Acoustic & Down-to-earth audio experience
352250
I love this Adele music CD as it is her first and very folk bluesy acoustic like. The start of a fabulous career!
936956
The sound is amazing, hooked it into my PC and added the digital hookup to my Onkyo TX-SR-505 A/V amp/receiver and wow!  This audio card and speakers are outstanding.  True DTS HD audio and digital to boot.  Installation was a breeze, didn't even have to do any hard labor.  Caution though make sure you have at least 500 watt power supply, mine is 525 watts.  Creative comes with the software to make many adjustments that make listening to music (my thing) or video gaming worth it.  I did not use the microphone input but those that do video talk and such will like that feature.  One small thing; the surround speaker wires could be longer like they were with the 4.1 Creative system but you will not be disappointed with this equipment.  Individual volume control included.  You will need your own optical input cable for your amp/receiver to get the digital hookup.  This is worth it at the price when so much "junk" is coming out of China these days; my apologies, you can't go wrong with this one.  Buy, you won't be disappointed.  Oh, Amazon ships this equipment in a very, very tight protective package.
4847979
We live, and record our podcast from aboard our sailboad, in Florida. To say that electronics take their tole in the salt air environment, is an understatement.

I was a little hesitant at first, due to only having two micro inputs; one for mic, and one for Aux in.

Ive had several high end units through the years, and this little thing gives them all a run for their money, at a much more affordable price.

If you want to hear what it sounds like, give a listen at: AmazingLiving.net. Or look us up in iTunes or your favorite pod-catcher; Amazing Living with Dawn & Lucky
3546970
Amazing audio quality. Easy to setup.  Compact.
2324055
I'll be honest: I wanted this as soon as I found out about it's development. Knowing who developed it, and how it was directed was impressive. Onkyo I personally have known of since the 1980's, and know them to produce quality audio equipment.  The development story behind it's from inception, to testing, and back to the lab and further development meant a lot.  I'd thought about the other audio headphones, but never really had a need. Until last few years, doing more travelling via bus & plane, I HATE earbuds, they're so uncomfortable. And I honestly haven't had a set of headphones since the early 80's when we all had cassette "Walkmans" and those were small and "tinny" sounding.

These are quite comfortable, and sit on the ear and head comfortably. I absolutely love the cloth-insulated cord, the woven blue color too. But I'm counting on the connection between the cord & the plug housing to last essentially forever!  It's NOT the moulded type housing you see with other cords. It's long, as a headphone set should be, and comes with a 1/4" adapter too for the larger phono-jacks you may have.

The sound is crystal clear. No distortion, full-bodied sound, and using the Maiden Audio app, give me good control over equalization. And NOT JUST preset frequencies. You get to put your finger over ANY frequency and adjust it!  Plus you get each band members preset EQ options. I'm partial to Adrian, and I've played his licks for years, but Harris' EQ settings are great as well.

I'd decided to splurge, and blow some extra $$$ on these, knowing (from many reviews) that other good quality headsets are out there. But I am a fan of the band, and am not a fanatical collector of their stuff, but I though this'd be cool to have, and I'll use it.  I already have quite a bit, in the two weeks I've had the set.
3462880
OK, seriously? $40 for this awesome piece of hardware? It sounds friggin' amazing! Make sure you go into your audio properties and enable the effects / surround sound and make changes to the options to suit your needs. Amazing buy, worth the money for sure. I highly recommend it.
4824371
Spread the speakers & put powered sub woofer  on the floor and get ready to be amazed at the great sounds you're going to hear ! I've mine connected to just my laptop and my neighbors hate / love it at the same time . Please turn it down and where did I get it because it's crystal clear sounding ! It is so easy to set up and within 10 minutes you'll be enjoying your new Acoustic Audio System ! Also plugs into your TV and the great thing about this system is that you can set the speakers all the way up to 30 . Adjust the sub woofer push of a button as same as front speakers / center speakers and surround speakers . I've had other speaker systems bought here on Amazon but I always blow up the sub woofer . I use DFX Enhancing sound software to boost audio and this system handles it without any problems . Thanks to the manufacturer for a superb system !
3088883
I do a live oldies Internet radio show. Audio quality and reliability are super important to the show's audience. Recently, I upgraded to the Tascam US-366 from the TASCAM US-100 as an audio interface and D/A converter for the show.

Prior to putting the US-366 on the air, I had run performance measurements of the US-366 on a professional audio test system. It's characteristics were marvelous! Extremely low noise, very low THD and a great frequency response. For the technically inclined here are measurements made on the unit--these were not taken from the manufacturer's specifications:

Measurements:

*  Noise: -106 db
*  THD : 0.04%  @ 0.5 db below clipping
*  Freq response: -0.7 db @ 5 Hz, -0.2db @ 20 Hz, + 0.6 db @ 20KHz. (Flat between the top end and bottom end. However, the top end has a rise and sharp fall off making it possible to the hear the anti-alaising filters under certain applications.)

