What mode do you listen to CDs in?

When you listen to regular CDs on your home theater, do you put your receiver on "stereo" or do you use one of the surround modes like dolby pro logic for music or NEO 6?

[Vader]

I use the music mode of PL II with a highly localized center for Christian pop/contemporary; I love the sound of the vocals being tied to the center, and being enveloped by everything else. For orchestral stuff (I am a soundtrack junkie), I use DTS Neo 6, as it does not do any directing of sound (it leaves the 2-channel stuff intact), but adds some atmospheric ambiance. I know I'm gonna be lynched for saying this, but 2-channel direct just sounds kinda "flat" to me....

[azjimmy]

For "Redbook" CD's I listen to them in stereo, letting my AVR do the DAC work. I like PLII for television but not for music.
Jim

azjimmy wrote:

For "Redbook" CD's I listen to them in stereo, letting my AVR do the DAC work. I like PLII for television but not for music.
Jim

Jim,

What does the DAC work when you listen to CDs in PL II?

[John S]

In the past few months, I have become a big fan of Logic 7 for Red Book CDs on my HK AVR. Logic 7 is just a bit better than DPL II, imo. In both cases, I do turn the surrounds down a couple notches. I have not played with Neo 6 much.

[JCD]

If I'm going to listen to music only (i.e., not be moving around) stereo only.. if I'm going to be cooking, moving around, etc, I go to 5 channel stereo (or whatever it's called) just to get as much volume/authortity as possible.

JCD

[ae93gti]

Redbook CD for me equals pure direct on my amp, i.e. no processing whatsoever.

If we have a few people round or am elsewhere the house then 7 channel stereo for the same reasons as a previous poster mentioned.

[eddthompson]

straight stereo for me. I do use my dvd player, so i let it cross over the sound at 80hz to the sub, and set distances and channel levels, this realy helps with the imaging.

edd

[Ayreonaut]

I use PLIIx-Music for everything, including movies. I don't use a center channel, so stereo is preserved, and ambient information is steered to the four surrounds with no delay.

[JRace]

Direct only for me anytime I listen to music.

Everything else just sounds...weird!

[RollsRoyce]

I use PLIIx "Music" mostly. I've experimented with the IIx "Movie" mode, since I've read that it's a little better in anchoring center-of-stage stuff in the center than the Music mode is. I also use 7-channel stereo. Don't care too much for the other DSP modes my Pioneer VSX-9300TX has. My previous receiver was an Onkyo TX-DS787, and I very much enjoyed its "Studio" mode. Wish the Pioneer offered something similar!

[Ayreonaut]

From a Stereophile interview of Jim Fosgate

Guttenberg: PLII can work its magic on LPs and CDs?
Fosgate: Yes. Please understand that PLII doesn't affect the stereo soundstage, other than to display the in-phase part of the program over the three front channels—the out-of-phase or randomly phased signals are sent to the rear. When switching between stereo and PLII, you'll see that the stereo soundstage stays intact but has greater depth and width. Sometimes you're not even aware of the extra speakers, until you turn them off and the soundstage collapses back to stereo.

Guttenberg: PLII comes in two flavors, Music and Movie. What's the difference?
Fosgate: In the digital implementation, the logic is the same for both modes, but the movie mode adds some time delay to the rear channels for a more frontal presentation. Of course, you can listen to movies in Music mode, which is the way I listen to DVDs. I recommend trying it both ways to see which one sounds better to you.

Guttenberg: Can PLII break on through to the two-channel faithful?
Fosgate: In real life, we're used to hearing in a 360º sphere from all around us. Stereo is unnatural in that it is coming only from the front speakers. With my triamped, all-tube system, stereo sounds very, very good—it's what great stereo is all about—but when I switch from stereo to multichannel, there's no comparison. It's not that one is so aware of the back channels, but PLII makes the front soundstage wider and deeper. Some of my guests aren't aware of the rear speakers' contributions until I turn them off.

[Josuah]

I've always found turning on a sound field to make things sound smeared. And my center channel isn't as good as my mains. So I listen in stereo. I don't use pure direct through because I want the low frequencies sent to my subs.

[rcarlton]

Stereo mode. I feel if it was recorded in stereo, I should listen to it in stereo.

[JorgenMan]

I think I would prefer IIx, but stereo actually sounds better because my front speakers are the only quasi-good speakers in my system.

[SIRI]

rcarlton wrote:

Stereo mode. I feel if it was recorded in stereo, I should listen to it in stereo.

Couldn't agree more .

The engineer that recorded and mastered the cd did it in stereo . It's not an easy task , trust me . So , why ruin all his work by changing the original perspective with a wrong listening setup ?

It's like having a surround recording and listening it in stereo . Maybe worse because you will probablly get a stereo mix of the surround mix on the same dvd .

On the other hand , i guess everyone is free to listen as it pleases .

Just my opinion anyway .

[Mitch G]

I used to listen in "PLII Music" finding it richer/fuller than "Neo Music."
However once I upgraded my sub (SVS 25-31 PC+) and did the REW/BFD thing, I found that I liked stereo better. I think it's because before the new sub, I was letting the surrounds provide the fuller sound the sub now provides.

So, I suggest trying the different modes if you happen to change a component or re-calibrate. You might be surprised.


Mitch

[Danny]

stereo for me plus sub, anything else just sounds wrong

[Jack N]

I have a Yamaha RX-V3300 that lets me use all 8 channels at the same time. I like that the best which is why I have towers in most of the channels. But depending on the recording, it doesn't always sound the best that way.

What mode do I generally listen in! Well that would depend on the kinder mood that I’m in, but generally speaking, I do prefer Dolby Pro-Logic for some sources that are encoded with just 2 channel stereo, or if it’s Dolby digitally encoded with 5.1 then Dolby digital it will be.

I have a few demonstration dts discs that are encoded in 5.1 that sound truly out of this world.

But in the whole I would keep to Dolby Pro-Logic for music videos, not Dolby Pro-Logic II where I have noticed crosstalk behaviour in the matrix decoding on the surrounds with centre channel information making it far less impressive than I thought it was going to be when I read about it 6 years ago.

[Darren]

I listen to all music in "Direct" mode which bypassess all processing and just plays what the CD has encoded. Listening in "Stereo" mode is actually performing processing on the cd and introduces restults that aren't there... "Direct" mode reveals the true content of the CD.

[Eddie Horton]

I go stereo plus sub for CD's if I'm in the sweet spot. If I'm moving around, it's 7 channel stereo. I've tried all the combinations of PL, PLII, and Neo6, but none of them do it for me on CD's.

[digital]

My Pioneer VSX-1014TX receiver features a mode called 'Advanced Music' that I like as well as the 'Neo6' setting. Those are only employed on recordings that have encoding for some kind of surround like the SACD version of Pink Floy'd The Wall CD.

Aside from that, I use simple 'Direct' mode for 2-channel listening.

Andrew D.
cdnav.com

[Adz]

Darren wrote:

I listen to all music in "Direct" mode which bypassess all processing and just plays what the CD has encoded. Listening in "Stereo" mode is actually performing processing on the cd and introduces restults that aren't there... "Direct" mode reveals the true content of the CD.

Very true. And if you put in your favorite CD and switch back and forth between stereo and direct modes on your receiver/processor, you will hear a difference. What sounds better to you?

[Sonnie]

Is direct mode generally analog? I was trying to listen to a CD the other day and when I selected the direct mode I could get no sound. I only have the digital audio out connected though.