First of all, 'trout, did you get my PM?
I do not believe that most Audyssey users dislike the results. Far and away, if you follow the long AVS Audssey thread, most do, however the improvement is mostly in the LFE/bass areas and that only applies to the higher levels of Audyssey. In any case that horse has been beat to death in this thread, either a person likes it or they don't.
I didn't mean to suggest that most AVR/processor owners that boast possession of products featuring Audyssey are not satisfied -- merely that from what I have read, many experience the same "blanket over the speakers" effect that I have, based on the EQ curve it sets at certain points. Of course, as pointed out, the more advanced versions of the system's algorithms are taking into account many more factors and adjusting to them, so perhaps the broad stroke of painting
every Audyssey user into that corner was incorrect.
Be careful when someone mentions Pure/Direct or Pure, or Direct Modes. Different manufacturers do these differently and if can become real confusing when trying to compare across product lines. Onkyo products, at least of XX5 vintage, do not have a Pure/Direct mode. Instead they separate these into two different modes. With the 805, Direct bypasses almost all digital processing including bass management, Audyssey, and all other modes that would require digital processing. "Pure" Mode is "Direct" plus it turns-off the front display and the video processor (which in my case I do not use anyway). I believe the 605 just has the direct mode if I read its manual correctly (the manual says one thing in the audio modes description; direct only, but shows both modes in the tables that are provided). Easy enough to test; does any audio mode turn off the 605's display?
I will double check this and get back to you -- I know my 8555 stereo receiver has both a Direct and Pure Direct option, with Pure Direct shutting off the receiver's display panel.
From what I learned at AVS in their ridiculously long thread on the Panasonic DMP-BD10A Blu-ray player (when I had one), when using Onkyo's "Multichannel" listening mode and the receiver takes incoming audio signals over HDMI or multichannel analog inputs, this mode allows for full bass management with set distances, trim levels, etc., even though a source deck may be doing the decoding of TrueHD, etc (such as my BD10A was)...when DIRECT mode is used on the Onkyos, this bypasses the tone controls and all other applications so that the signal is played "as is" from the source -- when I tried flipping back and forth between these two listening modes, I don't recall hearing much difference, which I thought was weird...
Denon, and I believe I have read that other manufacturers may also, has what they call Pure/Direct. AcuDefTechGuy mentions (if I understand his comment correctly) that it is possible with his Denon to be in Pure/Direct Mode and have still have Audyssey in play. If I am understanding this correctly, I am surprised that this would be allowed since Audyssey does require digital processing which would defeat the purpose of Pure/Direct in the first place. However, like I said, I may have misunderstood his comment and although I used to have a Denon AVR it only had a Direct mode and it did bypass all digital processing when in that mode.
I'm uncertain about Denon's applications, but I believe in the Onkyos, switching to one of these "pure/direct" type modes overrides Audyssey settings...
Long story, but with Onkyo products, if you engage either Pure or Direct Modes, the AVR will kill bass management (almost always a very bad thing) and all other post decoded digital audio processing; Audyssey and all the other audio modes. Therefore, I would never recommend using Direct or Pure audio modes with a Onkyo product if for no other reason than that the bass management system is turned off, which would then require full range speakers on all channels.
Indeed -- I suppose what I was trying to say in the paragraph above!
And, as I said, when I put my 605 into "MULTICHANNEL" listening mode for PCM audio tracks (I have this mode set for auto detect in the Listening Mode Setup in the receiver for incoming multichannel PCM, like on Uncompressed PCM tracks on Blu-rays), this seems to be the "correct" processing setting for such audio signals as compared to "Direct."
The only time I really fool around with these pure or direct modes is on my 8555 stereo receiver in the two channel system -- supposedly, engaging at least Direct should make audio from, say, CDs cleaner with less "junk" in the signal, but to be honest, I don't hear any difference switching between standard Stereo mode on this receiver (with bass and treble at flat) and the Pure/Direct modes. Would you recommend listening to music on my two channel system in Direct mode (when listening to CDs)?