BBE+ guide?

[tbaac]

Hi, sorry if this is covered, it seems an obvious question but I couldn't find any threads here or in google with a clear answer.

How does BBE+ work? I've borrowed a mate's D2, thinking about buying one. It sounds great. Under settings I've found "BBE" and you can set it to a number between 0 and 10 or something. I thought that there would be a clearer definition than this (e.g. the presets in words).

Have I got the wrong end of the stick? Is there a document somewhere that covers it? I looked at Cowon's D2+ manual and it didn't have much depth at all.

Thanks very much

[Flamin_Spirit]

No, BBE/+ is an audio enhancement, the 0-10 is the effectiveness of the filters/enhancements/etc that the sound goes through. For example 0 is off, 1 is a little, 10 is a lot. BBE in general smooths out the sound wave (as far as I remember, someone did some audio wave graphs on it, but I don't know where they went)

Choosing to have BBE/BBE+ on or off is really personal preference. It is an audio 'enhancement' that some think is wonderful some don't I keep mine on a low setting because that's how it sounds best on my IEMs. Think of it just like an X-Fi enhancement commonly found on Creative X-fi Pc sound cards and the Creative X-fi player.

The D2 is a vvery fiddly player, there are many settings and options (compared to other players) to get it to sound great with just about any headphones. the player is not a good player for some people who want it to be easy as two clicks, but don't mind the lack of control the D2 offers.

[WalkGood]

I've never seen a guide either, you should be able to answer some of your questions reading http://www.bbesound.com/technologies...bile-audio.htm

[tbaac]

Hmmm, yes I see how the 0-10 is the effectiveness.

So is it the effectiveness of the "Jeteffect Preset"? I see P0 to P10 or so again. Each of these can be saved or loaded. I thought there were factory set presets for various types of music?

I appreciate its probably best not to have all effects turned up all the way, or even on at all, but I was hoping to play around and see what effect they had.

Thanks for the link WalkGood. I didn't see that much information there though (and m3 claimed to be for mobile phones...)

Thanks.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by tbaac

... Thanks for the link WalkGood. I didn't see that much information there though (and m3 claimed to be for mobile phones...)

Thanks.

Look around on their site, that's it, possibly I gave you the wrong entrance as I was in rush, like now ...

[Flamin_Spirit]

The JetEffect presets change all of the settings to sound "good" for a certain type of music, one can make theri own presets as well. I never use these. BBE is just one of the settings, it changes the sound in its own way, no more, no less.

[tbaac]

Sorry WalkGood, I wasn't trying to have a pop at you. But the site appeared to be mostly marketing from what I could see. I had looked at it previously and was disappointed by the lack of real information.

Flamin: sorry to be a pain. How do I choose one of the pre-sets for a certain type of music? As you suggest, they might not be ideal for everyone, but I won't know until I've tried

Edit: Perhaps its the JetEffect Equalizer that I'm thinking of. That seems to have EQ settings for different music types.

[WalkGood]

Reading through this tread, I think there may be some confusion on the terms, so direct from cowon i7 manual below. There are some differances between the i7, the D2 and their various players, but the foundation is the similar. Also an updated version for the D2+ was released and even a more updated version for the s9 and the now released i9, "JetEffect 3.0." BBE Sound Inc licenses the software/firmware to cowon to use in their products and software.

JetEffect is what cowon calls their sound enhancements of various EQ and sound effects. They include:
- User adjustable 5-band EQ
- Normal, Rock, Pop, Jazz, Classic, Vocal, User defined
- BBE, Mach3Bass, MP Enhance, 3D Surround Support

1. Equalizer - Use the preset settings or manually set 5 Band Equalizers(EQ). Preset EQ settings include Normal, Rock, Jazz, Classic, Pop, and Vocal. Each preset EQ can be edited to match user’s preference (there are more in new ver).
2. BBE - BBE is the sound effect that provides clear music.
3. Mach3Bass - Mach3Bass is the base booster that enhances super low-end bass.
4. MP Enhance - MP Enhance: Sound effect that compensate for missing sound segments.
5. 3D Surround - 3D Surround provides three dimensional sound effects.
6. Pan - Pan adjusts the left and right volume balance.
7. Advanced EQ Filter Setting - Frequency allows you to adjust the center frequency as a standard of the EQ value for each EQ band. Bandwidth allows you to adjust the EQ-applied bandwidth for each EQ band. If the bandwidth becomes Wide, the EQ value will be applied to a broader band based on the center frequency.
8. JetEffect Preset - To save current JetEffect settings or load the previous settings, touch and hold “PLAY” button to open pop-up window and select SAVE or LOAD.

