Are Lossless Actually Audibly Superior to Compress DD and DTS?

[EddieG]

In short - you're probably not going to be able to tell the difference between lossy compressed and uncompressed (or lossless compressed) HD audio.

Great...I spent more money on a blu-ray player that decodes the audio formats and now I find out I could have gotten a cheaper one and used toslink and "probably not tell the difference".

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

When I buy a blu-ray movie, the first thing I look at is the Sound Codec: Is it TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, or PCM?

If it's DD or DTS, I usually don't even buy it.

I'm still amazed at how so many Chinese/Hong Kong/Japanese blu-rays are 7.1 DTS-HD MA, 7.1 TrueHD, or 7.1 PCM, or ALL of the above on the same disc, and yet there are still many American blu-rays that only have Dolby Digital - like Speed Racer!

 

[sploo]

Great...I spent more money on a blu-ray player that decodes the audio formats and now I find out I could have gotten a cheaper one and used toslink and "probably not tell the difference".

Well, of course it also depends on the mastering/source for the lossless version. It may well be that it is a better sounding audio stream (due to the source not the encoding), hence you've given yourself the option of choosing any of the streams and trying it out.

 

[davidtwotrees]

I bought a yammie 663 just so I could "hear" the new codecs. Meh. I guess I was used to "good" sound so I wasn't blown away by the wondercodecs. I wasn't however, used to HD video. So for me, the blu rays are all about the picture. My take? Action pictures (iron man, war of the worlds, LOTR) are to BluRay what Classical is to SACD. Action pics make up about 5% of my viewing just like classical makes up about 5% of my listening. And both of those genres are where hd sound shines the best. So if I don't have much interest in those genres, why am I gearing up for them?
Yes, that is a pretty generalised, black and white statement, but it is logic and common sense to me in that regards. Some of this may be due having to mix my two channel and HT in one rig due to space............
I will be selling my yammie shortly and going back to my modded Lexicon prepro.....

 

[Djizasse]

could not be sure that there were no differences in the mixing process...
...Very often, different versions of the soundtrack are used (i.e., different levels in mixing, different EQing, etc.)...
...different EQ or mixing applied to it that makes it more pleasing...

I want the new codecs, not because I can hear that one format is better than another, but because I'll choose whichever I prefer. At least I can choose. And, although I have no way of knowing this, I believe that the "best" mix will be reserved for the latest codecs.

 

[Gohanto]

People mention comparing disks and the chances they have different mixes on them, but so me that seems like a strange argument. BluRay's video improvements is obviously the biggest reason to go Blu in the first place.

Isn't the more practical test running both optical and HDMI cables from the BluRay player and then switching between those?

 

[jbrillo]

This is just my opinion but just by the "seat-of-the-pants-feel", I didn't notice a huge difference in sound with the Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD MA soundtracks vs. regular DD and DTS. I did notice some difference, but nothing truely overwhelming. I'm happy with it, but it's not like I'm going to replace my entire DVD collection with blu-ray. I'll only buy new movies from this day forward in blu-ray. Even blu-ray in general I think is just OK. The video is better, but the video I get from my up-converting Pioneer Elite dvd player is pretty darn good too. It's just not the same huge difference you got going from standard def TV to HDTV, but it's better.

 

[billy p]

People mention comparing disks and the chances they have different mixes on them, but so me that seems like a strange argument. BluRay's video improvements is obviously the biggest reason to go Blu in the first place.

Isn't the more practical test running both optical and HDMI cables from the BluRay player and then switching between those?

Now that is a good idea! I tried the analog and digital comparison awhile back with the BD55. However I exchanged my the BD55 for the BD35 and I never even consider it. Damn it, now I can't find my optical cable and I need to buy one.

Thanks a lot, Bill

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

trueHD vs DTS-HD

I was watching "Dragon Tiger Gate" BD, which has both 7.1 TrueHD & DTS-HD MA.

After watching DTS-MA for a while, I switched to TrueHD, and the sound totally sucked.

I guess the volume was way too low or something. Or maybe that "compressed" feeling. It felt a lot less Dynamic then DTS-MA.

Then I switched back to DTS-MA and everything was happily ever after.

This experience only pertains to this BD, of course.

It differs from movie to movie.

I just wanted to share my experience here.

 

[Pyrrho]

People mention comparing disks and the chances they have different mixes on them, but so me that seems like a strange argument. BluRay's video improvements is obviously the biggest reason to go Blu in the first place.

Isn't the more practical test running both optical and HDMI cables from the BluRay player and then switching between those?

Practical for what purpose? If the question is, are the new formats superior to the old ones, then the answer is absolutely not, because they are likely to be different mixes. If the question is, which of these two soundtracks do I prefer whether due to the format or mix or whatever, then that would be quite a different matter, and if the player is outputing the different soundtrack via optical, instead of downgrading the lossless format to something "lossy" (not the same word as "lousy"), then it would be fine.

And of course, I agree that the main reason to go with Blu-Ray is for the obvious improvement in picture detail.

 

[Pyrrho]

I was watching "Dragon Tiger Gate" BD, which has both 7.1 TrueHD & DTS-HD MA.

After watching DTS-MA for a while, I switched to TrueHD, and the sound totally sucked.

I guess the volume was way too low [emphasis added] or something. Or maybe that "compressed" feeling. It felt a lot less Dynamic then DTS-MA.

Then I switched back to DTS-MA and everything was happily ever after.

This experience only pertains to this BD, of course.

It differs from movie to movie.

I just wanted to share my experience here.

In order to do anything approaching a fair comparison, you must adjust the volume to be the same for both. You have a volume control, so turn it up for the TrueHD soundtrack and see if you like it better that way.

Of course, if they are a different mix, it will be impossible to have a fair comparision, but it is absolutely an unfair comparison if you do not listen with them adjusted to be the same volume.

 

[Missionman]

DTS format mate

 

[Gohanto]

Practical for what purpose? If the question is, are the new formats superior to the old ones, then the answer is absolutely not, because they are likely to be different mixes. If the question is, which of these two soundtracks do I prefer whether due to the format or mix or whatever, then that would be quite a different matter, and if the player is outputing the different soundtrack via optical, instead of downgrading the lossless format to something "lossy" (not the same word as "lousy"), then it would be fine.

The way the players are managing to output DD and DTS tracks is by compressing the lossless signal (down to the max bitrate that they allow), so the mix is identical and the format is the only difference.

The practical purpose I was considering is whether it's worth upgrading pre-amps or receivers to accept HDMI or buying BluRay players that decode DTS-MA and TrueHD into 7.1 analog channels.