Stereo or Surround on First Listen?

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Once I have purchased a surround album, it is unlikely I will ever hear the stereo unless I am in the car.

If I am making a buying decision then I will demo tracks in stereo - not because I want to hear the stereo, but because I do not yet have access to the surround mix. Often I wish I COULD demo the surround before the final buy decision. Sometimes I can accomplish this at a friends' house. But usually YouTube and the commentary in the QQ polls are enough information for my decision.
 
I have quite a few CDs that are in surround of some kind.

- I have a few that are marked Dolby Surround
- I have a set of Eugen Jochum classical CDs that are the same as the Angel SQ 45 releases. They do not say SQ, but they are the same recordings as my records.
- I have a few that have the QS Regular Matrix logo.
- I have one CD with the (.) SRS logo.
- I have many movie soundtracks that were recorded in Dolby Surround, but are not so labeled. But the surround is there.
 
That's not an option.

Why? I am not buying any discrete recordings.

I have CDs that are stereo and CDs that are in some kind of matrix surround. I leave Dolby Surround on all the time (unleses I am using SQ or something else).
 
Why? I am not buying any discrete recordings.

I have CDs that are stereo and CDs that are in some kind of matrix surround. I leave Dolby Surround on all the time (unleses I am using SQ or something else).

Have you tried Pro Logic II or dts neo?? I've always been of the mind and the ears that dts neo does a great job of expanding two channel to 5.1 or 7.1. Way better than original Dolby Surround.
 
sstevee00, that is such an awesome question, Post #1, (now I sound like Paul McGowan).
I am like most here, if a disc is released in MCH/Stereo I only rip and listen to the MCH.
Like others I listen on TIDAL in stereo to see if I would even like the music, like the new MCH release by Renaissance, I hated it and I did not purchase the new release.
I think we would all agree that there are Stereo and MCH blunders in our library's. Ears, rigs, moods, time of day, placebo, all play a roll in what we like.
I will be very honest, I love stereo probably first and MCH second. I'll tell you why.
Music is very emotional for me, when I listen to stereo I tend to be more relaxed, and I think less, it is in front of me and I don't have to use my brain as much to listen for this or that, good or bad.

That said, I love MCH, when it is super discrete and my brain is very active, listening for this and that.
I will tell you this, when it is stereo I am more willing to walk away and do whatever and let the house fill up with music. When I listen to MCH I am more reluctant to leave my seat as the point of surround is to sit and listen, even though I have walked away when listening to surround.

Having a good room, good rig, no distractions in stereo can be awesome with a wide sound stage and should never be counted out.

Back in the day, even though I was an audiophile, my best source for music was MTV, because San Francisco radio stations past 1973 have always sucked, now QQ has been an invaluable resource for me, I have experienced so much cool music, tips and tricks, since my surround career started in 2014.
As I sit here and type this I am listening in stereo, the new Joe Satriani Shapeshifting 24/96 from HDTracks, sounds great.
 
Actually, one of my Dolby Surround decoders is Pro Logic II. I have them in different rooms. I also have two of my UQ-1 decoders in other rooms.

The room with the Pro Logic II also has the SQ and variable RM decoder and the octophonic switching panel.

I do not have any discrete equipment other than a CD-4 demodulator and my Portastudio (which has never been used for discrete purposes, but has been used extensively to encode matrix recordings).

I have only three CD-4 records and all of them were dust damaged before I got them. I do not play them through the demodulator.

I prefer Dolby Surround to anything else because it solves the side image problem. The octophonic system is almost as good at that.

I do not now have the budget for a lot of gear.
 
If I am not familiar with an album I 'audition' it on youtube to see if I like it. If so, I always listen to the surround version on my main system. I only play stereo versions in the car or on my portable music player.
 
Depends on the selling price of the multich. If it's reasonable enough to just take the plunge and buy unheard, I'll sometimes do that. But with my subscription to Amazon Music I can give the stereo version a listen before buying. I never buy 2 ch only music any more, I'll only open the wallet for multich.
 
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