Hope this helps

[EddieE]

There is lots of info on the site Walkgood linked to - the explanation of BBE (says BBE HD but from memory is the same text that used to be linked under BBE on the old version of their site) is:

_______________________________________
BBE High Definition Sound restores clarity and definition, bringing a natural “live” presence to any audio source.

Recommended Applications:

• TVs - LCDs, PDPs, CRTs
• DVD Players - Portable, HD-DVD
• PCs - Desktops, Laptops, Sound Cards, Mother Boards
• Portable Media Players - MP3, DVD
• Car Audio - Head Unit, Power Amps
• Home Theater - Amps, Mini-Components, Receivers

Primary Benefits to Consumers:

HT/TV

• Clear speech, ideal for movies, sports, news
• Music and sound effects are lifelike and realistic
• Sound remains clear at low volume

General Audio

• Reveals natural depth and detail
• Music is natural and brilliant with rich bass response
• Superior dialog clarity

Gaming/PC

• Dialog clarity
• Music and sound effects are lifelike and realistic
• Reveals natural depth and detail

Car/Automotive

• Clear speech, ideal for news and talk radio
• Music is natural and brilliant with rich bass response
• Enhanced imaging throughout vehicle interior

Primary Benefits to Manufacturers

• Superior audio quality with the trusted BBE brand
• Low MIPS and BQ required minimal DSP demand
• Responsive technical support accelerates development time

Functional Overview

BBE High Definition Sound compensates for phase and amplitude distortion, restoring the brilliance and clarity of the original content material. The BBE High Definition Sound process begins by applying a linear phase shift across the full frequency range of the signal, which allows the speaker system to reproduce the transients and harmonics in the correct order. The BBE process then compensates for speaker amplitude distortion by progressively boosting lower and higher frequencies, and doing so within the context of the phase correction process. This efficiently creates a fuller, richer sound without excess equalization.

_____________________________________________

[EddieE]

I'd add that the main difference (to my ears, this isn't from anything official just what I think) between BBE and BBE+ is 1. it's a bit smoother and 2. that BBE+ doesn't go as far as BBE and moves in smaller increments, giving more control.

So with the old BBE I used to find 1 = a little | 2 = a fair bit | 3 = a whole lot | 4-10 = murdered music.

With BBE+ you can go right upto 10 (a bit excessive) and that seems like a similar level of application to the old 3-4.

The smaller increments allows finer tuning of the enhancement, and cuts off the "overkill" higher settings of BBE standard, which no one with functioning ear drums ever used anyway.

[tbaac]

EddieE, yup that's the marketing material that I was talking about. Its all very nice but it doesn't actually say how I'm supposed to use it. (A lot of that has now been covered on this thread). The functional overview is interesting but doesn't really answer my question.

Thanks for that quote WalkGood. Regarding the D2, it doesn't have a "play" button afaik. Is there an alternative for the D2 that you know of?

Edit: But EddieE, thank you for the 2nd response. Its good to read.

[EddieE]

tbaac,
Oh I get you.

Sorry mis-read. I thought you were asking what it was in a technical sense i.e. what it was doing to the sound to produce the effect it does, which the BBE site answers quite well.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by tbaac

... ... Thanks for that quote WalkGood. Regarding the D2, it doesn't have a "play" button afaik. Is there an alternative for the D2 that you know of? ...

This quote was taken from the i7 manual; I am assuming you are referring to #7 where it says "... JetEffect Preset - To save current JetEffect settings or load the previous settings, touch and hold “PLAY” button to open pop-up window and select SAVE or LOAD."

This is the "touch" sensitive play button under the swing touch, when in this mode (described above) will open a small window that allows you to save or load you setting. Not sure if that makes sense, but basically in the presets you can tweak the eq settings and save them. The diversity of customization is really cool if you like tweaking the presets and it doesn't change the custom eq so you can go back and forth from one custom preset to another.

I believe most of the confusion is derived from the lack of information that cowon supplies as well as poorly written manuals and the excessive use of the term “JetEffect” for the various sound effects …

[tbaac]

Thanks WalkGood, EddieE and Flamin'.

Through this thread I have a better understanding of what's going on with it. As suggested, unless you're using very poor headphones then its probably best to keep things fairly flat I guess. I only listenend to FLACs, I'd be interested to try some lower bitrate MP3s/Oggs with BBE and the MP setting. I'll have to wait until I buy one for that though.

Thanks for your help.