Goin' to a show-show. (Surveying The Soundscape).

For the past few years, I've set myself a goal before taking off for the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Once it was to spot DVD players that could play CD-R and CD-RW discs (no longer an issue). Another time it was to find a phono stage with a stereo-mono switch (still an issue). My quest for 2003 was to uncover ways to listen to music files stored on a computer's hard drive on a proper audio system in another room. This was not an academic exercise. It was something I felt I needed to do to enhance listening choices at a vacation home. And if I could include Internet-based radio transmissions, so much the better.

A few months before heading to the CES, I mentioned the idea to Digital Don, my recording engineer buddy. DD did one of those Tex Avery eyes-popping-out-of-the head cartoon takes. For years he has tried to reason with me over my blunt rejection of involving my computer in my music listening.

Don patiently pointed out that all the music being delivered these days passes through various CPUs and multitudinous algorithms before ending up in my pointlessly computer-free audio system. His comments didn't move me. Starting out with a fresh music listening system--hardware and software--in my vacation home did.

The vacation home system currently consists mostly of vintage components that I picked up at estate sales and thrift shops. The speakers are the venerable KLH Model Six systems, a bit bass-heavy but fun to listen to. I'm driving them with a really sweet Kenwood KA-7100 amplifier--65 wpc with massive dual power supplies and a lovely array of controls. The turntable is a Dual 1218 with a Shure V15 Type RS (from Radio Shack when they were blowing them out for $10 or so) for LPs and a Shure M91 with N75-3 stylus for 78s. For FM, there's a stunning Onkyo T-4090 tuner. This is all topped off with a somewhat disappointing RCA DVD/CD player. I plan on replacing that soon, probably with one of the budget-priced Apex multi-format models.

After acquiring the gear, I started building a music collection for that location alone. JAH had suggested that approach, pointing out that it would be a lot more fun than hauling crates of discs back and forth between residences. He was absolutely right. It's been a hoot accumulating a new assortment of CDs, LPs, and even 78s. To supplement my currently limited selection of listening choices on traditional audio media, I started downloading music from various internet sources.

My MP3 files now number more than 300 and the count increases daily. It's compressed audio that lacks the vigor I'm used to from "real" music on LPs, 78s, and CDs. But when played through honest hi-fi speakers driven by an adequate amplifier, MP3 audio can be surprisingly satisfying. I counted on CES to help make that possible.

While there I ran across a white paper from Parks Associates, a market research company, on "The Emergence and Growth of Entertainment-Centric Home Networks." The company says that in 2002 there were 1.3 million digital-to-analog entertainment nodes deployed in US households and predicts that by the end of 2006 the number will jump to over 20million. Parks Associates calls them "kit" nodes--components that users buy to connect existing audio and video products with their home computers. That's exactly what I was looking for and I found plenty.

Most of them use wired or wireless LAN connectivity, but there are other options. I'll start with the "other" category first. These are show-based descriptions, by the way. What I'm about to report comes from viewing the products, seeing demonstrations, chatting with company sources, and reading press kits. Hands-on experiences are much more illuminating. After review samples of some of these items arrive, I'll be able to describe more fully how they operate.

An easy non-LAN approach to sending computer sound to a stereo system can be had in the form of Amphony's Model 1000 digital wireless audio transmitter-receiver combination. It's derived from the company's Model 1000 wireless headphones. You plug any audio source (for the purposes of this discussion, the outputs of a computer sound card) into the jacks on a transmitter module and feed the outputs on a distantly located receiver into any available line level input on your amplifier. Power everything up and the job's done, all for a suggested retail' of only $129 (www.amphony.com).

The audio specs on the Model 1000 are respectable: 93 dB s/n ratio, 91 dB channel separation, 20 Hz to 24kHz frequency response. The operating range through walls and ceilings is about 50 feet. But if you need more coverage than that, you can add RangeBooster re-transmitters and extend the reach "almost indefinitely."

The Amphony system is definitely a minimalist approach to feeding computer sound to a remote audio system. It's only slightly more high tech than running audio interconnects to do the job. The advantage to a simple transmission device is that any sound source accessible to the computer can arrive at your stereo. But it's a one way street. You can't use the Amphony setup to control the computer from the listening location.

That means you must select the source and start the feed at the computer end before going off to listen. That's okay for internet radio or for playlists of MP3 files. It's not good for browsing a computer-based music library.

There's also a possibility that other 2.4 GHz devices you have (wireless phones, for example) could! interfere with the music transmissions. And the audio quality that comes out of the Amphony receiver is limited by the quality that the computer sound card feeds into the transmitter.

