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I recently acquired my first Dolby Digital HT receiver. I am now happy with the sound of the system, but I am ambivalent about using multi-channel modes for music. I am talking about music recorded in 2 channel stereo. I do not hear much difference between the various modes of multichannel enhancement. In most instances I find the broader and deeper soundstage sort of nice, but generally prefer the greater clarity and cohesiveness of regular stereo. I was wondering what others think. I imagine that most musically oriented audiophiles look down on using Dolby Digital or Pro Logic for music, but are there some who like it? What is the preferred mode? My Pioneer receiver has "music" modes in both a "standard" and "advanced" form, as well as Pro-logic. Again, I can't tell much difference. What should I be hearing? Forgive me if this is a topic that has been beaten to death; I am new to this forum.
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I will be on the lookout for some more SACDs and DVD-A discs. Amazon only has a few of the latter.
For Dolby Surround try some of the Telarc and Delos Dolby Surround CDs. Also if you have DTS I hear the new DTS 24/96 sounds quite good even though it is lossy, though not as lossy as Dolby Digital.It is best to listen to 2 channel recordings in 2 channel. Don't try to make you 2 channel recordings into surround recordings.
To hear surround sound at it's best you need a high resolution player, there are many afordable universal players that play DVD-Audio and SACD.
> It is best to listen to 2 channel recordings in 2 channel. Don't try to make you 2 channel recordings into surround recordings. <No. Let people try for themselves rather than imposing your own views on them. Most who use a good matrix such as Pro Logic IIx or Logic 7 with their two-channel CDs much prefer the results.
Though I was not very happy with earlier incarnations of prologic before IIx, it has now become indispensable.
Both Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic are lossy formats and the fidelity is far worse than with normal stereo. Neither is even close to the Hi-Rez formats, which are SACD and DVD-A. Trust your ears. They're steering you correctly.I certainly encourage you to experiment with multi-channel, but you really need a SACD or DVD-A player to do so.
the Rear Channels which are Mono and not full range? It is Dolby Digital that is lossy and inferior to CDs.Dolby Surround is basically a 3 channel system using only 2 channels (Right, Left). The surrounds are matrixed into the L/R signal and decoded with a Dolby Surround Decoder and the 2 rear speakers play the same signal. Dolby Pro Logic adds a steering mechanism for a center channel to center voices so they appear to come from the TV screen.
There are many excellent Dolby Surround CDs from Telarc and Delos, though unlike high resolution media they are 16 Bit 44.1kHz, no compression no sonic losses.
But my experience listening to music in DD or Pro-logic MCH has not been as positive. On my system Pro-logic tends to muddy the sound and make listening less enjoyable than 2CH CD. DD just sounds like lo-fi. DTS MCH is better but is still only approaches average CD quality.Keep in mind that I'm a pom-pom shaking proponent of SACD MCH sound. But I like my channels to be both hi-rez and discrete.
since it is not a compression mechanism but rather a matrixing solution for widening the soundstage. Any loss is not inherent to the process but just a result of any post processing you do such as DSP or bass management.The original incarnation was for home theatre and created a rear channel by factoring out the out of phase sound from the left and right channels and a center channel by matrixing it out of the in phase sound from the left and right channels.
Later incarnations (Prologic II and later) created for music simply create a matrixed soundstage that surrounds the listener.
Personally, I listen to most of my CDs with Prologic IIx processing and love it. I do not hear any significant degradation in the sound quality but find the widened sound stage greatly enhances the listening experience for me. However, I never liked any of the previous Prologic incarnations prior to IIx for listening to music.
I believe that this experience is much better however when all speakers are full range. I have two systems bith at home and at the office and the effect is much more rewarding on my home system which has excellent rear speakers.
I have a universal player that can handle SACD and DVD-Audio, but I have been able to find only a few SACDs and no DVD-As in the stores.
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