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MP3 builder expands surround sound
The Fraunhofer Institute has unveiled version two of MP3 Surround adding two new elements at the CES technology show in Las Vegas. MP3 SX (MP3 Stereo eXtended) enables the enhancement of MP3 stereo files for multi-channel playback while Ensonido provides portable MP3 Surround sound using stereo headphones.
Providing bit rates comparable to those currently used to encode stereo MP3s, MP3 Surround enables surround sound is also backwards compatible so that an MP3-compatible device will play MP3 Surround as high quality stereo.
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User Comments (14)
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exscind
on January 4, 2006 7:20 PM |
Certainly an interesting topic. I had to learn about sound, waves and frequency in my Physics class, so I know a bit about this. MP3 essentially compresses sound at certain frequencies to save space - which is why MP3 takes up less space than WMV format. But to negate this compression, to some degree, MP3 SX attempts to add new elements in in hopes of "patching" up the compressions taken place by the MP3 format. I wonder how much efficiency this new MP3 SX can do, as softwares (and hardware) of the Creative Labs X-Fi series have already taken the sound quality up another notch. |
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PUTALE
on January 4, 2006 10:25 PM |
I thought it's been in talk for like a few years already. I have not seen the real stuff in the market or any software codec for it. I wonder if this is real, would all of our mp3 players, such as ipod and such can support it by simply update teh sfotware. |
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rahuls
on January 4, 2006 11:21 PM |
Having it supported for iPod would help it spread in the market more rapidly |
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MonkeyMan
on January 4, 2006 11:22 PM |
Well, this year will be a technological year, so you guys are going to see some great new technologies. As for sound, I love my surround sound speakers, especially when playing PC games, because it makes you feel as though you are right in the center of the action. This MP3 SX is a great addition to home entertainment, and sound in general. Improving the sound for anything, is always a plus in my book. |
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zachig
on January 5, 2006 12:57 AM |
WOW. That's really awesome. Now I guess we'll just have to wait a see which mp3 players will support it, or at least who will be the first and when? |
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luvhuffer
on January 5, 2006 3:50 AM |
The thing that interests me is the fact that my existing mp3 files can be modified by attaching the enhancements as side information, thereby not affecting thhe quality of the sound or the compression. The thing that bums me out about it, is thinking about how long it would take to redo my 19,000 mp3 files. |
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cyrax
on January 5, 2006 6:56 AM |
The quality of these sound definately make stuff from itunes seem to increase alot more in value. I gotta get me an ipod! |
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asphix
on January 5, 2006 7:10 AM |
This is EXCELLENT news. I'm a bit of an audiophile and am working on a very expensive surround sound system for my livingroom. Now with my x360 it makes it easy to set up my computer as a music server and stream the content over to my living room.The only thing that was lacking was surround sound music for my mp3 playback. This will be a fun thing to play around with, and for certain with 5 and 7 multimedia speaker setups becoming very popular and affordable it will surely take off!personally, I'm quite partial to APE encoding, and wish that would take over as the digital music medium since the sound quality is so much better. I'm interested to see if something will come along and replace mp3 as our bandwith restrictions are eased away to larger thresholds. |
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Mictlantecuhtli
on January 5, 2006 8:22 AM |
[b]Originally posted by asphix:[/b][quote]The only thing that was lacking was surround sound music for my mp3 playback.[/quote]Ogg Vorbis has had multichannel support for years.[quote]personally, I'm quite partial to APE encoding, and wish that would take over as the digital music medium since the sound quality is so much better. I'm interested to see if something will come along and replace mp3 as our bandwith restrictions are eased away to larger thresholds.[/quote]There are a lot of DTS-encoded music CDs and DVDs, in addition to DVD-Audio. I don't think APE or FLAC will be popular enough to get hardware support from big manufacturers. Apple has their own lossless codec which supports multichannel audio, too. |
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asphix
on January 5, 2006 9:00 AM |
Cool, thanks for the information! I have used Ogg before but its hardly as simple and integrated as mp3. Though APE wasnt either.. but I really enjoyed the increased sound quality provided by that format.The downside to the DTS enabled disc formats is that you need to purchase hardware to enjoy them. mp3 surround capabilites will require no hardware upgrades for the majority of people and be offered in a way that will be user friendly. |
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mtyson8
on January 5, 2006 1:09 PM |
THis is excellent news for me. I am an audiophile, everything of mine has to be of best quality, otherwise I wont even use it. All my speakers are Bose, all DVD players are DTS, DVD-Audio, and DD 5.1Ch. In my PC is SB Audigy 2 ZS, Great THX Speakers. I actually currently change regular MP3s to stellar sound. Im all about great sampling frequency, and bit-rate. Ill be the first to use and pay for this technology. |
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otmakus
on January 5, 2006 1:14 PM |
[b]Originally posted by luvhuffer:[/b][quote]The thing that interests me is the fact that my existing mp3 files can be modified by attaching the enhancements as side information, thereby not affecting thhe quality of the sound or the compression. The thing that bums me out about it, is thinking about how long it would take to redo my 19,000 mp3 files.[/quote]That's one hell of a collection of mp3 files. And how many of them did u actually spend money to get? Not much, I guess. Beware the RIAA, they will sue u to ur last penny if they know where u live. |
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mentaljedi
on January 6, 2006 11:50 AM |
[b]Originally posted by MonkeyMan:[/b][quote]Well, this year will be a technological year, so you guys are going to see some great new technologies. As for sound, I love my surround sound speakers, especially when playing PC games, because it makes you feel as though you are right in the center of the action. This MP3 SX is a great addition to home entertainment, and sound in general. Improving the sound for anything, is always a plus in my book.[/quote]You know Monkeyman, thats exactly what i thought when read the article. With the likes of Vista and duel-core, and yonah, the revolution, PS3 etc... this is going to be good. In accordane to the article, i would like to see this become widely available soon, as an improvment in sound is great for me. (I'm hard-of-hearing you see) |
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Jesse_hz
on January 9, 2006 8:43 AM |
Why the hell would anyone want to use an inefficient audio format for surround sound?? |
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