SRS Labs HD Audio Lab - The Ultimate PC Audio Software

[Apoptosis]

SRS HD Audio Lab is said to provide the ultimate audio experience for music, movies and games. Utilizing patented audio technologies, SRS HD Audio Lab delivers amazing audio depth and immersive surround sound; allowing for the multimedia experience to be enjoyed across any speaker configuration with the ability to fine tune listening preferences. Read on to see what we think of it.

SRS made a believer out of me with their HD Audio Lab software. Not only did it stand up to music, movies, and games it stood up to the opinion of a true music lover. HD audio Lab was able to take the media I had and actually make it better. It made my headphones sound like I was watching a movie at the theater, so much so that I had to break out my Gameskulls GS-1 Gaming Helmet to see what was up. And I am glad to report that yes, it even made the often muddy sounding GS-1 sound killer...

Article Title: SRS Labs HD Audio Lab - The Ultimate PC Audio Software
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1366/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: MSRP of $29.99

[gwolfman]

Thanks Brian. Do they have a demo available?

[BrianG]

The software was just released today so I am not sire about the demo. I went and looked at their site and there is not a demo up as of now, but that may change as I did see they have demos of some of their other apps on the site.

[Sttm]

Did you notice any performance impact having it on while gaming? It has to be utilizing the cpu a bit right.

[BrianG]

Did you notice any performance impact having it on while gaming? It has to be utilizing the cpu a bit right.

Nothing that was even remotely noticeable, I will check it again tonight and give you an actual percentage number of it's usage. But I am a fairly avid gamer and it didn't seem to be in the way at all with games like Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Batman Arkham Asylum, or even the new Alien Swarm.

[Sttm]

Cool you've convinced me to spend the whopping $29.99 on payday this week for it. I cant wait to see what it can do to improve on my Xonar + Sennheiser HD 555 setup.

[BrianG]

Did you notice any performance impact having it on while gaming? It has to be utilizing the cpu a bit right.

In the Windows 7 Performance monitor it was using less than .50% of the CPU during music playback and playing Left 4 Dead 2.

[ColdPlay]

Interesting!
I have a creative X-fi gamer soundcard, will it work with that too?
I'm not all that impressed with my sound quality/system, so a little boost would do nicely!
I play MW2 , BFBC2 and a little graw2 2(too, lol).
Got me a pair of the siberia V2 headset, and they are quite good, this might ad some xtra juice!


Thx for a fine review! Cold

[ColdPlay]

And I can recomend listening to more VanHalen!
Boy, those guys are great!

[Sttm]

THEY HAVE A 30 DAY FREE TRIAL!!!!!

https://www.srslabs.com/store/store/com ... Product=38

Using it right now. It is really something cool. I love how it allows me to make the soundstage wider and taller, and to increase the power of the center. So I can make the vocals really stand out while making the instrumentals feel like they are coming from all around me.Truly awesome with my Sennheiser headphones.

Having so much fun just listening right now. Its like getting new speakers!

[BrianG]

Interesting!
I have a creative X-fi gamer soundcard, will it work with that too?
I'm not all that impressed with my sound quality/system, so a little boost would do nicely!
I play MW2 , BFBC2 and a little graw2 2(too, lol).
Got me a pair of the siberia V2 headset, and they are quite good, this might ad some xtra juice!


Thx for a fine review! Cold

Yes, I have an X-Fi too.

[Sttm]

Playing some TF2 with it on. It wont let me change the speaker setting off 5.1, it forces upmixing I guess. The gun sounds have more of a woosh/hum to them; not sure if its an improvement yet. Sounds odd, but not bad. Music and video is nicely improved by it though.

[Apoptosis]

Just saw this:

Don't forget everyone you can purchase SRS HD Audio Lab at the special price of $19.99 by using Coupon Code: SRSFB1 at our Web store.

[Sttm]

Even better. I think its well worth it if you do any prolonged music listening, or web video watching on your pc.

[HONkUS]

I've returned from the dead again.

Anyway, I like what it does to my sound except i'm getting a faint crackling sound for some reason. I'm going from onboard ALC888 to my YAMAHA HTR-5750 via Optical, then out to two 3-way tower speakers and a 12 inch 125w dayton sub via LFE and i'm getting enough of a crackle to ruin it for me It's just like the first time you hear compression artifacts in an MP3 and then you cant ever not hear then ever again.

*EDIT* I also get it when I go HDMI out from my 5870 to my built in (crappy) tv speakers.

*EDIT* *EDIT* I think it's my choice in music. This thing does great things to classical and some softer stuff but the only way I can make Metallica or anything heavy like that sound great is if I turn down the limiter level and turn up the definition level which results in the crackling.

[Sttm]

I seem to get the crackling sound as well, but only if I turn up the "SRS Definition Level". At 5+ circles, while playing a rock heavy piece of music, something with a good percussion and crash to it, that I do get some crackling.

I kinda can hear it at 1 circle, but its so hard to make out. Though turning it all off makes the music feel flat now; which seems worse.


Update.

I am growing to dislike it more and more. The problem I have with it is how it functions with windows and games, and settings. It creates a new "audio device" and then the game/music player/movie audio gets done through it. Which is fine, except the audio effect is not always desirable; and actually closing the program is a huge pain. For instance I do not like how it changes the audio in Team Fortress 2. I try turning it off, by clicking on its GUI, which works for desktop applications, but in TF2 the audio is still worse. I then try closing the program, except there is no simple way to do so; so I then force quit the program, only to cause more headaches because of the audio device setup it uses, which requires a reboot, with SRS setup to not automatically start.

Which is really really annoying and I play TF2 and other games with similar issues often, so right now I am leaning towards not buying it; even though I like what it does for web video and music.