Blind Test Suggested PCM VS. Bitstream

[quetzalcoatl]

Well here is the first report. I tried it with what I think is the best TrueHD track out there Dave Matthews, which is 24/96. And this was just me and it is harder to compare since you cannot just hit the audio button to change tracks. You must stop the player and go into setup to change it to PCM. So after going through the first song twice I must say there is a small difference in the TrueHD bitstreamed or it PCM. Nowhere near as great as when you look at tracks that have both and switch between them. And this is not a good one to do it on since the PCM is only 24/48. The TrueHD bitstream seems to be brighter and with more seperation. It is not huge but seems to be there.

I will have to test this one on the PS3 and see how it sounds. But that will not happen tonight. Wife has already called it a night since she has to be up in the early am.

[gblack]

According to Dolby, decoding should be done by the player in order to take advantage of new audio mixing capabilities of Blu-Ray:

From Dolby's FAQs:
4. What is the benefit (value) of implementing
Dolby TrueHD in high-definition disc
playback products?
Next-generation HD disc players can be
designed to participate in processing audio
for home theater systems. Features like
interactivity and audio mixing will require the
audio to be decoded in the player instead of
the A/V receiver. A Dolby TrueHD multichannel
decoder in the player will be the only way to
ensure that listeners will hear the full quality
of the wide range of programs anticipated.

[quetzalcoatl]

Originally Posted by gblack

According to Dolby, decoding should be done by the player in order to take advantage of new audio mixing capabilities of Blu-Ray:

That is for a whole differnet thing. See here.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=24890

It says nothing about getting the best sound. And where they should be the same it appears they are not.

[halmo20]

Originally Posted by quetzalcoatl

Well here is the first report. I tried it with what I think is the best TrueHD track out there Dave Matthews, which is 24/96. And this was just me and it is harder to compare since you cannot just hit the audio button to change tracks. You must stop the player and go into setup to change it to PCM. So after going through the first song twice I must say there is a small difference in the TrueHD bitstreamed or it PCM. Nowhere near as great as when you look at tracks that have both and switch between them. And this is not a good one to do it on since the PCM is only 24/48. The TrueHD bitstream seems to be brighter and with more seperation. It is not huge but seems to be there.

I will have to test this one on the PS3 and see how it sounds. But that will not happen tonight. Wife has already called it a night since she has to be up in the early am.

Thanks for that information.. You said PCM is only 24/48; do you have 24/48 disc you can use for test?? Care to try blind test with someone else adjusting the setting?? should be interesting... If there indeed is SQ difference, it has to be 'After Market' processing of
some kind.. With all AVR induced processing off and volume level equalized, I could not tell difference between PCM DD and Bitstream DD from my PS3.. Then again, although I used fairly decent AVR and speakers, tht's only DD with lower resolution..

[quetzalcoatl]

Originally Posted by halmo20

Thanks for that information.. You said PCM is only 24/48; do you have 24/48 disc you can use for test?? Care to try blind test with someone else adjusting the setting?? should be interesting... If there indeed is SQ difference, it has to be 'After Market' processing of
some kind.. With all AVR induced processing off and volume level equalized, I could not tell difference between PCM DD and Bitstream DD from my PS3.. Then again, although I used fairly decent AVR and speakers, tht's only DD with lower resolution..

If I select the PCM track the TrueHD track tears it appart. What I did was have the player decode the TrueHD track which should have kept it at 24/96 and send it to the player. I will try some blind testing. The only problem is like I said it is not a quick change to make. You have to stop the movie and then go into setup change the audio on the player to PCM and then restart the movie.

Every test so far that I have done that has been blind the people here say that the TrueHD track sounds better. Even with volume adjustments. In all my tests I use Signal direct which for Pioneer is 0 processing. I will have to try to work with the wife to see if she get what I am trying to do and train her. Otherwise it will have to wait until the next time we have friends over for movies. She can handle the hit a button and change the volume not sure she will like all the extra steps to check it the other way.