Uncompressed audio worth it? YES!

[Zaphod]

For all of those who have asked the question, "Is uncompressed or any HD audio tracks worth it over compressed audio?", the answer is a HELL YES!

My set-up before was a Onkyo TX-SR703 (no HDMI), with component and optical connections. I just purchased a Onkyo TX-SR605 last week and just got around to setting it up. After about and hour and a half disconnecting and reconnecting, I had to change many of the connections since I am now using HDMI, and then slid my POTC disc in and hit play. Once the movie started my jaw hit the floor. I could not believe the difference between regular Dolby 5.1 and uncompressesed 5.1. The difference to me was like night and day! I couldn't believe it, so I started popping in my other discs, one at a time and holy crap, I swear I kicked myself wondering why the hell didn't I do this before.

Now some of it may have been due to the receiver, since the output of 90w per channel had more punch than the 100w per channel receiver I had before, and then again it may just be the difference in the uncompressed audio. Also the speaker setup of the new Onkyo receivers is leaps and bounds better than they have been in the past and between that and the uncompressed audio it made my 7.1 system come alive and I forgot I was in my house. It truely made my room come ALIVE and sound pretty darn close to what you get in the theatre. The uncompressed audio sounded way better using only 5.1 channels than my other receiver using all 7 channels.

So in a word if you have the time, and the money, to upgrade your current system to a HDMI receiver, from a component and optical one, DO IT! You will not be disappointed! And I purchased the 603 for only $399.99 and at this price is a very good budget priced receiver that packs a helluva punch, since it includes also Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA, and is well worth it!