Still, there's a certain elegance in the simplicity of the basic operation and the price is quite reasonable. In fact, it's probably less than you'd spend if you decided to run high-quality cables from the computer to the stereo.

The Neuros can also get MP3 music from your computer into your stereo system. In fact, it can even make your MP3 collection available in your car. Digital Innovations (the SkipDoctor people) came up with this device. They call it an MP3 digital audio computer. In essence, Neuros is a highly souped-up MP3 player that can broadcast the files it holds to any FM radio.

Digital Innovations calls that feature MyFi. MyFi scans the FM spectrum and locates the least populated station for its transmission. You tune your car radio or FM tuner to that station and out comes music that you've stored on the Neuros. If you plug in headphones, the FM transmission immediately stops in favor of personal listening.

If you actually want to listen to FM, the Neuros has a built-in tuner for that. And that's souped up, too, with HiSi. That's "Hear it, Save it," an automatic song identification system. Neuros will record an audio sample from the radio and develop a digital fingerprint of the music for later identification via an Internet database.

This happens during NeurosSync. (Half of the work in developing a product these days seems to be inventing cute names for its unique features.) NeurosSync is similar to the HotSync process that's familiar to Palm OS PDA users. During the synchronization operation, the Neuros picks up MP3 file names from the computer. While away from the computer, the user can browse the filenames and mark those to transfer into the Neuros during the next NeurosSync. NeurosSync is designed to let you manage not only the files on the Neuros itself, but also the whole PC-based music library.

Neuros can also create MP3 music files either from the built-in FM radio or through its line level inputs. So you can feed the tape out signals from your preamp into the Neuros and record MP3 files directly from your LPs!

Neuros comes with 128 Mb of flash memory built in. That will store about 32 songs, enough for short-term casual listening. For greater storage, you can add a 20 GB hard drive "backpack," which can hold approximately 5000 songs but ups the weight of the 6-ounce basic Neuros to about a pound.

The basic Neuros (with earbud phones, power adaptor, USB cable, car power adaptor, belt clip, and user's guide) retails for $249. The Neuros HD (all of the above plus the 20 GB drive) retails for $399 (www.neurosaudio.com).

For those who have a wired or wireless home network installed, the cd3o line of networked MP3 players can do the job of getting computer music files (MP3, WAV, or WMA) to the stereo system. It's kind of like the Amphony approach, but it's all digital until the decoding at the receiver.

It's also two-way. With a cd3o device and some preliminary configuration at the computer, you have remote control of your computer music files by music categories, multiple playlists, artist names, or song titles. And it supports this through synthesized voice prompts rather than across-the-room displays.

At the moment, cd3o products do not support Internet radio or other online streaming audio. Apparently that's coming.

Current cd3o models include the wired cl00 ($149) and the wireless c200 ($199) and c300 ($249). All share exactly the same operating features. The c300 has an extended range antenna (www.cd3o.com).

The PRISMIQ MediaPlayer also uses a LAN connection to get MP3 music from a remotely located computer to an audio system. It takes the concept a bit farther than the cd3o products by also supporting video transfers (current MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 with plans for other formats), still graphics, and even Internet browsing and instant messaging. A wireless keyboard accessory is available to expedite interactive text-based communication.

Currently the PRISMIQ system supports only MP3 audio files, with WMA and WAV support planned to arrive soon. (One of the handy things about all these "convergence" products is the ability to upgrade internal firmware or computer-installed software without replacing the hardware.)

PRISMIQ single MediaPlayer model has a wired LAN connector on the back panel but no built-in wireless LAN support. Instead, it includes a PCMCIA slot into which you can insert your own Wireless LAN card of the sort used with laptop computers. That's a smart way to keep SKUs to a minimum and still offer full flexibility to customers.

The PRISMIQ MediaPlayer retails for $249.95. I don't know what the optional wireless keyboard retails for, but the PRISMIQ website has been offering a "free keyboard" deal to online purchasers for a limited time (www.prismiq.com).

There's one more computer-related audio product that deserves mention before I move on. That's the new Marchand PM48 PC power amp. It's a high quality 12 watt-per-channel amplifier on a board that fits into a PC expansion slot. The standard banana jacks on the card for speaker connection are comforting to any computer-bound audiophile and give a much broader choice of speaker options for use next to a computer. The cost of the Marchand PM48 is $100 (www.marchandelec.com).

