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' MaIcoIm Stewordtest runs the Qsonix Q105,a2TstCentury music library system for peoptewho have no interest in computers

here is a vital questionfacing any manufacturerof a hard-disk music

E piayer. It has norhing todo with what size dlsks to use orwhat sort of case to put it in. It israther more rudimentary i.e whatson of person is going to buy it?

If the answer is the hard-coreaudiophile, then the manufacturingtask is immediatelv simolified.Audiophiles will generally be contentwith a rough edge or two, so long asthe musical ourput is exemplary.They will put up with an interfacethat is a tad clunky provided that themusic sounds first rate.

The so-called'average' music ioveris a much trickier customer becausehe,/she will want good, if not greatsound as well as smooth operationwith a user interface that is neartelepathic in its straightforwardness.In other words, a machine that willsatisff every type of potential buyer:one that mixes superb sound withsuper-slick operation.

Computer-basedQsonix feels that it has the answerwith its powerful and high-performance music managementsystem, the Q105. This turnkey

device, so daims thecompany caters forall manner of people,from casual musiclovers to dsyslsdr, ;.,.:,audiophiles with theiextensive mut

which takes rnecessary CD,storag€ *rough an ,adaptable, RapidRun

Switching the unit on, we were firstaware of the sound made by the fan.Aithough this measured below 60dBand was not horribly intrusive, it didwarrant fu rther investigation.

Inside the enclosure there is asmall ATX motherboard, with agenerously sized Zalman heat-sinVfan cooling the CPU (CentralProcessing Unit) barely 50mm awayfiom a smaller Arctic case fan. Thissits next to a 300-wan Sparkleswitched-mode power supply,which has its own fan.

'Although this is acom puter-based device,it certainly doesn'tlike one... The wholeshebangcomes towithout any arcanboot-up screens"If you are thinkingwhole lotta coolinlwonder whatelsegeneratinga great deal,

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Q&A...HI-FICHOICE SPOKE WITH MIKEWEAVER. OSONIX'S PRESIDENT.'

HFGzHowdidyoumakeoW I n d ows - b o se d o pe roti n g systemso resilient? For example, oneseems oble to ignore the usuolshutdown p rocedu re ond slm plykillthe powen Nextttme itstillsstorts up pe(edly.lfl{..The Qsonix software platform isbased on theWindows XP Embeddedoperatingsystem. Whitethis is aWindows-based solution, it provides

a variant ofthe operating systemthat is customised exactlyforourneeds. Since it is runningonlythecomponents necessary for our system,the reliabitity is greatly increased overa genera[-purpose Windows-basedcomputer. In addition, ita[[ows ustocustomise the start-up and shutdownprocedures and gain ready access tomany industry-standard protocols,formats and technologies.

Wlry wos rtpplng to WAV not lndudedotthe outset, considerlng monryregord it as so superior to WtllA?We chose early on in our company'sdevelopmentto standardise onWindows MediaAudio Lossless.a codec that provides excellentperformancefor many users andapptications. A fully [osstesscompression routine is used and theresulting uncompressed data is bit-for-bit equivalentto the original source.

However, we received feedbackthatsome users stilloreferto use theWAVformatand sowe added this as part ofour PerformanceAudio Pack upgrade.WAV does nresent some additionalchallenges. lt does not supporttagsin any standardized way, so it canbe difficutt to properly preserve theappropriate f ult-featured metadata.

Are there plons for tl PnP foci titi*,so one could include music stored ono tlAS drtYe ln the Qt05 ltbrory?There are plans in theworks for usingNetworkAttached Storage with Qsonixoroducts.We don't have a timeline forthis, butwe have found thatcomputernetworking, large capacity storageand data backup can be cha[[engingfor manyofourcustomerswho are notcomputer-sawy, but are more focusedon music appreciation.

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stgga8t'FORITIE BESTsound qualityftomrips, there's alwaysthe Naim HDX.Butthis is averydifferent machinetothe Qsonixand itis undoubtedlyfairto say that potentialbuyers ofone areunlikelytobe interested ;ntheother.

One couldcomparethe Naimto a Gterham CSRSuperligtt, a feather-weight, two-seater,sports car builtpurelyfor speed and,although road{egalvery much at homeon the track TheQsonirq on theotherhand, is more like aMercedes E-class,a reasonably quickand we[1-appointedlamily saloon that isideal for motorwaycruising.The usero<periencewitheither caristheantithesis oftheother, even thougtlboth have fourwheels and anengine and havebeen engineeredto transport peopleftom pointAtopoint B.

The HDX, forexample, onlyripstoWAVwhile the Qsonixprov:des access tocompressed formats,which can deliveruseful space-savingsin lessthan hard-core audiophilecircumstances.

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case

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and the whole shebang comes to lifewithout any arcane boot-up screens,user-intervention or unfathomablefanfares. In fact, it simply switcheson reasonably quickly putting onein mind of other conventionalelectronic appliances.Connections on the unit are simple

and suaightforward. There are twoUSB (Universal Serial Bus) ports onthe fascia; one could be used to plugin a rnouse as an alternative totouching the screen. To the rear youwill find an ethernet port, tlvo moreUSBs, connections for thetouchscreen, as well as an S,/PDIFdigital output and t\,vo analogueaudio outputs.

