Linear PCM or Bitstream...

[Augustine864]

Ok, I know this has been discussed to death, (or at least I think it has), and everywhere I look the verdict tends to be PCM,(including AVS Forum), but....

I was watching Cloverfield earlier and felt like when i switched to bitstream it sounded much more realistic. I just hooked up my new receiver and was trying to listen to some HD audio for the first time but am unconvinced I'm hearing it. So anyway, I was watching the scene where the Statue of Liberty's head comes rolling down the street and then the tall building in the distance comes crashing down and the actors take cover in a small convenience stores before the windows are blown in. I played it through on PCM and it sounded loud and fine I guess, but when I played it through again on bitstream it sounded much more realistic to me. The crowd of people were talking at a realistic volume and weren't subdued when the actors began to speak like they seemed to be in the PCM run-through. Also, when the glass breaks it sounded much cleaner and just all-around real when I played it on Bitstream.

I probably just discredited myself completely but so be it. So do I really want it to be set on PCM? The reason that I read for having it on PCM was so that the PS3 would decode and pass to the receiver, but if my receiver decodes, is it just as well to leave at bitstream?

*EDIT* I just watched that scene again and I just can't deny that the bitstream sounds much more realistic to me and unprocessed.