And now for the prima donnas of audio gear: the speaker systems. Similarities rule the day here--big flared horns, truncated quasi-pyramids, flat-faced wedges, and skinny towers.

Maybe that's why I'm still intrigued by the U-Vola suspended ellipsoid two-way from Italy. They've been substantially upgraded since I wrestled with a pair in my own listening room. The connections and driver mounting systems are much improved. There's now a complementary bass module, something seriously needed given the 4-inch drivers in the ellipsoids. And there are two versions of stands to hang the ellipsoids from, obviating the need to put holes in your ceiling to install the U-Volas. Now all the U-Volas need is distribution in the USA (www.synfactory.com).

The total opposite of the hanging U-Vola systems is the Pyramat,, a speaker system that rolls out on the floor. Actually the speaker part is enclosed in a padded triangular prism (not pyramid) that is attached to a mat on which you can recline. You relax against the padded speaker wedge and let the sounds envelope you.

It's really meant to be an adjunct to a gaming system or maybe for personal movie viewing or music listening. But it's 4" woofer sounded pretty wimpy when I checked it out on the show floor (literally). I know why the Pyramat designers couldn't squeeze more oomph into the thing. They made it as a three-speaker full range system.

What they really need is to lose the tweeters and make a Pyramat bass-only system. The average resonant frequency of the human chest cavity is about 160 Hz. So wedge with a 6.5" woofer firing at the reclining listener could easily crank out what would be perceived as "gut-thumping" bass. The higher frequencies would arrive from the front speakers in a much more natural manner. Maybe next year.

The current Pyramat PM300 with full range sound system retails for $149.99. There's also a "lounging only" model with no electronics or speakers, the Pyramat PM100, for only $59.99 (www.pyramat.com).

Kentech Labs has come up with a novel speaker technology based on a simple, but highly effective, matrixing scheme. The Kentech Point Source Audio method uses three closely mounted, very small drivers in a single enclosure to reproduce an astoundingly accurate full stereo soundstage.

The basic concept is to feed a combined L+R signal to a center front facing driver, L-R to an adjacent driver aimed to the left, and R-L to the third driver which faces directly to the right. The drivers are about 3 inches in diameter, so the main enclosure is small enough to hold in one hand. The tiny size of those drivers means that for most applications a bass module would be a necessary part of the total system.

I loved what I heard. The sound was spacious and natural, hardly what one would expect from a single speaker enclosure about the size of a stack of dozen CD cases.

Don't go looking for Kentech branded speakers, however. The company is in the research and development business. It holds the patents and licenses manufacturers. So far, most of its licensees are turning out products for the European and Asian markets. That may change soon (www.kentech.com).

A company called Binaura had a home theater system based on Kentech's Point Source Audio on display in the Kentech suite. The Binaura Venue system uses a Point Source Audio array for front and center channel reproduction and a similar array with two drivers only for the rear channels. No price or availability announced yet (www.binaura.com).

MagicAudio Systems, a Singapore-based research firm, promises "A World Without Distortion." MAS claims to have developed a method of "eliminating distortion by using the distortion." MAS calls it "predictive non-linearity optimization correction technology" and is producing the MAS Ti-Fi MDR-680 as a showpiece to introduce its technology to the consumer market.

The spiel I got in the suite was unconvincing. The MAS techniques seemed to be something like RCA's awful Dynagroove system that pre-distorted LP sound so that it the distortion could be undone on playback. Or maybe it was just good old negative feedback with a shiny new look.

In any case, I almost left without bothering to listen to the results of the "magic." But I allowed myself to be escorted into an adjoining room where the flagship Ti-Fi system was driving a pair of KEF Q65 speakers in triamplified mode.

My first impression was overwhelmingly positive, but then I heard some phasey polarity problems. I was having a hard time convincing my hosts that something was wrong when another pair of ears entered the room and their owner immediately announced that something was very wrong with the speakers.

Once convinced, it only took a minute or two to find the problem and fix it. When you're triamping, there are six channels to keep in proper polarity. Missing on one would seem to be an easy thing to let happen. With the polarity problem corrected, I was back to feeling total satisfaction with the sound and utter admiration for whatever it was the Singapore scientists had come up with.

The company's plan, by the way, is not to go on making Ti-Fi systems for the consumer market. This is its first stage of marketing development. It hopes soon to produce anti-distortion components that will be incorporated into other manufacturers' audio products, and finally to license MAS technology to DSP chip producers (http:// www.magicaudio.com.cn/English/about).

