Get Better Gear!

Premier Sponsors

Other World Computing

TechRestore

Top 5 Free Apps

Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: August 29, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: March 27, 2009
Release Date: August 07, 2009

iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

Top 5 Paid Apps

Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Genre: Games
Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Billy Miles

    • 10 out of 10
    • Billy Miles
    • Take the voice of a young Billie Holiday and stuff it into a svelte, petite body with the face of an angel, and you have some idea of what it's like to experience the music of Billy Miles in her self-
  • The Last 5 Years (2002 Off-Broadway Cast)

    • 10 out of 10
    • Jason Robert Brown
    • The soundtrack to this moving off-broadway musical is heart moving. The lyrics follow a couple in a relationship for five years, one point of view going forward in time, and the other tracing time fr
  • Hello

    • 8 out of 10
    • Poe
    • Poe rocked my world with "Angry Johnny" (I want to kill you/I want to blow you/Away) and "Trigger Happy Jack" (Trigger Happy Jack/ You're gonna blow/But I'm gonna get off/Before you go), as powe

  • Pretty Hate Machine

    • 8 out of 10
    • Nine Inch Nails
    • For years I wanted to make music that sounded like something between Love and Rockets and Ministry. In 1989, Trent Reznor beat me to it with this genre-defining album, and it smacked me upside the hea
  • An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Torm�

    • 10 out of 10
    • Mel Torm� & George Shearing
    • Of the three men who taught me how to sing, the last was Mel Torme. Apparently, Mel Torme is a joke to anyone more than a decade older than me, a living parody of a Vegas crooner. But I stumbled on th

Reader Specials

Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!

In-Depth Review

SRS iWow

SRS iWow is a plug-in for iTunes that magically processes music you play in iTunes so it sounds much better regardless of the speakers or earphones you use. It makes crummy speakers or earphones sound significantly better and makes good speakers or earphones sound fantastic.

How does it do that? You've got me, but according to SRS Labs:

iWOW uses the new SRS WOW HD processing to let you shape the sound of iTunes how you like it. It uses psychoacoustic processing to overcome physical limitations in your audio hardware to do things like get extra thump out of your speakers, extend the stereo sound field beyond your speakers, increase the height of your sound.

I won't pretend to know what that means, but it works and it works well. Every kind of music I tried -- rock, pop, alternative, jazz, blues, hip-hop, R & B, and everything in between -- sounded bigger, better, and crisper with iWow enabled. Put another way, when I turned iWow off, the same music sounded flat, dull, and lifeless.

iWow includes a handful of presets, as shown here:

Or you can create a customized setting by tweaking the individual controls:

  • The SRS3D Center control adjusts the volume of the virtual center speaker.
  • The SRS3D Space control adjusts the width of the stereo sound stage, simulating the effect of moving the speakers farther apart.
  • The Definition control beefs up the high frequency details.
  • The Focus control elevates the height of the sound stage, simulating the effect of moving the speakers up higher.
  • The TruBass level control adjusts the amount of bass processing.

  • and

  • The TruBass size control changes the low frequency limit of your speakers or headphones by changing the frequency of the low-pass filter.

I've been using iWow for months and haven't found a single significant issue. The only thing I'd like to see changed is that you can't currently save custom presets. And if you set the controls just the way you like them, those changes are blown away when you choose any other preset.

Other than that there's nothing I don't love about SRS iWow. But you don't have to take my word for it... you can download a free trial version and test it for yourself with no risk. Listen to your favorite songs while turning it on and off. If you're anything like me, you'll buy your copy before the trial period even ends.

The Bottom Line

Makes music played with iTunes sound significantly better regardless of your speakers or earphones. At $19.99 it's a steal.

Just The Facts

SRS iWow from SRS Labs

MSRP US$19.99

Pros:Improves the sound of music with any speakers or headphones, low price, unobtrusive operation.

Cons:Can't save custom presets.

Post Your Comments

  Remember Me  Forgot your password?

Not a member? Register now. You can post comments without logging in, but they'll show up as a "guest" post.

Commenting is not available in this section entry.