i went to the dsp plugins page, and downloaded the first item there which looks like a big square red box with 5 sliders. i have found that with the sliders set at 8, 7, 8, 2 and 5, standard 128bps mp3s sound miles better. the full versions surround sound feature does not seem to improve matters with my old soundcard and 2 speaker setup, but might be worth paying for with the setup you mention. there is something else intriguing on that dsp page, called the wow thing, but i have never got it to download properly. if you try it and it works for you, could you post a message with the wow thing in the subject for me? thanks. p.s. a good feature of the dfx thing i first mentioned is that you can turn the power switch off and on whilst listening to a track without the music stopping. this allows a really objective listen to whether in your opinion, the settings you are using really do improve matters for you, or if you might be fooling yourself, which in turn helps the decision of whether to pay the small charge for the fully featured version. happy listening!