[darkpen]

Hi Head-Fiers,

Sorry to bug you all with this, but I came across this gadget on Kickstarter and was curious about it. As someone who enjoys detail out of my speakers and headphones, and being able to pick out tiny things, I was intrigued.

Of course, you can't make cheap cans sound like $1,000 Senns, so I'm mostly trying to figure out what this thing actually does (especially as it's quite vague):

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1902839331/hear-everything-metm-changes-music-forever?ref=discovery

Am I right in assuming that it's just an overhyped compressor, or is there actually a potentially cool product in here? The reason I suspect a compressor is that the description reminds me of how I felt when I was first getting into recording music and playing around with my friend's Cubase setup. I had just discovered the compressor and was amazed at how much "detail" you could pull out of any track, and started putting it on everything, unaware at the time of what the actual effect actually did.

Thanks for the input!

 

[evanatch]

My first thought is that it probably has some sort of amplifier component, given that they say it makes music louder. It'd be easy for them to throw in some sort of V-shaped equalizer as well to make whatever they're plugged into sound more "fun." I haven't messed with compression so I don't know what that would do, but you could be onto something there.

In any case, there isn't really a mechanism by which this could really add anything to the signal - seems like it's a very non-adjustable amplifier at best, and there's probably all sorts of worst things it could be.

I like that the axis for their comparison chart was "Good, Best, Best, WOW."

 

[darkpen]

Hmm... Could be. I didn't think of EQ. You know, if it was something adjustable like a dynamic EQ that varied according to the source, or something like an EQ that would, based on profiles of headphones or speakers, adjust the source to produce a flat output (or a curve according to your preference), it could be really interesting.

Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it's all kinds of wrong.

I remembered something even worse than compressing everything (oh, the shameful past) that could be related to this as well:

Back in the 90s, I had a copy of Cool Edit (I think that's the name, was a wave editor like Audacity but with a multitrack module). I used to take MP3s downloaded off of Napster and those other services and run them through the Loudness filter. That was also essentially a compressor, with the added bonus of boosting everything as close to -0.01 as possible without clipping (I think it really just had a limiter as well).

So yep, I used to take lossy, crappily encoded files and boosted the loudness even more so I could try to make cheap button earphones sound somewhat better. :confused_face(1): Ugh.

Anyway, point is that it also boosted "hidden details", which at the time didn't know could be achieved much better with quality gear. Not that I could have afforded any of "the hobby" back then, but it seems shameful that someone could be using my old, uninformed technique.

(One good thing that came out of it and eventually finally put me on the right track, I hated that these things obliterated the distinction between soft and loud parts of music, both in classical and in stuff like early Sabbath)

 

[Cerastes]

... considering other videos about the same product, it seems to be some kind of a sound stage enhancer (hall / reverb FX etc) similar to what some audio players already have. Already using a VPT preset called "studio" on my Sony A15 + XB500 and sure it sounds a bit better than without the "audio expander FX".
 
Hard to judge unless you can hear the effect yourself. Sometimes it sounds great, sometimes it's just artificial and horrible.

 

[pixelwitch]

I'd guess this is either a scam and the product doesn't exist, or it just doesn't do anything you can't already achieve via software dsp plugins anyway.
The graph is the primary indicator of this, it's literally meaningless, and given the CEO is an audio engineer I'd expect to have at least some information about what it's doing beyond "It makes it sound wow!" That level of vagueness couldn't just be explained by wanting to conceal proprietary tech.

 

[Dulalala]

"The m.e.™ features proprietary technology that enhances audio allowing you to hear every instrument, voice and sound. It is not a simple bass booster like many products out on the market. It’s way more." quoted from the kickstarter page
 
I'd assume it's an EQ since they're comparing it to a bass booster.

 

[reginalb]

  "The m.e.™ features proprietary technology that enhances audio allowing you to hear every instrument, voice and sound. It is not a simple bass booster like many products out on the market. It’s way more." quoted from the kickstarter page
 
I'd assume it's an EQ since they're comparing it to a bass booster.

 
Sounds kind of like compression to me. Bringing up the quiet content so that you can hear it more. 
 
That has me thinking, lossy compression works by chopping out sounds that are masked by nearby and louder sounds. If there is something that boosts the quieter sounds that would be otherwise masked, would such compression make it easier (or possible) to hear the difference between lossy and lossless files?

 

[darkpen]

That'll teach me to browse Kickstarter.

The lack of details is definitely a big red flag, but it could also be a patent pending process (though I didn't see anything about that), a process they don't want to/can't patent (for a variety of reasons), or so basic/snake oil they don't want to potentially lose sales and just go for hype.

I'm thinking the latter so far but figured I'd bring it up out of sheer curiosity...

 

[castleofargh]

yeah it's impossible to guess what it does, I would indeed feel inclined to think it's a compressor, maybe more?. I don't believe a compressor setting can be good for all musics, so I hope for the backers it's more than that. the total lack of actual information even if it's only 50$ certainly isn't reassuring.
 
anyway, "only silly people get into those kickstarter stuff"  said castleofargh after backing up the wave NX thing, and the smyth realiser one this week alone ^_^.

 

[darkpen]

yeah it's impossible to guess what it does, I would indeed feel inclined to think it's a compressor, maybe more?. I don't believe a compressor setting can be good for all musics, so I hope for the backers it's more than that. the total lack of actual information even if it's only 50$ certainly isn't reassuring.

anyway, "only silly people get into those kickstarter stuff"  said castleofargh after backing up the wave NX thing, and the smyth realiser one this week alone ^_^.

I saw the Realiser in my browsing, tried to figure out a use for it, couldn't and moved on.

I like some stuff on there, but yeah, it's a gamble.