Pictures
In Use
Impressions
The plugs
and receptacles had quite a nice tight fit. The more sloppiness in the connections,
the more signal loss occurs and thusly sound quality drops. It should be noted
that audio professionals should not use the FrontX ports for only one reason:
every connector/connection in the signal path will degrade sound quality.
But I suspect that most users with a $5000 multitracking rig would not be
bothered by bending over to connect or re-connect cables as that's what they
do for exercise anyway. ;-)
FrontX needs
to make one change or further clarification: the use of the "speaker
socket." Here's an installation quote from the rear of the packaging:
Imagine
plugging of [sic] earphone will cut off the speakers' operation.
Well, yes, technically
plugging anything into the front headphone socket will mute any other device
sending a signal to say, your speakers, but there is one caveat. Not all,
in fact very few, soundcards have "powered" outputs. A powered output
is different from a line output in that the impedance is lower. What that
lowered impedance equates to is the ability to drive (make undistorted noise)
low impedance items such as headphones and other speakers. The general rule
is that the output impedance should be at least ten times lower than the input
impedance. For example, if I had a set of 32-64 ohm headphones, I'd want the
output device to have an impedance of no higher than 3.2-6.4 ohms to prevent
the dreaded condition known as "loading." What FrontX doesn't guaranty
is that any appreciable output from your sound card will be available should
you choose to plug in low impedance devices. Find
out if your soundcard has powered or line level outputs before calling your
FrontX dealer to complain.
Conclusions
I teach at a small technical
college and a funny thing happened. We were attempting to figure some way
to have a 
remote
panel jack containing the sound card ports, only they would be mounted on
the front of the desk or within the computer itself. Within a day or two,
the FrontX Ports arrived and I stood back in awe of the solution that was
literally laid right at my doorstep. How
often does that happen? Not very...
This is a product that
a large percentage of the computer population can use. Especially in older
machines, the FrontX Ports provide almost a total elimination of ingress and
egress every time speakers or a joystick is changed. The price is reasonable
too. For people with bad backs or for those that prefer to keep their pants
or skirt clean, here's a product that makes a great stocking stuffer. I'll
be (hopefully) buying 100+ of these wonders for my school.
William Yaple
10/28/00
