I decided to update the sound my aural orifices receive daily as I work at my desk and jam-out (oh yeah, and for crucial audio editing, too ha!) . I got a pair of M-Audio BX8a’s to replace my former “came with the computer” micro-speakers. Very nice B-stock on ebay for $370.

Then I took the plunge on a new audio device I saw reviewed in Wired. The Creative X-Fi Mod (ebay new). This piece of gear is amazing as it takes my AAC files on itunes (istore purchases at 128kbs, and imported CD’s at 224 or 256kbs). You plug it into your USB and it becomes a defacto sound card on steroids. There is a one feature that makes it all worth while. The crystalizer switch. The crystalizer switch really does appear to create the illusion of restoring audio information lost in the compression to mp3 or AAC files. It puts “life” back into them. The 3-d switch I like on some stuff (Muse, Radiohead, and big symphonic rock) but don’t like on “Ani Difranco on a solo acoustic” type music. The X-fi is very worth the $43.99 for the crystalizer process alone. Sure, it is no longer a flat studio monitor mix, but I can get back to that with a click of the button AND I wasn’t getting the original studio mix anyway because of data compression. I highly recommend the X-Fi. On the BX8a’s, I like the sound at that price point and am hoping a few scattered durability reports I have recently found are false (though the fact the one of the initial speakers wouldn’t power and had to make an exchange up leaves me suspect.)