Digital Trends

Philips Sonic Edge 5.1

June 18th, 2003 | by Bert Mathis

Ok, let's talk a little about what each of these do. QSizzle is a midrange and treble enhancement processor that will liven up mids and highs that are lost during audio compression and also improves sound on lower end speaker systems. QRumble basically does the same as QSizzle, except for the lower frequencies and bass tones. QXpander is a stereo field 3d enhancement to simulate surround sound using only a pair of speakers.

Also on this tab is a visual indicator of what enhancements are actually being used. These include Normalization, QMSS, QSurround, and QXpander. Normalization compensates for variations of volume within an audio source and provides a consistent source of volume coming from the speakers. QMSS is an innovative way to produce 5.1 sound from a 2 channel source. Philips emphasizes how the other “solutions” simply double the front stereo signal to the rear to simulate surround sound. QMSS takes a different approach by analyzing each incoming signal and mathematically calculates approximate locations of where each sound should be in a true surround environment. This results in a full 360 degree wrap around sound experience. QSurround closes the gap between the front and rear speaker when listening to Dolby Digital sound sources such as DVD's.

I am glad to see that Philips recognizes the fact that many of us don't want to be limited to preset “jazz” or “rock” modes. They included a 10 band graphic equalizer. It's pretty much straight forward having the lower frequencies to the left and the higher frequencies to the right.

The mixer tab will allow you to adjust volume levels of the different inputs and outputs on the sound card and includes an advanced tab for microphone boost and S/PDIF capture.

The presets tab...yawn. But I guess it's a great place to start. You can also fine tune with the Sound Agent 2 and save your settings here so you can come back to it later. This is useful when tuning for different games or audio sources.

On the bottom of each tab will be the graphical representation of  QRumble, QXpander, QSizzle, and environments. Everything on this screen can be adjusted elsewhere in Sound Agent. What's great about this screen is you can just click and drag each of the “Q” effects to suit your liking. There is also a slider that adjusts the amount of environment effects if one is chosen.