9-12-00
Remember that famous scene from the movie Spinal Tap
with the amplifier? "But this one goes to 11...!"
If stereo sound fell within a scale of 1 to 10, the
Wow Thing Box could claim to go to 11. This month on
our contest
page, we are giving away a WOW Thing Box (WTB) from
SRS Labs. The
WTB sits between your computer's audio out port and
your speakers and/or headphones and "enhances"
the audio signal. Specifically, according to SRS, the
WTB "Restores the dynamics of compressed music
formats ... Creates deep rich bass enhancement for any
speaker system ... Makes inexpensive speaker systems
sound great." We thought we would put these claim
to the test...
Installation/Setup: The Wow Thing Box measures
roughly 5" x 4" and is made of a cool translucent
blue plastic. The back sports audio in and out ports
and there is an extra audio out port for headphones
on the side. Plugging in headphones will not bypass
the audio out on the back of the box. Installation is
so straightforward that SRS doesn't even bother including
a manual. Instead, there are simple illustrations printed
on the inside of the box showing you how to hook the
WTB to your computer, stereo system or portable CD/MiniDisk/MP3
player. While I can understand the exclusion of a manual,
I would still appreciate some information on how the
WTB works its magic.
Performance: There is really no way to accurately
describe the sound that you get using the Wow Thing
Box. Imagine that you have a stereo system with three
settings; the first is mono, the second is stereo. The
third would be the Wow Thing setting. It is an enhanced
form of stereo, there is no better way to describe it.
The individual instruments seem to spring to life when
the Wow Thing is active. The WTB lets you adjust the
bass level and amount of "wow" and it is important
to note that more is not always better. Turning the
bass past 50% caused the room to rumble which may be
great for games, but obliterated mid and high range
notes on the CD's and MP3 files we listened to while
testing. If you don't have a sub-woofer hooked up this
may not be an issue. Likewise, turning the "wow"
knob too high caused an unpleasant (to us anyway) echo
effect on some CD's. Moderation is the key, and if you
observe it you will be very pleased with the sound you
get using the Wow Thing Box. The box includes a bypass
switch so you can do a "before and after"
comparison. Switch the WTB off and you will swear you
are listening to a mono recording, the difference is
so striking. After you are done testing, you are not
likely to turn the WTB off...
Conclusions: The Wow Thing Box is an amazing
piece of hardware and a reasonably priced one at that.
The improvement in sound is astonishing provided you
don't go overboard with the bass and "wow"
knobs.
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