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I'm confused on this issue. I have read here and elsewhere that in these two compressed bitstream formats - a $1000 receiver and a multi$$$$ processor sound "exactly the same". Could that possible be true? Any experience with direct comparison?EAD
Lexicon
Meridian
Classe
Sony ES
California Audio Labs
Theta....and the list goes on. Remember this is HT only - I know there is a very wide margin for 2 channel performance (and why so many of us have intergrated systems with separate transports and preamps separating HT from PCM - as not many (if any) processors can rival a top notch tube pre with a top notch transport).
Follow Ups:
Many of the high end processors utilize in-house custom decoding algorithms, where it could steer the sound between channels more realistically.e.g.
The Meridian units has a aspect ratio setting, where it will apply the algorithm differently if you specify a wide speaker layout as opposed to a long, narrow one.Plus, while it is in the digital stream, processors would do various type of data massaging, including jitter control, upsampling, custom noise shaping...
Not at all, in fact I've heard of $5000 processors sounding worse than a $1000 reciever, and vice versa.I guess it's good to look at it this way, since you are dealing with a compressed format, it is harder to discern the differences in the same way as with 2-channel material. There you are looking primarily at imaging, noise, detail, fidelity etc.
However, things like channel seperation/integration, panning speed, detail retrieval etc can all make a massive difference in the overall HT experience. The gains in fidelity may be marginal, but there are other areas where HT can excel. In fact when dealing with a compressed format, the truly "great" processors have an opportunity to make the most of every bit ( sorry for the pun, heh ) of information available.
More to the point, why are you asking this question mate? Take ur E9000ES, install V1.10, have a listen, then install V2.5.
If SOFTWARE can make such a difference, you can bet that hardware can too.
D.Jay
One of the "downsides" of having a really good 2 channel set up is that it makes DD/DTS sound like s-h-.....t! I go from warm, sweet, and transparent to dry, harsh, and general crap. I guess those whizzing bullets don't need more transparency!
Many processors use the same chip to "decode" the DTS or DD data signal. At this point the data is raw PCM and all processors are more or less on equal footing. It's what's done after this point that makes the difference. You can expect high-end processors to use better D/A converters, analog stages, etc. MSB Technology actually makes a product (MDP-3X) that will output the decoded DTS or DD PCM bitstream on three digital outputs (2 channels on each output) for the 5.1 channels. You can then use whatever D/A converters you want. Imagine having three Wadia 27ix DACs to process your 5.1 HomeTheater sound!!!
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