I feel you! DTS could have been much, much more. IMO it is a quality codec for music and movies and arguably better than the Dolby equivalent. There are a solid number of releases that do offer DTS as an option.
What is BETTER?! PPCM:DVD-Audio 5.1 Surround........96KhZ/24 Bit or Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
- Thread starter musicmemorabiliashoppellc
- Start date
Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:
If you refer to the LPCM stream "Linear Pulse Code Modulation", thats the uncompressed stream of the master tape, always use it if available though it results in somewhat larger file sizes. Most anything else will be somewhat inferior though DTS-M or Dolby True HD are lossless and should sound identical.If you have a system that can play both....what is actually better and why......Please
Dolby and DTS, as I understand it, both have embedded data 'flags' that can change aspects of decoding (setting center channel level for dialog in movies, for example) and that will inevitably be set incorrectly in some percentage of cases: that to me is reason enough to select PCM for music when available. One notable (if understandable) case is the original release of Peter Gabriel's 'PLAY' video compliation. This was among the first DVDs to include the '96/24' extended version of DTS 5.1, but they set some flag incorrectly so that playback levels of the videos (not the menu music) was automatically dropped -30 dB- but only when playing back the '96/24' version. If your system only saw the 'legacy' DTS the levels were fine. And if you turned up the volume on a video to compensate for the 30dB cut, duck when the menu music came on at full volume. The version included with the 'live in Athens' DVD corrected this.
Long story short, when there's a PCM version available, speaking mostly of blu-rays I guess, it's aImost never the default but I make the effort to choose it. This includes, off the of my head, most Steven Wilson remixes, the blu-ray Quadrophenia, Beck's Sea Change, and some 2L classical titles. To speak heresy, some music DVDs include stereo PCM soundtracks that sound better than the included surround versions especially if the surround version is Dolby Digital.
Here's an article from 'Sound on Sound's 2001 series on surround explaining the tweaks that can be embedded in the Dolby/DTS audio data stream, among many other topic of potential interest. Links to the rest of the series are included therein: Surround Sound Explained: Part 5
Long story short, when there's a PCM version available, speaking mostly of blu-rays I guess, it's aImost never the default but I make the effort to choose it. This includes, off the of my head, most Steven Wilson remixes, the blu-ray Quadrophenia, Beck's Sea Change, and some 2L classical titles. To speak heresy, some music DVDs include stereo PCM soundtracks that sound better than the included surround versions especially if the surround version is Dolby Digital.
Here's an article from 'Sound on Sound's 2001 series on surround explaining the tweaks that can be embedded in the Dolby/DTS audio data stream, among many other topic of potential interest. Links to the rest of the series are included therein: Surround Sound Explained: Part 5
It sure is invisible on the Goats Head Soup release.
And then they failed to actually include it correct?
KOOL, Been at this for some time now and never read that series.
THANKS!
Yes
That is an awesome series and I remember reading it almost 20 years ago! What fun to revisit! Lots of great learnings there that you can see still apply today in mixes we are getting.
I find King Crimson's 40th Anniversary "In The Court of the Crimson King" MPL lossless 5.1 version far superior to their 50th Anniversary Blu-ray DTS-HD MA version. I always find the center channels of DTS (any codec) to be lacking and tinny compared to MLP or PPCM. That's why I always seem to prefer music in DVD-A's to be far superior to comparable Blu-ray versions.
Schluderbacher
Member
DVD-Audio 5.1 Surround........96KhZ/24 Bit or Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
To me, it's comparing apples to oranges.
These are two different mixes and I confess the first one (2009) is the better one in my opinion.
In the 2019 mix, for my taste, the drums are too present, too much in the foreground. You can like that but I prefer the other mix. Music is also a matter of taste.
So the comparison goes in the direction of which mix you personally like better and not which data carrier (DVD/BR) or which version DD/DTS/LPCM/... is the better one.
To me, it's comparing apples to oranges.
These are two different mixes and I confess the first one (2009) is the better one in my opinion.
In the 2019 mix, for my taste, the drums are too present, too much in the foreground. You can like that but I prefer the other mix. Music is also a matter of taste.
So the comparison goes in the direction of which mix you personally like better and not which data carrier (DVD/BR) or which version DD/DTS/LPCM/... is the better one.
True enough my friend! I always prefer the one with the better vocal mix. It's one thing to be "present" as opposed to too front and center. I think that someone with as gifted a voice as Greg Lake was, I was a bit disappointed that his vocals on the newer mix were so "thin" or tinny sounding compared to the older version. My take only. One of my first albums back in 1970 ELP self-titled, such a classic, and long live "classical rock."
Schluderbacher
Member
That is also the case with me. My older brother had a friend make me a C60 tape for my new Philips cassette recorder. Years later I only realized that this was the first ELP. Without knowing it or wanting to, he infected me with the "ProgRock virus" ...
Mr. Afternoon
Mixing Engineer & Artist
Okay here's the breakdown, AFAIK
Lossless:
LPCM/FLAC
DSD/DST
Dolby TrueHD/PPCM/MLP
DTS-HD MA
Dolby Atmos (only on Blu-ray)
DTS:X (only on Blu-ray)
Auro:3D
Lossy:
MP3
AAC
DTS/DTS-HD
Dolby Digital/AC3
Dolby Atmos (streaming)
Lossless:
LPCM/FLAC
DSD/DST
Dolby TrueHD/PPCM/MLP
DTS-HD MA
Dolby Atmos (only on Blu-ray)
DTS:X (only on Blu-ray)
Auro:3D
Lossy:
MP3
AAC
DTS/DTS-HD
Dolby Digital/AC3
Dolby Atmos (streaming)
Yes, that's my understanding! thanks!
Similar threads