After I got a chance to tweak the equalizer and the levels, the audio from the Tascam US-366 sounded rather decent on the over the air feed. To my ears the US-366 gave a smoother, last harsh sound as compared to my older US-100. I also liked the ability to adjust the two channel levels independently.

The unit supports a switchable line/guitar input, and a nice touch--a S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format.) There is selectable sample clock source (automatic or internal) and 24-bit support (very nice indeed!) Multi-track as well stereo is supported making this a decent mixer. And the software (and hardware as well) is fully compatible with PCs and Macs. Nothing is left off the Mac version as is often the case. Nice going TASCAM!

There were issues with the TASCAM drivers which didn't load properly on Windows XP. The driver locked up the computer after installation and reboot until we unplugged the device.

The installed software is quite good. It includes  a very nice mixer and EQ/compressor both on separate tabs.

Besides being a nice looker, the TASCAM US-366 is quite the looker. It has a very nice finish. However, I wish that I could mount it vertically so that I can see the LEDs (particularly the clipping LED) a bit better--that's a definite nit! Overall this is one terrific USB audio interface.
2968547
This is a short review for the Cowon M2 player.  It is important to remember that the best audio listening experience can be achieved if you have beautifully recorded audio file as a source, high-quality audio DSP software, good DAC and, of course, one of the best headphones to accommodate your portable DAP. My current personal choice are the KRK KNS-8400 studio monitor headphones which are unbelievably good match to Cowons capabilities.
My audio library includes mostly not Hi Res FLAC, APE and MP3 formatted files and all of them are played on the Cowon M2. The high-quality audio DSP called JetEffect BBE+ on Cowon players made them terrific, fantastic sounding DAPs. While it may not be for everyone: non-tweakers/purists which wants everything flat and neutral with no equalizers and no DSP applied, for example. I think, most people will try it and be positively surprised by added new level of joy and pleasure dimensions to the audio presentation. And get addicted quickly. I did.
The JetEffect BBE+ on Cowon players adds:
1. Bolder, more musical, less analytical sound;
2. Specious multilayered sound field with better special location/separation of individual instruments and voices, with independent full range dynamics;
3. Lifelike sensuality added to human voices;
4. Bonus  almost unlimited tune-ability to your equipment and current mood set. It is the tweakers paradise audio world.
M2 sounds better than my Cowon  jAudio7. I prefer it to my Samsung Galaxy SIII with jetAudio Plus app (with JetEffect BBE+ module) and BBE SonicMax Pro app tested at acoustically approximately identical adjustment levels. Definitely, it is the five stars audio performer. If you are to a new joy and pleasure from listening to your favorite music, may be, this player is for you.
M2 GUI it is a different story. I want to play my music from folders on the player not the album arts as it is now.  The Cowon, after decades in the DAP business, was able to mix primitively designed, poorly implemented (software calibrated) static GUI on low resolution resistive touch screen, with multileveled quest game stile control/visualization philosophy. If you are a new user, be prepare to spend at least two weeks before you will be barely able to navigate it. My personal opinion is that Cowon jAudio7 GUI is superior to M2 GUI. I do not like M2 GUI at all, but I can navigate it.
3584394
Get the Tascam a/c adapter and some decent headphones along with it.
Its worth every penny!
2305053
If you've only had iPod quality earbuds and midrange speakers like me, these will change the way you listen to music. The sound is warm, clear, distinct and enveloping. With the Beyerdynamic Earpads, they feel like a fleece for your face. The long, telephone style cable is excellent for fiddling, although it is a little bit of a pain to tuck it away if you're going for a walk. Which you really shouldn't be doing anyway because this sound is so enveloping that you won't be aware of a mugger until they have your money.

I guess the looks could be a downside for some people, but I get a bigger thrill from seeing professionals use my headphones than having them be clear of text, snazzily designed and a pretty color. Also, at least for me, you can't really comfortably sling them around your neck for a minute when someone's talking to you, you have to just take them off.
4343889
I did find it for a better price at my local Micro Center store

I recently purchased the Bose Companion 20 multimedia computer speakers and I've had them long enough to know what they are capable of reproducing from my HP laptop's headphone jack. Audio from movies and videos of TV programs I watch sounded good and the audio from the commercials especially were great. All except my music, mostly Rock, Pop, R&B and Smooth Jazz from the 70's, 80's & 90's. Much of the music lacked fidelity and the bass was muddy and undefined. I recently started to re-digitized my CD collection with Winamp in FLAC, which was an improvement.

I figured that the DAC in the laptop maybe sub par, so I purchased the Sound Blaster X-Fi HD USB sound card. First I noticed that the bass was well defined, having more of a bounce than a muffled thump. The highs were much better, Gerald Albright's sax screams in his rendition of "So Amazing" and I also notice that background instruments like cymbals, chimes and conga drums appeared better defined. But most of all, the fidelity of the sound was better at lower volumes, I didn't have to crank the volume to hear all the instruments, much to the delight of my neighbors. After all their amplified computer speakers.

Improved reproduction of 160kbps wma from Rhapsody and 256kbps purchased mp3.

