Internal Vs. External HD Audio Decoding

[Kayne314]

I'm curious to know If I'm the only one who's noticed this.

As there are very few Blu-Ray players on the market that can Bitstream the HD audio to an external HD receiver like the Onkyo 605, 705, 805, ect... Most people are using the Linear PCM setting on their players, and running on Multichannel audio. There is no debating that listening to lossless audio this way is unbelievable.

However, I've noticed since upgrading my Blu-Ray player from the PS3 to the Panasonic DMP-BD30, (that has NO internal decoding and only sends lossless audio through bitstream via HDMI to my Onkyo 705 receiver.) I have noticed yet again an improvement in my audio.

I had to flip back and forth between the PS3 and the BD30 a few times before I could believe the difference. I was told there should be no difference, between the two audio decodes, (internal vs. external) but clearly, when the little DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD icons light up on my receiver I get an improvement in vocal clarity, and surround separation.

Has anyone else noticed this? Or am I in the minority here?