Part 2
Thrice: Once I popped in Vheissu, I skipped to track 2 “Between the end and where we lie”. This songs starts off softly with a kick drum beat and synthesizer. This isn’t a normal kick drum though. It's very lean and lacks any real “bass” which is why I used it; if the subwoofer adds to it, you’ll know.
I can safety say the Velodyne didn’t add to it. It was clean and lean. After a minute or so a bass line kicks in, and again, it has a very lean sound. There’s very little heavy bass in this CD and it doesn’t go below 40Hz. The bass line was also handled with the utmost care, and the Velodyne therefore passed this test with flying colors.
I skipped ahead again to track 5 “For Miles”. This is my favorite song on the whole album. It starts out with gentle piano, which is soon accompanied by Dustin’s lyrics. 40 seconds in, and the bass line comes in. Again, in the same Vheissu fashion, it’s lean. So lean in fact, you'd think the subwoofer wasn't even playing unless your subwoofer is boomy. No boom from the Velodyne, just tight, clean bass. I could get used to this.
The last song I'm going to use from Vheissu is track 6 “Hold fast hope”. Right at the end, there's a sweep, starting around 100 Hz or so. It then sweeps down to 30Hz. This'll show me if and when the bass will begin to fade, and/or THD begins to increase.
The DPS-12 didn’t fade at all. It went all the way down and with authority. It did however lose some tightness. It seemed to happen right near the end. Thus, I think the subwoofer’s tightness only goes so “low”.
The Mars Volta: I love this band. They have a sound I've never heard before and I can’t get enough of it. If I had to describe their sound, it would be trance/rock/Latin with a little brass thrown in for fun.
The only song I’m going to use is track 5 “Cassandra geminni”. I don’t even know how to pronounce it, so don’t feel bad if you can’t. As I stated earlier, this album has harder hitting and lower bass then Vheissu. This is my favorite song on the album, and contains some great riffs and lyrics. The reason I’m only using this song is 1.) It’s the only one that's a decent length and sounds like a song, and 2.) Not a lot of people listen to this band.
It starts off hard with fast guitar riffs, bass and drum beats, kind of like the bass player is slapping. The vocals come in a second later which have guitar mini solos during, that continue after the lyrics. If you don't understand this, it’s ok; you have to hear it to understand. On to the bass whose quick little hits are quite dynamic and are lower in frequency then any of the kick drum beats in Thrice. The Velodyne handled them well, but when turned up, they began to become loose. The bass line comes in after this little intro and is also far heavier than anything on the Thrice CD. Same story with the DPS-12. It handled them, but once the dB rose, so did the THD, and whilst bearable, it's something to note.
Blue Man Group: This CD is going to be the hardest test the DPS-12 will face, musically. There are many tracks with sub 40, even 30Hz bass.
Track 3 “Sing Along” ft. Dave Mathews will be the first at bat. There is a continuing kick drum beat which is in the 40-50Hz range, but has sound down in the 30’s. It’s very hard to describe but is great for testing “punch” or “tightness” which you should feel hit you in the chest.
The DPS-12 could easily hit the notes required by this song, but they just didn’t have the tactile feel that I've felt before from other subwoofers. It also seemed a smidge loose. A little THD “eee” if you will. For $399 it certainly did a great job, but it could have perhaps been a little better in the tactile department.
The second song I'll be using is track 6 “Persona”. This song contains very low bass, sub 35Hz which is a critical area for subwoofers. This is important for 2 reasons. 1.) A true subwoofer can play these notes, and 2.) A good subwoofer will not “boom” these notes. The DPS-12 did boom, enough to draw unwanted attention to it. It hit the notes well and showed no signs of fade, but it was't particularly clean. I didn’t mind this because I rarely listen to this CD, but it might be something to consider if you're a BMG fan.
The last song I'll use from The Complex is track 7 “Piano Smasher”. This song has strong 30Hz bass that continues throughout the verse. What I'm looking for is the subwoofer to maintain the energy and not fade out. Again, I received the same results as for the previous song. The bass was there in ample amounts, but it wasn’t particularly clean. It was a far cry from the Thrice performance. This again supports my theory that this subwoofer’s THD rises greatly around 35Hz. I don’t find this to be that bad, however if it occured around the 60Hz region, it'd be awful.
