New Xmod Makes MP3s Sound Better Than CDs, Claims Creative

Creative on Tuesday unveiled the Xmod, a device based upon the company's X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio platform.

The Xmod boosts the playback quality of MP3, WMA, iTunes or AAC songs to beyond original CD quality, according to the company. About the size of a candy bar, the Xmod connects between stereo speakers or headphones and either a PC, Mac, iPod or MP3 player, to upconvert music during playback to X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity 24-bit surround audio.

The Xmod needs no special software to run. However, an optional AC power adapter is required to connect to an iPod or MP3 player.

No More Compromises

There are more than 100 million people today who listen to compressed music, but the quality of this music is highly compromised, said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. "The Creative Xmod enables them to listen to their music with audio that sounds even better than CDs ... through a simple and compact device."

Users don't have to repurchase music in a new format to use the Xmod, and the device eliminates the often cumbersome and time-consuming process of converting audio files to achieve improved sound quality. Simply connecting the Xmod to a digital music device produces X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity sound.

Two Key Functions

At the heart of Creative's X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity technology are two audio functions -- X-Fi Crystalizer and X-Fi CMSS-3D -- that improve and enhance digitized music.

The X-Fi Crystalizer upconverts MP3 music by analyzing and identifying which parts of the audio stream have been truncated or damaged during compression. It selectively restores the highs and lows -- such as the snare drums, basses, cymbal crashes and guitar plucking -- that are routinely damaged during the compression of MP3s.

X-Fi CMSS-3D creates virtual surround sound through speakers or headphones. It expands audio for headphone listening to emulate a multichannel, surround sound speaker system, and places specific audio elements -- such as the voice of a movie character -- in the virtual center channel, while ambience is played through virtual surround channels.