Go! Let your ears decide

Over the past couple of years the MP3 player has made its way up the electronics food chain. These portable music players were, at one point, considered luxury items by many — nowadays, nearly everyone has some sort of portable music device. Applied in various situations the MP3 player has proven to be a versatile gadget, continuing to infiltrate the lifestyles and soundscapes of the modern-day individual.

The rising demand for MP3 players has resulted in a corresponding increase among electronics companies to produce innovative and one-of-a-kind multimedia doohickeys. It has gotten to a point of technological one-upmanship between these companies, trying to outdo one another by adding advanced implements in their respective products.

Music, video, photo, games, added storage, Internet capability, ease of use, style — these are parameters which make an MP3 player “good.” Fair enough: it makes sense for these toys to be all-in-one powerhouses, capable of multitasking when users require them to. It’s peculiar, however, to note that sound quality is only a footnote in contrast to other so-called important criteria when selecting an MP3 player.

Perhaps all the other add-ons make consumers forget that, first and foremost, MP3 players were invented as a solution to having music anytime, any place. In the same light, the quality of music on the go should not be compromised. When we listen to music, wherever and whenever that may be, avoiding things like poor sound quality allow for a fuller, more enjoyable musical experience.

“Let Your Ears Decide” — Philips’ campaign to promote its new line of GoGear MP3 and multimedia players is not a slogan, nor is it a promise. It is more a test; a leap of faith for all music lovers to discover richer, fuller sounds through Philips’ patented FullSound technology.

Members of the media were given the opportunity to put GoGear and FullSound to the test last week at Mag:Net Café in The Fort. It is safe to say that Philips has made good on its claims, delivering a line of quality products that really does produce a complete sound.

Upon tinkering with some of the new products in the GoGear lineup, I noticed something that many other MP3 players lacked, and that was an equalizer — very basic if you, like me, are a bit nitpicky when it comes to the frequencies that enter your ears. I very much appreciate the product’s ability to manually tweak the highs, lows and mid-levels of songs. That feature, along with FullSound, sold me on GoGear’s sound reproduction capabilities.

What FullSound actually does is quite ingenious. MP3s are compressed music files made for ease of transfer. In the process, however, some details in the original recording are lost due to the compression. In comparison, .WAV and AUDIO files will always sound fuller than MP3s because they aren’t compressed. The new FullSound technology restores the sonic details that music compression loses. Try it: load in any old MP3 in the new GoGear players and listen for all the little parts you never heard before.

Others might say that an MP3 player only sounds as good as the earphones that are attached to it. While this may be true, that probably only accounts for a 10 percent increase in sound improvement. Its what’s inside the player that makes the biggest difference; the little chips and electrical thingies that manipulate and de-compress so-so MP3s into the real opuses they are meant to be. A good set of headphones, however, will only make the FullSound experience that much richer.

I listen to my music loud, but that doesn’t mean I can’t tell when it sounds a bit off sometimes. FullSound gives me the confidence and the trust I need to turn up the volume all the way and break off the dial. Even ear-splitting decibel levels can be very Nirvana-like.

Philips is holding a virtual battle of the bands throughout the coming months called the “Bandwidth Virtual Battle of the Bands.” The contest is meant to help unsigned bands take full advantage of new digital multimedia technology in sharing their music with the rest of the music community.

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For more information visit www.philips.com/media.

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E-mail me at enricomiguelsubido@yahoo.com.