When it comes to compressed audio, I’m of two minds. The purists — particularly those who, like me, have had the experience of listening to music recorded at 196kHz played back in an acoustically pristine environment — have my heart when they call for solidarity in the fight against MP3s and ear buds.
On the other hand, generations had plenty of enjoyable moments listening to 45’s played back on crappy record players. And let’s face it, codecs have improved to the point that well-converted MP3s sound awfully good.
The above having been stated, I’m passing along the fact that Aphex has released an update to its Audio Xciter app for the Android platform of smartphones and tablets. Aphex has been around for more than three decades. Many recording engineers have goosed tracks with the studio version of the Exciter over the years. Using this app (an update for iOS version will be released shortly) lets music lovers apply some of the same tricks that the pros use; tweak the upper harmonics, adjust the drive, play with your favorite songs on a track-by-track basis.
You can take the Audio Xciter app for a free spin (http://bit.ly/17Rt6Z7). If you like the results, you might decide to forego a double latte tomorrow morning and drop $5 for the full version.
