We received an interesting email from engineer Richard Burwen just before the Thanksgiving business break:
"Download the new Burwen Bobcat RE (recording version) at the new Burwen Bobcat website and store for $199.95 at www.burwenbobcat.com.
"Burwen Bobcat RE plugs into the Windows Media Player, taking advantage of its music and video library. It enhances sound when listening, ripping or burning CDs; and at high speed, it converts files to MP3s that give your iPod or musical cell phone sound comparable with a $100,000 hi-fi system. This new version works with your computer sound card, any digital/analog converter (DAC), or best with the Bobcat DAC or Genius power amplifier–DAC.
"Burwen Bobcat makes your computer better than an esoteric CD player by adding patent-pending, nearly inaudible, high-frequency reverberation, made possible only recently by the processing power of the Pentium computer. Combined with subtle tonal balance correction, music becomes more natural, high-pitched instruments are smoothed by the averaging effect, and sharp percussive sounds are clarified by slight stretching.
"We have Pro Products also for mastering and broadcasting. All the Burwen Bobcat products use fixed outputs from my Audio Splendor professional mastering software, http://www.burwenaudio.com, and the same audio processing as Audio Splendor. It was really designed to make my own hi-fi system sound great."
When we last heard from the Burwen Bobcat, it was being promoted by audio legend Mark Levinson as part of his $1995 Red Rose Audio Burwen Bobcat suite, which featured electronics by Daniel Hertz. Since we saw no mention of Red Rose or Mr. Levinson in the press release, we called the number listed at the www.danielhertz.com website to ask if Red Rose, Hertz, and Burwen had parted ways.
"This is Mark Levinson," the man who answered the phone said. Question answered, then. We asked if the $200 download of the Burwen Bobcat represented a change in direction for the product.
"Not really," Levinson said. "Genuinely critical listeners will want the improvement of the Bobcat and the improvements offered by Daniel's DAC, and we continue to offer that as a suite, but there are listeners who use computers in their offices to play back music, and the Bobcat can remove the fatigue artifacts from 128kbps MP3 files and allow those listeners to work better and hear better-sounding music without spending a fortune.
"Dick Burwen's Audio Splendor mixing suite is the most powerful sound tool I'm aware of, but the Bobcat uses pre-set equalizations from that program to improve the bitstream conversion—and it's really the only tool that has been developed that can do that since the introduction of PCM audio in 1976."
Levinson also waxed eloquent about the Daniel Hertz Genius, a $3250 50Wpc integrated amplifier with a built-in USB DAC for the Burwen Bobcat. "It sounds so good, I'd put it up against amps costing many times the price," he said.
We'll reserve judgment until we've auditioned the Genius in our own system, however, we are intrigued that the Burwen Bobcat is now available as a $199 download. For those who listen primarily to lossy-compressed digital files, it may well represent a better value than an equivalent equipment expenditure. What remains to be seen is how many of those listeners want better sound.