The software installed without problem, the Creative Entertainment Console most useful feature is the THX TruStudio PC which offers dynamic shaping of the sound.

The sound card does crash when I insert my Seagate external hard drive, sound jumps to the internal speaker, don't know what's up with that.

The Sound Blaster X-Fi HD has a noticeable better frequency response. I'm not a audiophile, but I have been listening too the same music for decades as records, CD's then mp3's across different systems. With better sound reproduction comes the realization that some albums were not mixed very well, especially audio quality downgrades by mp3s and portable devices. I now appreciate the digital remastered versions of music I like, they pull out the sounds that only a high end system could reproduce.

Pro: Sleek design, great audio reproduction, good controls
Con: The audio improvement in not dramatic, does takes some time to appreciate. You have to know your music.

Would recommend to a friend
2153757
I read about these online, and had a friend tell me over and over again that I had to buy them. She was right. If you're listening to music, the soundscape is astonishing. There are many more technical reviews out there, but I'll just say that for me, this is undreamt of audio.
2994017
The more I listen to these speakers the more I like them.  I've used the Altec ACS30 system for several years, and it produces very clean, satisfactory 2.1 sound.  When I realized I was spending way more time listening to music at my pc desk than through my living room stereo, I decided to seek something a bit closer to an audiophile-grade set-up.  When I first heard these Logitechs I wondered about the midrange issues mentioned in several reviews here -- these speakers didn't seem as bright as the ACS30's out of the box.  But I soon began to notice new layers of sound and musicality in the mp3 collection stored on my hard drive, as if these speakers had opened up a wider tonal range rather than just a more insistent midrange.  Within a couple of days I realized my onboard AC97 audio wasn't quite adequate any more, that these speakers really showed up the limitations of onboard audio.  Therefore, keeping with my goal of a truly hi-fi listening experience, I've ordered the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music card and I'm eager to hear the result.  But these speakers by themselves will make you hear your digital music collection with new vitality and subtlety.  I don't play PC games -- just music, so this 2.1 system is perfect for my needs.  I was happy with the Altecs, thrilled with the Logitechs.
4720023
I wasn't expecting much - but this little thing won me over.  The sound is remarkably clear and dynamic.  Obviously there must be some sonic compromises in a device that is barely bigger than a glasses case with two drivers the size of quarters - but the sins are of omission.  Bass is suggested, rather than visceral, and your head can't be more than a couple of feet away if you want stereo imaging.  Maximum audio volume is also appropriate to near field (1-3 feet) rather than filling a room.  Yet, to be honest, we've used this to provide casual background tunes in hotel rooms while traveling.  Never in the last year has this thing embarrassed itself.  It doesn't buzz or distort or otherwise behave like something that is so very very cheap.

The unit is built for portability:  self contained, carrying sock included.  Lots of extras are included for the price too:  Cables for hookup to iPod/portable/PC and a non-charging passive iPod stand.  It can be powered by an included wall-wart or via 4 AAAs.  Amazing value for the price.  Ours lives in front of the computer and is alternately plugged into the iPod or the PC.  It does just fine on both and is certainly recommended.
1205573
PROS
1. Exceptional audio fidelity
> You can hear the difference wired or wireless (iPhone 6S used for comparison with High Resolution Music Player)
> Adjustable Bluetooth connection settings allows the highest quality sound over BT driven by your listening devices Bluetooth profile support
> Tested using music encoded in MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, and DSD with playback using MDR-1RBT, MDR-1ADAC, and in-car using BMW i Drive
> For lossy MP3 and AAC audio, the DSEE HX makes a noticeable improvement in higher frequencies

2. Build Quality is excellent
> Feels solid and looks great

3. Battery life is outstanding
> A weeks listening without recharge is easily achieved (4 hrs/day)

4. Tremendous Storage Capacity
> 128GB internal
> 128GB Micro SDXC
> Fast transfer

5. Media Go application facilitates straightforward management of your music library from multiple sources (Windows OS only)
> Finds music in your local iTunes library as well as in network locations if you provide the path
> Tracks which files have been synced so you can always tell what's not on your device

CONS
1. Proprietary connector requires Walkman cable in order to charge and transfer files
2. Screen looks good but viewing angle will affect readability
3. Dynamic Normalizer did not seem to balance recorded audio levels from recording to recording
4. Would like to see a case and screen protector included. I don't believe drops would be very kind to the pretty metal enclosure

Summary
This is an excellent portable audio device delivering top-notch audio quality from digital source recordings both CD quality and/or hi-resolution digital source recordings. When listening thru the headphone connection using the MDR-1ADAC, I notice a bit less sound amplification. I'm assuming this is driven by the impedance of the headset when using the analog cable. There is no problem, however, adjusting the volume to a suitable level. The bottom line is the NW-ZX100 delivers a very high level of audio fidelity. Whether this is worth the price of entry is obviously subjective. Just understand that you are definitely getting what you are paying for with few compromises here.
1711126
Incredible sound card with outstanding sound quality.