Which is better for audio? 5.1 Dolby Digital.. or 5.1 uncompressed audio??

[O.E.]

I been reading around and every movie review always hypes out uncompressed audio.. But I don't know which one is better? Or do I need a special Receiver to play uncompressed audio?

When I have uncompressed audio playing through my receiver, my receiver reads it as Prologic 2 sound. So, I always tend to hear my movies through Digital. At least my receiver reads them as DD or DTS.

So whats' going on?

Thanks!

[Cieljek]

I've no idea.. the best I can get out of my setup is 5.1 DTS. You have your audiophiles and your audionoobs... i'm the latter

Be nice to have someone breakdown all the audio setups and what the difference is.

[LembasBread]

I been reading around and every movie review always hypes out uncompressed audio.. But I don't know which one is better? Or do I need a special Receiver to play uncompressed audio?

When I have uncompressed audio playing through my receiver, my receiver reads it as Prologic 2 sound. So, I always tend to hear my movies through Digital. At least my receiver reads them as DD or DTS.

So whats' going on?

Thanks!

The multi-channel, uncompressed audio you find on Blu-ray Discs will always be better than the Dolby track, hands down, just read the quote in my sig. Via Toslink optical cable, yes, you will only get two channel uncompressed audio (downmixed by the player) and your A/V receiver will be able to do any matrixing you deem necessary. You do need a special receiver for multi-channel, uncompressed audio - one with HDMI audio input (as opposed to throughput; just make sure you read the fine details) or 6-7 channel analog inputs if you have a player that does DAC within the player and spits it out via the analog outs.

P.S. If you don't have an HDMI receiver or ability for analog inputs and until you upgrade your receiver, it's usually best to just listen to the Dolby track as it is a true 5.1 mix (assuming you have it bitstreaming out of the player) and will sound more punchy and aggressive than the matrixed uncompressed mix because of the nature of DSP's and matrixing. While the PCM matrix will still sound cleaner and have greater fidelity, it won't sound as aggresive and punchy as the Dolby mix. At least IMO.

[Neutral101]

5.1 uncompressed audio is way way better than regular Dolby 5.1. Trust me once you hear it you won't want to go back to regular Dolby 5.1 again.

[illegalprelude]

yea PCM is way nice. Even on none action movies (Layer Cake, Night at the Musuem) I truely noticed what ive been missing out (I just got the Denon 2807 so now I can use PCM)

[O.E.]

Okay... I guess is time for to "upgrade" receiver soon...

Thanks!

[Ferrari Fan]

Wait a few months...new receivers are coming out this summer. Onkyo is supposed to have some very nice ones that will offer ALL the new audio codecs and very reasonably priced too. Go have a look on AVS forums. Here is a direct link

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=832270

Also, they have an audio area on their forums too. Good luck.

[DMRSX]

Dolby Digital sounds like two cans with a string compared to lossless audio.

(Congrats on the new AVR illegal and welcome to 'Club Denon')

[O.E.]

Thanks Again for the heads up.. I will wait and shop around..