The BASS blast during the MATRIX test on THE LOBBY SHOOTOUT was very good! Parted my hair with the subwoofer from 3 feet! Not bad at all! :) I guess what I didn't like was the clarity. The lobby shootout scene asks for at least 4 different ranges of sound. Gunshots, Shell casings, High music, and then a Lower music. While the gunshots were loud and clear, the music was muddy. I could compensate for this by adjusting the EQ settings for my soundcard, but even then it wasn't perfect, and this is the 1st player I've had to alter settings on. PowerDVD lacked BASS in this scene, but it was otherwise clean and crisp. A bit of overcompensation perhaps? Like I say, the BASS blasts were truly impressive. Hey, if that's what you wanna hear, you'll be in heaven! The background music just was warbled some and didn't have that clear "ring" to it. But with BASS like that, you may not mind too much!

A problem with the sound was if the system was taxed. If I tried to play DVD in a window and do something else, the sound got SQUEAKY? Lost bass punch, and you could hear hissy type distortions. This only happened sometimes using another application that required sound, however this is the 1st player to exhibit this behavior? My soundcard will play as many sounds as I can throw at it, so I can only guess it's a resource problem with the player audio setup? Again, it only happened when I pushed it.

The audio was good. It didn't have the clarity that the Big-3 players all boast, but it did a decent job, and it's bass was excellent. the Distortion issue might be a resource problem that faster systems won't have. VaroVision should consider other 3D sound standards that are more popular (A3D and EAX). I know lots of PC owners, but most own Vortex-2 or Creative based soundcards. I don't know anyone with a Q-Surround card personally, though I did find mention on the web that some exist.