As one might expect, the rippingprocedure is equally simple: insertthe disc and the display asks ifyouwant to rip the disc. Touch the Yesbutton and ripping begins. Veryswiftly it completes the task, the unitaccessing cover afi and metadatafrom the internet for its library.

You can, of course, alter the formatin which you rip: there's a choice ofWAV (Waveform Audio File Format),Lossless and compressed WMA(Windows Media Audio) and MP3.

These offer capacities on the 500GBdrive of around 800 uncompressedCDs, or more if you choose to usecompression. There is norequirement to stick with one fonnatall of the time, of course, and you canimport other file rypes, such as FI,AC(Free Lossless Audio Codec) throughthe USB port or network connection.

Warm-upInitially the Qsonix does not seem tobe an especially transparent deviceand its presentation leans towardsbeing rather cloying and euphonic: atouch too close to an old-school valveamplifier. We left lt to warm up overa weekend, during which time itupdated its software to add a coupleof wor*rwhile facilities, one of themthe ability to rip to WAV This madethe previous'best'rip to \ trMALossless an option that we could thenignore if we so chose. We did andthings immediately improved. A fewdays to come up to operatingtemperature never does solid-stateequipment any harm and workingwith WAV files is immeasurablybetter than the unrefined sounding\ trMA files.

MUSIC MANAGEMENT SYSqEfi Y[,S33 REVI EWS

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Listening to a \AtrMA of Van Morrison(a much-loved favourite performer),we weren't impressed by the timbreof his voice. \{hile he is no honey-toned croone4 he certainly shouldnot sound like a bellicose markettrader with acute streptococcalpha4,ngitis - even on his live albums.Listening subsequently to a WAV ripof his A Nrght rn San Francisco Live,he sounds as though he has made acomplete recovery.

The dynamics of the 16-bit,44.lWIz recording are alsosignificantly better on the WA! withfine gradations in level that have notbeen apparent before. The dynamicshading of the \AtrMA could be likenedmore to that of an on/off switch:loud or soft with little differentiationin between. More importantly,though, Morrison's rigorously drilledband sounds slicker and moreenthusiastic in its playing.

Rendering the |6/44WAY rip ofthe Tori Amos American Girl Possealbum after its warm-through, theQsonix sounds faster and its noteshape is much better defined. Thatsaid. the Dresentation retains a

RESUTTS ATA GLANCE

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rRGG[.E{C1RESPOT.ISE201z10kHz+y'0.2dB.Theresponse risesftom +0.1dBat20Hzto+0.3dBat20kHz

lrlOEEA-weighted,20Hz20k{z(-105d8) isan excellentresultandcompambtewithproduct rivals

ItD0.03'/"(209H2-20kHz) issomewhat betowthe norm asfurasaudiophile-quality^t- . ,L^-L

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€K)SSTAJ((1 kHz)-1o2dBis a respectableresult,withnegligible'breakthrough'between leftandrightchannels

WEASIGD Pedro,orge-Luis, thesales director ofdistilbutor, AbsoluteSounds, to describea system that hebelieved wouldrealisethe potentialofthe Q105 andthat he might useto demonstrate itspotential.

"Atthough theQsonix can integratewith anyaudiophilesystem atanylevel, the AbsoluteSounds system isbased on higfi-endproducts that weimport and distributewithin the UK.These includethef12,000, 240watt-per-channel,Devialet D-Premierecombined DACandintegrated amptifier.

"This featuresnot onlythe mostadmnced technologyavailable, but alsoaccepts digital andanaloguesignalssimultaneouslyin averyslickandcompactdesign,It is also happydrivingevencomplex, [ow-impedanceloudspeakers.

"Ourchoice ofspeakerswould bethe f5,400 etegant,floorctanding,Sonus FaberCremona M.Thishigh-performancedesign has boththe strikingsonicsand sophisticatedappearancetomatch the rest ofthe system."

degree of warmth that ensures that itnever becomes clinical. Regardless,we still feel there is potentially morein the way of openness andtransparency to come. That had towait until we imported some higherresoludon recordings, including theDar,rm Langstro th 24-bit/ 9 6WIzalbum Highwire. Now tle music ismore open and communicative.Langstroth's voice escapes more

"Through the Q105,music grabs andholds your attention,making it difficulttodo anythingotherthan relish theperformance."easily from the speakers and herband occupies the acoustic spacebehind her with a greater sense ofauthority and substance. Distinct andnot-in-the-least subtle musicalbenefits also emerge on the

24 -bit/ 9 6kJlz recording of the JerryGarcia, Dave Grisman and Tony Riceacoustic jam session The Pizza Tapes.Through the Q105, music grabs andholds your attention making itdifficult to do anything other thanrelish the performance.

Rewarding performerOverall, the Q105 appears to be mostcontent when handling acousticmusic and rendering better qualityrecordings. Crisply defined leadingedges (of the sort that an acousticguitar produces when played with aplectrum) are impressive, while theclarity that comes with good24-bitrecordings seems to enliven thesmooth, slightly relaxed performanceof t}e device. Equally though, itsavours the beautifully recordedI6-biV44.7kJ1z rip of Lambchop's IsA Woman, producing rewardingresults with regular CD albums.

The Q105 seems to thrive whenthe recording has space around theperformers. And it's far fromdisapproving too, especially when arecording fails to reach the higheststandards of audio quality o

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