All the settings, including master volume, can be adjusted from either the DE-003's front panel controls or the supplied remote control for the true couch potato. The decoder's display is large and colourful with a tasteful, and highly visible, yellow and orange colour scheme. There is a pair of stereo inputs at the rear, one RCA and the other a 3.5mm jack. The decoder also has two sets of outputs, a proprietary 9-pin DIN or three 3.5mm jacks that, with the provided cables, connect the unit to the 9902 sub's inputs. We found the DE-003 very easy to use, particularly with the remote control, and even in Prologic or Surround modes, the extraneous noise was minimal. The Rave, as previously mentioned, includes a 6-channel sound card based on the ForteMedia FM801-AS chipset. The PCI card has a very small form factor and quite a low component count and, internal connectors, while not extensive, are certainly adequate with CD, Video, PC speaker and TAD inputs. External connectors include a joystick/midi port, mic, line-in, stereo out and the proprietary 9-pin DIN 5.1 output.
As a sound card, the FM801 is quite good but to be fair, we found the VideoLogic SonicFury to be a touch better. The latter had superior hardware midi, whereas the FM801's instruments were quite weak, but then this is all academic, as one would certainly opt for the excellent Yamaha XG software synth provided with the FM801. Other bundled software included WinDVD, which while not our favourite software DVD player, nevertheless performed the task adequately. We played "The Matrix" DVD to test out the card's Dolby Digital decoding prowess and found we could not fault it. During the battle scene with the platoon of soldiers, for example, the location of the ejected bullet casings were easily discerned between the rear left and right speakers. In essence, locating the individual sound sources on the "sound stage" was not a problem. For games players, the card boasts Aureal's A3D and Creative's EAX and, although we did not have a chance to explore the limits of the card's compatibility, it nevertheless appears to position sounds quite well through the front and rear speakers in Unreal for example.
Jazz also manufactures an optional external decoder, the DE-005, with exactly the same form factor as the DE-003 but, in addition to Dolby Prologic, the DE-005 also includes Dolby Digital and DTS decoders. The DE-005 will connect to either of the speaker systems and, as far as layout and functionality is concerned, is very similar to the DE-003. The front panel display is a bright red with a large digital volume level display and, ignoring the extra decoding functionally for the moment, where the DE-005 features depart from the DE-003, is the addition of a pair of digital inputs, both optical and coaxial, at the rear. I compared the Dolby Digital performance of the DE-005 at home on my DVD player where I compared the audio quality of the DE-005 Dolby Digital decoder with the DVD player's own internal Dolby Digital decoder. The results were virtually indistinguishable. An added bonus, however, was the DE-005's ability to tweak the delay time between the front and rear speakers for a more realistic surround sound experience.
Jazz have produced a pair of surprisingly well-built speaker systems in the J-9902 and Rave, with sound quality better than you would expect for the price. If you're in the market for a 5.1 speaker system, we certainly recommend you give them a listen.
Jazz 9902, Rave 5.1 and DE-005
Price: J-9902 AU$389; Rave 5.1 AU$599; DE-005 AU$549.
Distributor: Magnafield
Ph: 02 9778 4100; Fax: 1300 369 385
Rating:
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