No report on the CES would be complete without a few words about T.H.E. Show. That's the high end and fringe edge audio show that sets up shop in a Las Vegas hotel at the same time as the CES. This year it occupied various rooms and suites at the San Remo and seemed to be trying to be better organized than it usually is.

For the most part, I heard little there to excite me with one outstanding exception. The Audio Research room treated my ears to the most perfectly rendered pop orchestra sound I've ever heard anywhere ever. The music was Nelson Riddle's arrangement of "September in the Rain" played by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Big Band Orchestra, reproduced from a Telarc SACD.

The audio setup included Magnepans all around in a multichannel array with a no-holds-barred installation of Audio Research electronics making it all work. It was like eavesdropping on a live performance or sitting in a recording studio just a bit behind the conductor. It was utterly enchanting.

Addendum: Here's a hands-on (and ears on) follow-up on two of the MP3 handling products I encountered at this year's CES. I'll start with the cd3o model c300 wireless network MP3 player. It's the easiest personal experience to report, mainly because there wasn't any.

The cd3o line includes three networked devices (two wireless models and one wired model) that make audio files from your computer available to your audio system. The cd3o players synthesized voice cues so that you can remotely control the access to your music files while listening at your music system. That's the part I really wanted to try out.

Unfortunately, when the review sample arrived, I found I couldn't do any of this since the cd3o software runs under Windows XP or Windows 2000 only. A Windows 98/ME version of the software is in the works. When that's available, the cd3o device sitting on my shelf should work. The cd3o people said I should hold on to that hardware for a while longer. So I will.

I'm having much better luck with the Neuros MP3 digital audio computer, maybe too much better. The Neuros is a portable MP3 player with a substantial array of enhancements that take it beyond the basic "play music through earphones" product concept. Here's the in-use rundown.

MP3 playback---his is the Neuros's main job and it does it quite nicely. I did most of the listening through headphones. I also checked out the Neuros through my home and car systems. The most significant thing I learned was that MP3 sound is maddeningly inconsistent. Everything from volume level, to frequency response, to dynamics, to noise levels and distortion, to channel balance is all over the map. Even completeness was often an issue, particularly with files from user-to-user distribution sites. Having a track end in the middle of a performance is infuriating. I found myself continually fiddling with the volume and also deleting quite a few tracks that were truncated or unlistenable for some other reason. This isn't a fault of Neuros, of course. The blame lies in numerous elsewheres: varying implementations of MP3 encoding algorithms, sloppy work by the people doing the encoding (many of whom are casual users), and of course poor quality source material.

FM radio--Here's the Neuros technical weak spot. Tuning in all but the very strongest local stations was iffy at best. I happened to have at hand a little Nike/Philips sport radio for comparison.

The sport radio invariably delivered over twice as many listenable FM stations as Neuros. The same thing happened in the car. Stations that appeared blank to Neuros burst forth with music from the factory standard CD/FM system. The Neuros FM insensitivity may not seem like an important consideration for what is mainly an MP3 music server, but it has implications that go beyond FM music listening. Read on.

MyFi--This the Neuros term for the unit's ability to scan the FM band for a quiet frequency and set itself to broadcast on that frequency to any FM radio or tuner within a range of 10 to 15 feet. And here's where relative FM sensitivity matters. More than once, particularly in the car, the automated MyFi search for nothingness on the FM band spotted frequencies that seemed empty to Neuros, but where off-the-air music came billowing forth when I tuned them in on the receiving radio or tuner. These frequencies weren't empty at all and were useless for beaming music from Neuros to the radio. Usually another MyFi scan or two would find truly unused frequencies, but not always. Fortunately, the MyFi system can be manually tuned. So in the car, I'd click through the FM dial and listen. When I'd find a likely candidate for Neuros use (lots of hiss, no music, no crackly interference from some other source), I'd save it on the radio's preset and then set the Neuros by hand to hit that spot on the band. In the house, MyFi ran into a clash of technologies. I use a rooftop antenna with coaxial cable for FM reception. There was no way the signal from Neuros was going to get into my FM tuner with that sort of setup no matter what frequency MyFi used. I put a T-wire on the 300 ohm screws on the back of the tuner and got decent, but not wonderful, MyFi operation. The best sounding solution by far was to use the headphone jack on the Neuros to feed audio into a spare input on my amplifier. But that meant that I lost the handy remote-like listening position control over the music that the MyFi could provide. Neuros recently implemented a MyFi fix and the unit I'm using does have it installed. Their tech folks are also aware that MyFi performance isn't as reliable, comfortable, and useful as it should be. I hope further improvements appear soon, since the MyFi system is an excellent concept that sets the Neuros apart from the typical headphones and wires only MP3 players.

