SRS Labs HD Audio Lab – The Ultimate PC Audio Software

By bgiacoletti

SRS HD Audio Lab: The Experience

Ok, so I know you guys are itching to know what I thought of the HD Audio Lab Software. During my testing I watched a lot of movies, played a lot of games, and listened to even more music. During all of these activities I would turn the software off and on for various lengths of time just to let my ears adjust to the current settings. Once I felt I was used to the software being on or off, I would change to the other (as you will read as we progress down the page). SRS Labs HD Audio Lab did something to my movies, games and music that is unlike anything I have ever heard. Now don’t get too excited because there were a few pitfalls along the way — not many… but there were a few.

SRS Labs HD Audio Lab Case

OK, so for the testing I employed the use of the following:

A lot of music from both ITunes (in MP3 and Mp4 format) and CD

Movies on DVD:

  • Star Wars, not “episode 4” or “A New Hope” Just Star Wars
  • Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
  • Neil Peart: Anatomy Of A Drum Solo

Movies on ITunes:

  • Nirvana: Live At Reading
  • Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone

Games:

  • Left 4 Dead 2
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Audio Surf
  • And F.E.A.R. (Because I happened to be re-playing it at the time of this article)
  • And another game I can’t mention because I am a beta tester

Speakers and Headphones:

  • Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Speakers
  • Plantronics GameCom 377 Headset

SRS Labs HD Audio Lab Box Front

When I heard I was going to review this product I had my doubts. We have all been through the multitude of “Audio Enhancements” that our sound cards or on board audio claim will be the next great thing for our PC’s, only to be disappointed by an utterly useless, and overbearing amount of reverb. While reverb has its place in audio, it belongs on guitar amps and vocal effects. Not on our PC’s in an over preponderance of what I like to call Sound Slush. Nope, none of that here. What I was greeted with was a wall of freaking sound. Have you ever imagined that your headphones could sound like the inside of a movie theater? Yup, that’s kind of the experience here. Ever wanted to feel like you were part of the movie on your 2.1 speaker system? Order up!

SRS Labs HD Audio Lab Box Back

No matter what I threw at the HD Audio Lab, it threw it right back at me with even more force. I am a huge music snob; I am not claiming to be an audiophile, but I am a professional drummer. So I like it when my music sounds good. HD Audio Lab made my music sound so alive and so spacial I was blown away. Even older recordings, for example, like “God of Thunder” by KISS take on a whole new life when processed through the HD Audio Lab software.

Movies were where the software really shined although there were a few, shall we say, distortions during some of the movies, it was not much to complain about. The only real complaint I would have is that while watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull there were a couple of spots in the movie where dialog could not even be heard. This happened on two occasions and could be reproduced over and over again and could be clearly heard with the software turned off. I have absolutely no explanation for this but it did not seem to occur in any of the other movies I watched.

Also worth mentioning is during the playback of two of the movies there were occasional patches of distortion during the spoken dialog that could be reproduced over and over again, but again was absent with the software turned off. Never before have I been this impressed with audio software. It is like SRS Labs says, “Once you use HD Audio Lab you won’t want to experience your media without it again.” I couldn’t agree more. Gaming was immersive and had a depth that I have never heard. I am not saying that this software is going to make you a better gamer but it will make your gaming experience more enjoyable, without a doubt.

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