DarkStorm:

Ouch.... now I am elitist audiophile :). I honestly don't think I am any more of an audiophile than many people on this board..... or at least hopefully I haven't gone THAT FAR overboard with my hobby :). I mean afterall, I don't think many elitist audiophiles would consider 'high-end car audio' a serious phrase anyway. Audio reproduction in the car environment introduces so many problems of its own. The difference between listening to a well recorded non-compressed track in a well balanced high-end car system and a well balanced high-end living room system are typically pretty immense. I would say the difference between playing back a CD and a high rate MP3 codec-ed version of the same CD in either environment are subjectivey much milder, when any real differences can be detected at all (especially in the case of the car audio listening environment).

Seriously though, I do see your point. Along those lines, I usually get mixed reactions to the EMPEG from fellow competitors at IASCA shows. Ranging from complete envy to complete incomprehension (why would I choose to listen to anything that has been through the MP3 codec process). Generally though, the latter reaction is much less common.

I am an EE practicing in the field of MPEG compression, so I am fairly familiar with the artifacts MPEG can introduce to audio and video. And yes, the results can be ugly when the technology is pushed to or past it's limits - and yes that makes me cringe. But in the same breath, I would say that the compression can be pretty transparent at relatively high rates.

But even if the MP3 artifacts are more evident (like at lower rates in joint stereo), the benefits of TA are not lost. TA can still be useful to make the best of these MP3s at playback in a car environment.

The other response to this is that soon the EMPEG won't only be an MP3 player.... one could choose to only playback WAVs, and the EMPEG becomes a very viable high-end head unit even for the elitist audiophile who despises MP3. With all processing done in the digital domain, good DACs, etc - it is like having a high-end CD player that can magically archive and play back about 100 CDs (if you had the 60 GB model).... all that with a much nicer and easier to navigate user interface than you get from typical head unit/CD changer combos.