | DFX Audio (tested as v8.5, v9 now available) |
|---|---|
| Company | Power Technology |
| Web | www.fxsound.com |
| Price | $29.99 |
| We like | Breathtaking improvement to a wide range of music without sounding artificial, price, |
| We don't like | Doesn't seem to like live recordings |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements | Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista 32-bit or 64-bit operating system |
Now don't get me wrong, I love the flexibility and ease of use of MP3s and CDs but to an old school HiFi fan, they do all sound a little too clinical, lacking in personality. It's a constant disappointment every time I buy a new CD or collection of MP3s only to find the mastering has left the thing sounding totally uninvolving. To be honest, I'd pretty much given up on ever really enjoying music again.
Then one day, I was browsing the HiFi forum on CIX and someone mentioned some high end piece of wunder kit they'd been playing with and somewhere along the line, DFX Audio got mentioned as the savior of good music. I have to be honest, some of the good people in this forum can be a tad extreme (no, really, lifting the speaker cables off the floor on little trestles made a huge difference (no it didn't) so I do tend to take a lot of the discussion with a pinch of (audio) salt. This time though, the proponents were people whose opinions I had time for and to my surprise, several of them seemed to have discovered this piece of software and found it to be the bees knees so I thought I really had to try it.
It's a small piece of software that can be bought in versions for a variety of MP3 players such as Winamp, Microsoft Media Player, MusicMatch and several others. When you open your MP3 playing software of choice, it automatically fires up too and starts its magic.
There is a basic free version but you can opt for the 'Plus' version which adds support for headphones specific processing more processing power and a selection of useful presets for different types of music.
The processing configuration is performed via five basic parameters, fidelity, ambience, 3D surround, dynamic boost and the alarmingly named hyperbass. These are all adjusted via sliders. On top of these there are 3 basic modes of Music Type I (all the good stuff), Music Type II (high energy dance types) and speech.
So Does Work?
Before we go any further, I have to say that by and large, I'm no fan of digital signal processing. I've had a few surround sound amps over the years and the different processing modes usually sound pretty dire and fake once you deviate from the vanilla multi channel modes so I wasn't really expecting too much, a marginal tweak perhaps or at worst a horrible racket that sounded exciting to begin with then rapidly became wearing. (Note to music industry, stop over compressing music please!).
I connected my PC to the HiFi and started an MP3 playing - yep, sounds OK. It's high bit rate and well encoded so not too shabby. I then enabled DFX Audio. It's no exaggeration to say a grin spread from one ear to the other. It seemed like either my entire HiFi had been seriously up rated or the band themselves had taken residence in my front room. I'd read the manufacturers blurb talking about regenerating harmonic fidelity, reducing muffle, adding ambience and improving dynamics but that did not prepare me for the impact of enabling DFX Audio processing.
I tried a selection of MP3s and they all sounded so much better. I was transported back to my youth, every track was exciting, involving, I just wanted to sit there and really listen to it rather than just having it as background music. Impressed? You bet.
I then tried some of the presets and they were in the main impressive although some were a little too extreme for my tastes and didn't so much as enhance the music as just make it different.
Next up, it was headphone mode. Again, it was chalk and cheese. My headphones aren't too up market (£120) but not shabby either but again, it was like I'd just bought a new pair. The soundstage became airy and wide, the bass improved, became tighter and it was all to easy to forget you were listening through headphones.
The only downside I can report is that some live performances do seem to suffer slightly from the processing involved so for these, I'd switch off processing or at least drastically reduce it. For pretty much any other genre from classical to rock, pop and everything else in between, it produces a very tangible improvement.
Extras
As well as the basic (but still mightily impressive) stereo processing, the latest version, DFX Audio 9 adds some other nifty features. 5.1/7.1 multi channel audio support is now possible although I was unable to test this due to a lack of source material. You can also associate a particular preset with a particular song which could be useful if you have created your own finely tuned preset. To assist with your own settings, a spectrum analyzer can be called upon to show the effect of your tweaks.
If screen real estate is an issue you can select a more compact on-screen mode. Skins are also supported with a fair selection to choose from. Personally I was quite happy with the default though.
There is also a version for use with iPods and the like that actually changes the MP3s themselves. I'm not sure I like the idea of changing all my MP3s permanantly but it does solve a problem as you do need a PC in the audio chain to use DFX Audio.
Conclusion
I've now used DFX Audio for well over six months and have never looked back. I'm amazed I ever put up with the sound of MP3s before using this tweak. It has rejuvenated my music collection and increased my enjoyment of it in a way i could never have imagined. Against my expectations of aural sabotage, DFX Audio somehow manages to sound natural despite being completely different to the source material in many cases. For the sake of $30 or so, I would rank this as an essential purchase if you enjoy your music.
