"The manager software missed some of the song titles I downloaded to the player"

More likely the tags weren't created correctly (i.e. user error). I rather suspect that if Emplode did this on a regular basis it would have been the subject of much discussion here.

I'm sure it was a classic case of the V1/V2 tag precedence bug, which has been discussed at length on this BBS already. Emplode takes the V2 tags as gospel, even if they're wrong and a correct V1 tag exists.

Personally, I would like to see Emplode optionally prompt for action if it senses un-synched V1 and V2 tags.

"Maximum unclipped output was 1.3 volts; while certainly workable, many folks prefer a higher voltage these days. (The company rates maximum output level at 3.6 volts without clipping.)"

Sounds like the WAV wasn't normalised before it was encoded.

Actually, if that were the case, I think the reviewer would have found the opposite effect. More likely, he was using a combination of loudness settings and EQ presets which brought some of the digital waveforms past 0db? I dunno. I'm not entirely clear on what that meant.

"Using test files coded at 192 kbps, frequency response was good, but there was some high-frequency droop."

Err. Yes. What do you expect? MP3 is a lossy encoding mechanism. Earlier in the review he states that he can hear the difference at low bit rates, so why bother doing the lab measurements on (relatively) low bit rate files?

Well, you have to understand that (a) this is a consumer-audio product review, and frequency response characteristics are a necessary part of the review, and (b) the Empeg's advertised capacities are based on that lower bit-rate so it's a fair cop.

I think the root of the problem is that the reviewer may not have been "up" on encoder technology, and didn't realize that it was his chosen encoder software which caused the so-called "high-frequency droop". The Empeg isn't responsible for it.

Still, it's fair to state it in a review because all a consumer cares about is how it sounds coming out the speakers. Doesn't matter at what stage the frequency loss happened, he still has a duty to report it.



Overall, I liked the review a lot. I think he definitely "got it", and it's obvious that he did all his fact-checking and spent some quality time with the unit before writing the review.

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Tony Fabris