Music on PPC

[rzanology]

For years now I've been using my ipaqs for music, and they never let me down. In fact, I had a few mp3 players and I always seem to go back to the ipaq because it always sound better to me. When hp included the built in treble and bass feature that was the most welcome feature they could have done to me. But...A friend of mine bought the archos ( that music, video, pic thing) and I decided to give it a try. I was heart broken :(. At first I could tell no difference aside from the fact it was a little louder. But when I went into options I saw a little setting called "bass boost" HOOOLY SH*T. I never knew music could sound like that coming out of headphones. It was a completely different sound, it wasn't like turning the bass slider all the way up in ppc, that's more like distortion. This was like a nice solid feel of the bass, and I could still hear every word clear. My question is...is this bass boost thing some kind of software trick? or is it a hardware thing? If its a hardware thing why isn't it in my $400 ipaq which is marketed towards media? And...Any chance that this bass boost will be in the 4700's?

[Brad Adrian]

I don't know just how the bass boost is accomplished, but have you tried Pocket MVP? http://users.adelphia.net/~mdukette/

It's a music and video player with a customizable equalizer. It might give you what you need.

[aliensub]

I don´t know the actual way they do it, but a known trick is to add subharmonics to the bass frequenzys. It´s a cheap trick to accomplish fatter bass (use it myself in recordings when everything goes fast and that bass guitar needs to be fatten up :) )

[rzanology]

I don't know just how the bass boost is accomplished, but have you tried Pocket MVP? http://users.adelphia.net/~mdukette/

It's a music and video player with a customizable equalizer. It might give you what you need.


Yup, i tried them all. For the most part tewaking the bass a little on the eq's on those apps just leads to nasty sounding results. I guess the only way you guys can understand what i am talking about, is to go out and listen to something on the archos. Maybe best buy or some where like that might have it on display. If you live in nyc, i know you can go down to J&R and ask the guys there to let ya play with it. It will blow your mind! Come on hp.... make me a happy person! BASS BOOST! BASS BOOST! BASS BOOST!!!!

[Kowalski]

selecting a good earphone could solve your problem.
i was using sony headphones. then i changed with philips sbc hs430.
now i say that i wasnt listening music befoure.

[Veggie_Musician]

My 4150 has a bass boost tick-box under the threble and bass slidders. When ticked the bass is incredible!

[milkman dan]

well well well. What you have on your hands here are three main differences in devices.

1)DAC(Digital-Analog-Converter) Your ipaq uses nothing but software to decode mp3's. The mp3 player on the other hand has a small IC that does that, and it does it much nicer. You probably can't tell the difference though, where as here is a worse problem.

2)Equalizer. When they designed your ipaq's equalizer, (the bass + treble boost) they designed it to enhance many different things, from movies to music to game sounds. When they designed the eq on the mp3 player, they made that sucker for one thing only, and that is music. That is a more noticable difference. Here is the kicker, which is what you will notice most

3)CLIPPING. That evil evil word. MP3 players usually have built in clip removing technology. When you crank the bass on your mp3 player, it will remove the "clips", which is the peak noises. there is basically an imaginary line drawn through the waveform that cuts anythign that is loud enough to distort. When you crank the bass on your ipaq, all it does is raise the volume on anything 20-60hz-ish. when you do it on your mp3 player, it clips anything that will distort, leaving a nice pure sound. But wait, there is a sollution to this problem! what you need is a

Headphone Amp :D these puppys basically take a sound signal, pass it through a much nicer EQ, then amplify it. you can get ****e ones like the boostaro, but I highly reccomend against those, as they pump out 40mw :( My headphones RMS wattage is 1200 mw, so those things couldn't light my headphones up for the life of them. Check ebay, and you can find alot of good ones. they also help battery life considerably. Go for one that pumps about .5W(500mw) and you will be good to go. If you really want, I can help you find one/send you reccomondations, just reply or send an email

[rzanology]

Nah its not the headphones. I just bought the new sonys that was reviewed on cnet. They sound nice.

But any who...U DA MAN MILKMAN!!!! Yea i'll send you a private message with my e-mail. Maybe we can get to the bottom of this. Do you think we'll ever see an ipaq geared more toward music?

[milkman dan]

as the years progress new technology becomes old technology which = cheap cheap cheap. Untill market research shows that this is a needed change, they will not bother as it means spending extra money where 99% of of the potential buyers wouldn't even notice it