To compress of not to compress? ppl's opinions?

[airnmol]

I can hear some of the differences when i switch comression setting on my sony avr, but what is the better choice? no compression , standard, or max compression, and what would be some of the major differences? what are ppl opinions?

 

[MDS]

Dynamic compression is to reduce the peaks so explosions and loud sounds are not as loud and that is why the feature often goes by the name 'late night' mode (as in not disturbing others when you are watching/listening late at night).

I see your Sony is similar to Yamaha in using a weird nomenclature for the various levels.

- Max compression is a lot of compression and will reduce the peaks and the dynamic range by the largest amount.
- 'Standard' compression actually means 'minimum' compression as in just a little bit of compression (much less than max or 'high').
- No compression means just what its name implies - no compression at all and thus maximum dynamic range. This is basically 'off'.

Note that on some material the effect is hardly noticeable. I sometimes use Low (Onkyo's term, equvialent to 'standard') and then turn the volume up a bit. It tends to make the dialog easier to hear and reduces the peaks so they don't rock you out of your seat.

 

[airnmol]

If i mainly watch movies or show loudly with kids awake, then i would prefer compression off right to get more range of sound? I like to feel in the scene, would setting max compression make all sound effects and rear audio louder? or more muffled and vocals louder?

 

[Halon451]

If i mainly watch movies or show loudly with kids awake, then i would prefer compression off right to get more range of sound? I like to feel in the scene, would setting max compression make all sound effects and rear audio louder? or more muffled and vocals louder?

I think you have a misconception. DRC, aka "Dynamic Range Compression" merely reduces the difference between the softest sounds and loudest sounds. In turn, you would simply raise the master volume until you can hear clearly, but you won't get those sudden extremely loud bursts as much, nor will the dialogue be so low you can't hear it - theoretically, and depending on the amount of DRC you have set. It shouldn't muffle or mute anything.

 

[son-yah-tive]

I would just leave it on MAX. It won't make enough difference on loudness. The volume control will do that.

 

[airnmol]

I played around more with this, and wow a big difference from no compression to max. I used a scene in the movie Shooter with a big explosion and shooting. I think i like either no compression or standard not max. Because the explosions are to muted w/ max on. standard does help with vocals but man i like no compression everything is clear and loud. thanks for opinions