Listen to music regularly on your PC?

[DaveUK]

I know this isn't a 'hardware' recommendation, its a software one, but in the absence of a 'Sound' section in the hardware boards I thought it would be best here.

I've used this for years now, if you listen to music regularly on your PC it will be the best $29 you've spent in a long time, I promise you.

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/media/ozone.html

It's basically remastering your music on the fly to suit your equipment and ears. We're talking Valve Equalizer, Tube Bass Compression, Room Simulation. Analogue Modelling, Stereo Widening, Tube Amplifier/Saturation/Limiting.

No I dont work for them, No they don't pay me, No I'm not a fanboy. This is just an honest recommendation from a musician, ex-sound technician, and music lover!

Oh, and if you are thinking 'I've tried all DSP plugins and they suck', think again. I've tried them all, and they all make music sound crap/worse, EXCEPT this one. If you have a musical head and like to tweak, its cool.

Oh, and the 'Genre - Rock, Aggressive' plugin is my favourite - strangely for all kinds of music lol.

 

[astrallite]

Sounds interesting. The design is a bit flaired compared perhaps for some that might prefer minimalism.

Foobar is free and ain't bad either, the crossfeed and tube DSPs are pretty decent in particular.

 

[mesarectifier]

Hmm, I know Izotope do pretty good software - but I always stay away from all 'Tube simulation' things.

In the world of instrument amplification we have a huge array of simulated digital gear (as I'm sure you already know) and none of it even comes close. So, I'm interested, but 95% sure that it's not even 5% of what it tries to be.

 

[commanderspockep]

It's basically remastering your music on the fly to suit your equipment and ears. We're talking Valve Equalizer, Tube Bass Compression, Room Simulation. Analogue Modelling, Stereo Widening, Tube Amplifier/Saturation/Limiting.

If I really wanted that I'll just run an optical cable from my sound card to my stereo equipment and run it through a real equalizer. Or I could even play my mp3's from a CD-RW. Or there are plenty of other things I could do as well. Not worth $29...not even close. It can't be that much better than what's already available for free....it's software.

And the fact that it's software that claims to "simulate" a tube listening experience. Come on....it took transistors years to equal the quality of tubes. (OK, some would argue it's still not as good.) Don't tell me software can do the same overnight.

I also don't like the fact it says its "remastering" my music. My Elton John discs were already remastered by Gus Dudgeon using real hardware thank you very much.

 

[halcyon]

Good stuff. I'll definately do more research. Having cleansed myself of the Bose, I may even be able to afford it. So, I need to check out Foobar and Ozone. ...got a little bonus and ordered the Grado SR325i's. ...still enough left over for some smallish audio joys.

Thanks Dave.

Edit: I read the info on the link you've provided. I'm not sure it'll work with iTunes, my media player. :?

 

[DaveUK]

commanderspock I feel thats a bit abrasive seeing as you missed the point entirely... the Ozone plugin is designed to enhance the audio to fit the room and gear you are listening to it on - much like a good recording engineer would do in a live performance... and therefore helps you bridge the gap between what was intended on the recording and what reaches your ears to sound 'good'. It certainly isn't undoing what was done on the original recording.

And no, its not like running a line/digital output into a simple EQ unit... what a daft suggestion. Almost as daft as the analogy about MP3's and CD-RW. Wtf?

I do wish people would try things before knocking it...

If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happier?

All I'm saying is this. I've listened to, played, and recorded ALOT of music. I know what makes my ears happy, so this is an honest recommendation for some software that would probably surprise some of you.

 

[commanderspockep]

Sorry if I missed the point DaveUK. I didn't mean to sound abrasive. Party on.

 

[halcyon]

I've never had the opportunity to listen to any valve amplifiers and have not listened to any simulations of such. It's unfortunate that Ozone doona work with iTunes.

 

[mesarectifier]

Totally off subject, but Halcyon I never knew DiMarzio made Hi-Fi cable. How are they?

I've never been a huge fan of their guitar pickups but they've always made a high-quality product.

 

[halcyon]

Totally off subject, but Halcyon I never knew DiMarzio made Hi-Fi cable. How are they?

I've never been a huge fan of their guitar pickups but they've always made a high-quality product.

The're definately hiqh-quality. I didn't want a transparent cable, I wanted an invisible cable. LOL. When using the Firestone setup with the DiMarzio's the sound is crystal clear with a lot of impact, details are really discernable. Compared to my 1 meter pair of Monster Cable Interlink 400's the sound is only slighter richer with maybe a little more depth, but I hear more of a difference when I compare them to the 2 meter pair of Monster Cable Interlink 300's. It sounds like there was a thin layer of cloth over the headphones with the I300's where as with the DiMarzio's someone removed that cloth and turned the volume up just slightly. A difference definately, but I'm not really sure it's a $130 difference. I'm not sure I'd pay $150 for the M-Path's again, I'd prolly just get the $90 regular pair of DiMarzio interconnects. My FireStone rig (that I love) probably doesn't have enough resolution for them to shine further.

At least I feel like a spent my $$ on a really good, short pair, of cables.