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New articles:
» Weekly Editor's Choice Award - eDrum MIDI Mapper v1.2
» Tom's Music Thing - Isn't this the sweetest cassette tape you've ever seen?
» PowerFX releases Beats for the Heat with GHETTO GROOVES 3
» Acon Digital Media releases AudioLava Premium
» Puremagnetik releases Vector for Ableton Live
» Ueberschall releases Crunkzilla
» Synesthesia unveils Battery 3 presets for Mandala
» Digidesign announces new MassivePack 7 Plug-in Bundles
Past articles:
» Steinberg Ships Sequel 2 and add-on content
23.07.2008
» Music Software Popularity Index - 2008 Q2
23.07.2008
» HowAudio offers Pro Tools Training Bundle
21.07.2008
Tom's Music Thing - $50 gadget claims to clean the sound waves of MP3
Clari-Fi is a little passive $50 gadget which goes between your iPod and your headphones, and makes some huge claims about digital music: "This technology allows for real-time compression of digital audio, removing harmful digital artifacts and 'spikey-ness,'... Clari-fi's semiconductor was developed with custom silicon with the sole purpose of quasi-logarithmically compressing audio sources having earphone load impedances of 25 to 50Ω. The compression algorithm continuously limits digital artifact peaks."
There's a whole page of what looks to me like long words for the purpose of confusing customers, but I'm not an expert. Can someone who understands sound technology better than me explain what this thing is, what it's doing, and why we don't have them built into everything already?
Here's a positive review that doesn't tell me anything, with some extremely snakey comments: "It allows ‘good’ high frequencies to be heard and only compresses highs that are peaking...this thing flat out eliminates hearing fatigue." (via Palm Sounds)

"Tom's Music Thing is brought to you by Music Thing, the London-based website about music gadgets."

I've seen many claims for audio devices and equipment, having studied the audiophile magazines over a long spell. Thanks, don't worry, I'm not chasing the elusive 'high-end' sound anymore, although I met practitioners who could demonstrate
that interconnect cables alone could create a sudden alchemy, I didn't trust them. In one case, 'they' changed one pair of high-impedence cables between the pre-amp and amp and the increase in impact and detail of sound was revelatory, as he rendered the
old Beatles Abbey Road LP. This setup in a basement sounded much like systemss in studio control rooms. But I had to wonder if my ability to be easily hypnotized was
somehow working against me, and how much I simply was able to trust my ears.