HiSi--Press a button and Neuros saves a 30second sample of what you may be listening to on FM. You can later go online and get the music identified, as long as the music in question is of the pop, country, rock, rap, or similar genres. I tried HiSi on Sibelius and got back the info that I'd been listening to Little Feat.

NeuroSync--Through a USB port, this program manages the audio files on your computer and your Neuros. It then synchronizes track info and organization between the two. This program disclosed and to some extent let me combat the second horror of MP3 files--rampant misinformation encoded into the files. A lot of it seems to come directly from the CDs from which the files were ripped. I know that's the fact with some MP3s I made myself. There were misspellings of tunes on the CD insert and I found out that those errors were digitally burned onto the music tracks and that simply changing the names of the files didn't fix them. Artists' names are also encoded or entered with great variability. So the Artists list in the NeuroSync program and thus on the Neuros itself got really messy really quickly. Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, for instance, ended up with four. entries. In addition to the one above, I had to deal with Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, and even Clarence-Gatemouth-Brown. Each variation had a few songs associated with it. Some editing fixed it, but I found I spent a LOT of time doing these sorts of correction chores and not enjoying it a lot. Some of the time at the computer working on with the Neuros management program was fun, however. I started putting the files in various playlists. How about getting together 23 versions of "Satin Doll"? No problem. Well, except for listening to all of them at one sitting. My only significant criticism of the NeuroSync software is that it's sluggish. It takes a long time to load in, quite a while to scan folders for music files, and also quite a while to send files from the desktop computer to Neuros. It also really hogs processor cycles while it's synchronizing, interfering with the smooth operation of even the simplest program that might be running in another window, the Windows Solitaire game for instance.

MP3 recording--Neuros can record MP3 files through its line level input, built-in microphone, or internal FM tuner. So Neuros is not only a portable MP3 player, but also a portable MP3 maker. You can patch it to the headphone output on your amplifier to make MP3 files from LPs, an otherwise complex and tricky process.

Backpacks--The Neuros system is a two-part design consisting of a computer module and a backpack that includes the rechargeable batteries and the actual music storage. One comes with the Neuros: the 128 Mb flash memory model ($249.00) or the 20 Gb hard drive model ($399.00). The HD model can hold up to 5000 tunes and here's where the Neuros starts to be a victim of its own success. I have less than a tenth of the capacity of the HD in use and the track list has become totally unwieldy. Much of that, of course, is due to those track info and ID inconsistencies that I mentioned earlier. But while they're not the fault of Neuros, Neuros doesn't help deal with the problem in any significant way. The only way to go through the whole list is alphabetically by title using the initially handy but eventually tiresome button/joystick at the center of the Neuros front panel. To make matters worse, you can't listen to any music stored on Neuros while doing list management chores. The underlying software in Neuros is Linux-based. That's a wonderfully flexible multi-tasking, multi-operation system. Surely there's a way to provide listening while editing! The current Neuros software runs under Windows only, but does support 98SE, Me, XP, and 2000. And Neuros has entered into an agreement with Xiph.org to come up with software that will allow Neuros to work with Linux-based personal computers. You can check the Xiph.org website (www.xiph.org) to keep up with progress on this front. By the way, Neuros looks like a standard removable storage device to your PC. So if you have the HD version, you can use it as a handy way to store prodigious quantities of data, programs, documents, and other files for transfer from one PC to another.

So what does all this add up to? Is Neuros the "killer app" for MP3 portability that its developers promised? Will it inspire the 90 percent of MP3 users who do NOT own a portable player to take the plunge?

I'm going to say "not yet." But this mild negativity is based more on the mess surrounding MP3s in general than ill feelings toward Neuros in particular. If you find the Neuros interesting, I'm definitely in agreement.

I'd advise that you buy the 128 Mb flash memory version rather than the HD model that I've been using, however. It's cheaper, lighter, and more compact for starters. Also, it's easily upgradeable to the HD model while the HD model can NOT be downgraded or expanded to use the 128 Mb flash memory Backpack.

Besides, the somewhat limited storage of the 128 Mb model appears to me to be an advantage rather than a weakness, particularly considering the easy changing of stored Neuros music using the NeuroSync software.

There's a growing and very active community of Neuros users out there, by the way. You can check out various online discussion forums and keep up with Neuros progress on the company's website (www.neurosaudio.com).

--TK