EAST WING: AUDIO GALLERY
Visitors to the Audio Gallery are encouraged to enjoy the bowel-loosening effect of
Maximum PC’s world-famous Bass Chamber
Speakers
M-Audio Studiophile
LX4 System
Loud and proud is no longer enough. We want our
audio to be refined as well
Plenty of speakers pump boomin’ bass and cracklin’
highs these days; what sets M-Audio’s Studiophile
LX4 System apart is its capacity for delivering it
accurately. This economical 5.1-channel studio-
monitor system bathed our ears in succulent sound
from games, MP3s, DVD-Audio, and everything else
we fed it. The fact that we can also use it to produce
anything from stereo mash-ups to surround-sound
tracks for our own movies is just icing on the cake.
$550 (combined price for both components),
http://www.m-audio.com
Received a 9/Kick Ass in this issue
Soundcard
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi
XtremeMusic
Now hear this: the best damned PC audio—ever!The Sound Blaster X-Fi is easily the most awesome
soundcard we’ve ever heard. Using a new DSP core that
Creative tells us is 24-times more powerful than that of
the Audigy 2 ZS, the X-Fi adds a new dimension to 3D
audio in video games, with positional sound that’s actu-
ally useful. When a tank
rumbles behind a build-
ing, that’s exactly what
you’ll hear, instead of
the vague, weak buzzing
noises you get with most
onboard audio DSPs.
$130, http://www.creativelabs.
com
Received a 9/Kick Ass in
the November 2005 issueMedia PlayeriPod Nano
Four gigs. One and a half ounces. Volume
measured on the Richter scale. You know you
want itIt’s well established that Apple makes pretty
things. Just look at the reveals on this iPod! It’s
audacious, sporting an unprecedented 4GB of
creamy flash memory. It’s sophisticated, inte-
grating all the features of the hard drive-based
iPods and throwing in support for the Apple
Lossless codec and syncing of your Outlook
calendar and contacts. It’s a sleek siren of a
digital audio player, with dazzling sound.
And—oh yeah—it’s really, really pretty.
$200, http://www.ipod.com
2GB version received a 9 verdict in
this issueDECEMBER 2005 MA XIMUMPC