sur AVS, Hugo S a écrit:Hi,
Originally Posted by PeterTHX a écrit:
That's the problem in a nutshell. There may be more activity up top, but what sounds more natural?
There's a mono setting on my receiver that spreads the sound from 1 channel to all of them. Hardly natural.
Having an 11.2 installation (Klipsch THX U2) since the very early days of the Audyssey DSX processing, our installation then became processed by DTS Neo X 11 as soon as it became available in a processor... and I have to admit, that even though I'm not a DTS fan-boy, I've always tended to prefer DTS processings and encodings.
Then very "naturally" from the very beginning of Dolby Atmos, I've upgraded our installation into 9.2.6, today "restricted" to a 7.2.4 context of use. Initially and for almost all Dolby and DTS tracks, it was driven in Dolby Surround by a Marantz 7702 processor. Then, with the arrival of the UHD Bluray media and consequently the "necessity" of an HDMI 2.0a compatibility, a Marantz 8802A became my latest Xmas gift.
All this to say that on our 8802A, the DTS:X FW update has been made as soon as it became available early in February... so today my use experience with DTS Neural X goes back to more than one single month... and I'm going to say that even though very early in the process I've been unsatisfied with the results of the DTS Neural X processing... today nothing has changed... it's even worse.
Now and in my opinion, even if one can hardly call "natural" an audio upscaling process, it's nevertheless relevant that in a 7.2.4 context an upscaling process can provide a sort of immersion that can be really impressive.
So and in my experience, when one listens to a DTS Neural X it immediately appears that its use of Height (or Top, I won't enter into the debate) speakers is more than anecdotal. To a point that if one wishes to "prove" to somebody that an investment in the installation of Height speakers is worthwhile, he can just organize a demonstration of a DTS track (obviously not a 2.0 track
) processed with DTS Neural X. And waaoow... great, fine, impressive will be the (polite) comments of all the potential attendants...
But then, when you listen on a long term, you end up finding that much too often, the Height speakers end up being intrusive and from time to time even distracting, as it gets you out of what you are watching. All this ending up leaving the impression that all the reproduction is fake... TOTALLY the opposite of "natural". And a common example can be heard through music or voices clearly only coming from "above", something that can be VERY upsetting...
This sort of "distraction" or "upsetting" that I NEVER experienced in more than a year period of time of previous use of Dolby Surround whether on Dolby or DTS tracks (with the 7702, which had the capacity to process both).
So it appears today that there is a REAL aesthetical difference between the sound processings made by DTS Neural X and Dobly Surround. Something obviously "normal". But then it also appears now that the first one (DTS Neural X) can end up being perceived as more or less intrusive and distracting, the later one (Dolby Surround) NEVER being that.
So and in my case, beyond all the different bugs that can be found and will probably be addressed in hopefully not so distant future within DTS Neural X, as a proud owner of a D&M product (Marantz 8802A), I would urge D&M to provide us with a new FW, enabling us to use at will, either Dolby Surround or DTS Neural X, on both Dolby or DTS tracks; or if this is not possible, to enable a kind of process as for each owner of a D&M product, to choose which single audio upscaling process - Dolby Surround or DTS Neural X - he wishes to use for both Dolby and DTS encodings.
My 2€cts,
Hugo