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I've been playing around with the Audio Xciter IPhone music DSP/player and it's fast becoming my favorite way to play music in the car.
I no longer have a stock Burmester system so I can't test it on one, but I do think it would significantly improve the listening experience on both the Burmester and even the Audio 20.
The DSP engine is licensed from Aphex, a company that makes pro studio processing gear. I'm not sure precisely how it accomplishes it, but music sounds fuller, richer, and the cabin of the car seems to triple in size. There's also a lot more power and volume available.
The app comes with three preset processing levels, Low, Medium, High, and a Custom if you upgrade the app ($2.99). The parameters are:
AE Tune
Harmonics
AE Mix
Drive
BB Tune
BB Mix
Here's what they do:
AE Tune allows you to pinpoint the mid/high frequencies you want to emphasize. Left to Right is low to high frequencies. You're not limited to the green bars. They're just guidelines, but adding in too much of anything is going to start to color the music. You want just enough for the effect to be able to make a difference and no more.
Harmonics adds back in some of the harmonics lost in digital music during compression. It's a subtle effect.
AE Mix determines how much of the frequencies you selected in AE Tune are introduced to the overall mix.
Drive gives the impression of more power.
BB Tune does the same thing for bass frequencies that AE Tune does for mids and highs, and BB Mix determines how much of BB Tune is introduced to the overall mix.
For most listeners, either the preset Low or Medium would probably get the job done. Once you've listened for awhile, Custom is best for fine tuning.
On COMAND, disable Surround. The app serves as a stereo expander itself and with the added Surround processing it's overkill. I'd also suggest taking the Midrange down to -10 on a stock Burmester as it's overly bright to begin with.
Downsides:
The UI looks ancient
The app will sometimes crash
If I could get a volunteer with the Burmester and one with an A20 I'd be interested in feedback.
Do you reckon that the songs will be overly processed? We have already processed the sounds through the DSP (Audison Prima) that we have installed in our cars. By using the app, the music will then be going through another round of processing?
My concern as well, but the app is doing the sort of processing the Prima isn't capable of (or designed to do).
They compliment each other. The Prima compensates for the deficiencies in the stock system, but the Prima plus the app is really something. I went ahead and retuned the Prima using the app as the source, although it really didn't differ much from my base tune.
I think for the stock Burmester it would make a huge difference in punch and ambiance.,
Like I said, shut down Surround though since those effects do conflict.
Actually I just remembered that I have a A20 loaner until tomorrow evening, so I will test both and post the results here. A20 is so hard to listen too after the Burmester (which isn't the best system) so I'm curious to see how much difference it would make.
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