NOTE: ALL Movie and Music listening was done with the Jazz - Classical DSP engadged. Using a different DSP will change the performance of the subwoofer. Though some areas may benifit with changes, others will suffer. I used the Classical setting because it showed the performance of the suwboofer with out any assistance, good or bad. Do not expect the same results I did with the same preset. Also, don't take my word as the be-all/end-all of this subwoofers performance. Let your ears decide.
Listening Evaluation - Movies:
What subwoofers were made for? Maybe, but its all relative; we each have our own opinion. I'll be testing this subwoofer against 9 different movies. Some would say I’m crazy, others would say I've no life, but those are not the reasons why I am going to do this. If reviewers use more test material, you've a better chance that you can connect with the reader. Not everyone has U571 or WOTW. By adopting a greater variety of source material, people know exactly what you’re talking about and have first hand experience with it.
Listed below in no particular order is the list of movies. I'll not go into too much detail, but will test each movie against the DPS-12
-Star Wars Ep.1
-Batman Begins
-Team America
-Matrix Revolutions
-LOTR: FOTR
-WOTW
-Star Wars Ep.3
-The Incredibles
-Doom
Matrix Revolutions: The bass begins when the movie does. The title goes flying by with fairly deep, but articulate bass. Its not just one note. That’s why I used it.
The DPS-12 did a good job of keeping the notes apart, but they weren't particularly clean. This seems to be the story for this subwoofer. After the beginning of the film I skipped ahead to the APU stomp scene. The note is centered around 25Hz; the limit for this subwoofer, and it did a great job reproducing these affects. Again, not particularly clean or tactile, but for $399, getting 25Hz at all is good enough.
Team America: This is a great movie. Funny, entertaining, what more could you ask for? How about bass? DONE! This movie’s intro is like that of the Matrix Revolutions but this bass is far deeper. This comes from the title flying across the screen before blowing up. The fly-by part is very deep (~30Hz) and is good for testing the subwoofers ability to maintain the energy as well as play the note loud. The Velodyne DPS-12 hit the note, but didn't want to go very loud. This note is not very loud to begin with, but it could use some more sauce.
Next, I went into the special features and used the theatrical trailers. These are very entertaining and contain good amounts of bass in a small time span. The DPS-12 did a good job of outputting high SPLs while still hitting the lower notes, all while continuing to play a tad boomy.
Batman Begins: Again, another movie with bass in the intro. I really enjoyed this movie, and hope they redo the whole set with Christian Bale. It held true to the comic with the storyline and darkness. It also has great bass!
The intro’s drums have bass into the 40’s, with other, smaller portions lower. The DPS-12 handled this well whithout drawing attention to itself even though it wasn't the cleanest performance.
A great scene which contains deep bass is the sword fight scene on the frozen lake. The cracking ice will show off a boomy sub, and in a non-good way. The DPS-12 didn’t have any tactile response on this scene and just boomed out notes. Actually, the DPS-12 had very little tactile affect on me throughout this review. Only during higher SPLs did I feel anything, and even then is wasn't much to speak of.
The Tumbler chase scene was one such scene. There was a little shaking going on, but only when he was crashing into concrete posts or flying by the camera. I wish I felt it when he revved the engine.
Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring: This is a great, long, movie. It has one of the best subwoofer tests I have put a subwoofer through. U-571 is great and WOTW is all good, but nothing will make a subwoofer go nuts like this movie. To date, every ported subwoofer I have played this scene on belted out wind like it just ate an extra spicy bean burrito.
What scene might I be talking about? It’s the plain-old well scene. The stupid hobbit fiddles with the dead body and down the well he goes, taking a long chain and heavy bucket with him. The entire ruckus this corpse bucket chain combination makes alerts the creatures in the area. They begin pounding drums that radiate from said well, and the camera goes in for a look. At this moment, your subwoofer driver exerts to its limits and usually belts out large, unhealthy amounts of air.
The DPS-12, having a slot port, didn’t belch out anything. All I heard was loud bass and a tick, which could've been the driver or the wall, but definitely wasn't air. I checked to make sure the driver wasn’t damaged and it was fine. It just goes to show how hard this scene is on subwoofers.
SheepStar (continue to part 3)
