When we attended the MacWorld 2000 Conference in New York one of the products that folks were buzzing about were at a booth that featured (the late lamented) Monsoon Planar speakers that were demonstrating a small translucent blue box called the SRS Wow Thing Box. The speakers were an ideal way to demonstrate not only the sound of the Monsoon’s ribbon transducers which radiated in front and back, but when they were attached to a computer running a popular computer game, the sound was a bit of a shock for such small speakers. With pulsing bass, and an incredibly wide sound stage, we kept looking for surround sound speakers. When the booth demonstrator encouraged us to push a button on and off on the WOW Thing Box, suddenly the sound was flat, two dimensional, and while accurate, it paled in comparison to the excitement generated when the SRS WOW Thing Box was turned on. So, in the name of psychoacoustic research, we were forced to listen to more music, play more computer games, and listen to the effect of that little blue box!
SRS (short for Sound Retrieval System) as we know it began in 1985 as a creation of Hughes Aircraft. The technology came out of audio research, and Hughes’ interest in the research was intended originally for entertainment systems to be used in aeronautical applications, but in 1993 when Hughes divested many of its divisions, SRS broke away as an independent company that is now publicly traded. Over the past decade, it’s hard to find a flat-screen TV without the SRS logo. The technology is embedded in a wide range of consumer products including phones, entertainment systems, automobiles, and more. When I met with members of the team at last year’s CES, I mentioned that I had met with Vizio to understand how audio was being handled by the new generation of ultra-thin screens, and noticed that SRS technology was included in their feature set. The answer was that it was a way to combat the laws of physics to create an audio experience that normally couldn’t come from the components in use. The key was the impossible task to make a tiny, almost flat, little speaker that fit into the incredibly thin profile of modern flat screen TVs sound ok. Conventional wisdom holds that if you want to have strong bass, you need a piston capable of moving a lot of air, which usually means a larger, full-range speaker, and possibly a dedicated woofer or sub-woofer for believable bass.
This is great in theory, but most folks want the thin profile for their new sets also expect decent or at least usable audio on their TVs. To solve this dilemma a wide-range of manufacturers call SRS to rescue them. It turns out that the same technology that transformed those small computer speakers into an immersive gaming experience can also accomplish the same magic and make the audio experience from those little speakers in a flat screen reasonable and useful, even in a fairly large sized family room.
SRS iWOW™ Premium plug-in for iTunes
Several years ago they SRS introduced an SRS iWOW™ Premium plug-in for iTunes that offered some of the same effects, along with adjustments to your own taste and flavor. Unfortunately some of the OS changes Apple introduced caused software compatibility problems with the plug-in, and it seemed for a while that SRS had abandoned it. It turns out that the reports of its death were premature as you can get the latest version on the Mac and the PC. If you have version of iTunes 6 on either the Mac OS or Windows XP or 7 you are good to go. We found ourselves constantly playing with the software, tweaking the settings, with no problems on our systems.
As we go to press two new versions, SRS MyTunes Pro HD for the iPad, and MyTunes Pro for iPhone and iPod have just been introduced, available on the app store and iTunes. The new versions offer a slew of features including an adjustable 10-band EQ with presets or a simple 3-knob tone control, presets for different output devices, different modes including workout, driving, and party modes. Two features stand out to me, Speed Control allowing one to speed up or slow down content without impacting the pitch, a great option for podcasts or audio books. The oher feature is compatibility with Apple Airplay that maintains a lossless audio path to Airplay enabled devices for superior audio.
SRS iWOW 3D™ Audio Adaptor
Another approach is to pick up their cool little SRS iWOW! adapter that plugs into the dock on any iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad. Just plug your headphones or speakers into the adapters mini-jack, and you have SRS iWOW! on your portable device as well. While you have to purchase a license for the software only version, but if you have the adapter unit, the app is free from the App store, and all you need to do it hit the little white button, and away you go, instant intense audio. To be fair, this isn’t aimed at the audiophile purist, and we think it works best with rock and roll and gaming, but we found that jazz and even classical titles pulsed with a new energy. We did find that we wished for more control over the high end, and when used with an iPod we turned off the option for expanded treble, but that didn’t seem to bother any of the kids we tried it on. Since the adapter is both a D/A (Digital to Analog) converter as well as headphone amp, I’m not sure if this in itself improves upon the stock hardware. According to SRS it is an improvement over the stock D/A converter, but in case you are wondering if this is an inexpensive way to add an outboard D/A converter, the answer is no. The hardware is only active with SRS engaged, and if it is turned off it merely passes the signal from your stock audio circuitry. With the rise in affordable external D/A headphone amplifiers, maybe SRS will consider adding this capability.
If you are a gamer or music lover interested in adding punch and intensity to your audio experience, we think you would have a great time using the SRS iWOW™ Premium plug-in for iTunes or the SRS iWOW 3D™ Audio Adaptor.
Harris Fogel & Nancy Burlan, posted 4/4/2012
For more information on SRS Labs visit: www.srslabs.com
