How do you prefer listening to stereo (2.0) music?

[eirepaul]

I know what you mean. When I got my first surround receiver way back when, Hall, Stadium and Jazz Club were cool and I used them, but I quickly grew out of that hollow, echo sound. PLII does a pretty decent job with most CDs, though I still prefer 2ch 99% of the time.

Yes, I agree that 2-channel pure direct mode provides the best sound quality (probably), but what I really like about either multi-channel (DVD-A / SACD) or DPLIIx (with CDs) is the way the sound is projected into the room and is enveloping. By comparison, a 2-channel mode just seems to collapse to a much flatter soundstage. It's all about what your preference is of course. Once I experienced the combination of very good sound quality with the surround factor as well, I was hooked.

 

[BMO]

Some music does sound better on surround modes than others.8o% of the music I have gets only 2.1 but, Ambient music with mild our heavy sonic layers sounds best in Logic 7 to me.Sphongle's "The Tales of the Inexspressable" or the slightly layered Hoopy Froods CD simply opens up the exsperence of envoloping sounds.Without multi channels the music seems crowded and compex, with it, it's simple and open.

 

[JoeE SP9]

Lets try this again. There is no such thing as 2.1 stereo!!! Stereo is 2 channels and 2 channels only!

 

[mfabien]

Lets try this again. There is no such thing as 2.1 stereo!!! Stereo is 2 channels and 2 channels only!

I guess you will sleep better tonight, huh?

We all know that CDs are in stereo, which is 2 channel. But for those of us with a quality sub, we like to think of low frequencies as a ".1", which is technically incorrect, as there is no separate channel for LFE and low frequencies on a CD.

 

[j_garcia]

What mfabien said. Where does it mention 2.1 STEREO? Pay attention here; the question was how do you listen to stereo music....

 

[JoeE SP9]

What mfabien said. Where does it mention 2.1 STEREO? Pay attention here; the question was how do you listen to stereo music....

I actually have three subwoofers two for the front and one for the rear. I listen to stereo music using my front speakers which includes the two front subwoofers.

 

[Nick250]

What mfabien said. Where does it mention 2.1 STEREO? Pay attention here; the question was how do you listen to stereo music....

IMO whether or not you have your sub woofer in a separate cabinet or inside your main speakers enclosures does not mean one is stereo and the other is not.

 

[rschleicher]

Yeah, I am getting/understanding the semantics of both sides of this 2.0 vs. 2.1 question. Strictly speaking, 2.1 nomenclature would imply the existence of a separate LFE channel. But, it seemed pretty clear to me that what was meant was just the use of a separate subwoofer for reproducing the low-bass content of the original 2.0 channel signal. So, it was intended more as a "stereo with or without bass management" discussion, and not really about the signal format.

As someone noted, the question was about how you like to play a 2-channel signal, even though the nomenclature used was not 100% technically accurate.

My own answer is that I just use my front speakers, which are both full-range (down to below 30 Hz.), with all of the DSP processing and bass management turned off. It may be that some of the improvement that I hear in my receiver's "Pure Direct" mode is all in my head. But I can't get it out of my head, so that's how I listen!

 

[supervij]

As someone noted, the question was about how you like to play a 2-channel signal, even though the nomenclature used was not 100% technically accurate.

Mea culpa!




Waitaminit. Is that the right term?

cheers,
supervij

 

[Pyrrho]

So am i crazy to listen to music in 7 channel stereo through my Yamaha RX-V1500? I usually stream my music collection through my xbox 360 or in teh rare case use my dvd player for cd's.

No, you are not crazy for preferring something different from what most people are saying they prefer. I personally use 2.1, but if my main speakers could go as low as my subwoofer, it would be 2.0 for me. (Since I sometimes listen to organ music, deep bass is necessary.) But my preference is no reason for you to listen to things that way.


I do, however, prefer well recorded multichannel music (not the gimmicky kinds of crap sometimes done) to well recorded 2 channel music.

 

[Pyrrho]

JoeE,

Using the analogs, the sound is different and it's major for the sub. The DAC is in the HD DVD player. The HD-A1 is quite sophisticated as it decodes DD Plus, DD TrueHD in stereo and DTS-HD CORE. So even a simple DAC like from a CD is not a big task for this unit.

My Yamaha RX-V540 is used only as PassThrough for multichannel analog inputs.

I said it handles CD very well with analogs. In addition, this arrangement is extraordinary for the following 2 instances:

1. Selecting DTS surround on DVD-A "Everything Must Go" by Steely Dan the most superb multichannel mix that I have.

2. DVD "Live in Paris" by Diana Krall. The John Clayton double bass is much more pleasant to hear with the analogs.

If there is a major difference in the sound as you describe, it is likely that you have either a different frequency cutoff, a different slope of cutoff, or the levels are set differently for your receiver and player.