DTS Neo 6 vs. Dolby Pro Logic II (CONSOLIDATED THREAD) (1 Viewer)

[Kevin Alexander]

On a side note I also prefer the generic circle surround found on some cheaper receivers like the Kenwood over DPL2.

I, too, heard Circle Surround on a cheap Kenwood receiver and thought it presented the material much better than DPLII.

 

[John Corkery]

I settled on PLII because of the adjustable settings within PLII Music. For those of you who have compared the two and preferred Neo:6, did you play around with the PLII music settings at all? Those settings can really change the way PLII sounds.

Having said that, I'll have to try out Neo:6 a bit more, since many of you recommend it.

 

[Phil Mays]

John,

How do you set the PL II settings? That very well may be why I think it sounds so bad!!!

Phil

 

[Jed M]

John, you are right, I have played around with the DPLII music settings and you really can improve the sound stage. I think my processor may have too many ways to tweak it because I just can't seem to settle on what adjustment sounds better so I just let Neo do it for me. But in regards to your point about DPLII-music being better than cinema I would completely agree. That said I still prefer Neo's clarity but I could see people preferring DPLII-M more since it can be tweaked to one's personal liking.

 

[John Corkery]

The only thing I really fiddle around with is the "center width" setting. The default is 0, which is too center-heavy for me, so I have mine set at 3. That directs more of the center channel information to the main L/R speakers. I've also played with the "panorama" setting a little. Sometimes I like it and sometimes I don't, but I usually just keep it off. I leave the dimension setting at its default, which is 3. Setting it lower will give you more of a surround effect while going higher will give you less of a surround effect.

It's all completely dependent on preference, of course, so you might want to play with all of the settings and see if you can come up with something you like.

 

[Jason Spencer]

One other benefit to Neo6 is that it uses the rear surrounds if you have a 6.1 setup. (One of the posts above hinted at this...) I havn't done a lot of testing, but I'm leaning towards using this over DPL2 most of the time too.

 

[Bob_L]

Jeff:

I've observed the same thing. DPL2 seems to rolloff the high frequencies a bit. Neo:6 does not.

 

[Mike__D]

For the record, DPLII can sound like 5.1, but only if the source material had DPLII in mind. Were might you find this material? On a Nintendo GameCube. Since the Cube only has 2 channel analog out, developers came up with a system to create 5 channel sound using DPLII.

The game, Star Wars Rouge Squadren was the first to use this. In the sound test, a tie fighter successfully circles around your head with clear seperation from each speaker. The developers of this system have licensed the tools out, so more games will use this.

That being said, maybe some day TV will broadcast in DPLII? As far as DVD's, I doubt they'd ever contain mix just for DPLII, since any reciever that has DPLII, had DD & DTS.

Mike D.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

I did some evaluating with DTS:Neo6 tonight and at this point I think I prefer it over DPL2. For TV, Neo6-Cinema seems to put a little more into the surrounds than DPL2-Cinema, to create a slightly more enveloping sound. I found that I didn't like Neo6-Music for TV, because it sends the center info to the mains and the center speaker, which created an effect almost like a slight echo or hollow sound. Neo6-Cinema didn't have this problem, though, and I'll probably be using it for Satellite TV viewing in the future

For music, it's no contest. NEO6-Music doesn't have the rolled-off high-frequency that you get with DPL2, and also creates a much larger soundstage. Neo6-Music may put a little too much into the surrounds, though, and still doesn't quite have the imaging of 2-channel stereo. This was all based on about 10 minutes of listening to classical music, I'll have to do some further testing with more types of music in the future.

 

[Phil Mays]

Just a question...

Will certain receivers process the signal better than others? Couls DPL II sound better on one reciever that has better processing than another....What would one look for???

Phil

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Will certain receivers process the signal better than others? Could DPL II sound better on one reciever that has better processing than another....What would one look for???

Absolutely not! DPLII will sound the same on all receivers.

 

[Holadem]

Absolutely not! DPLII will sound the same on all receivers.

I believe this is very wrong. Same processing or not, it still has to go through different amps, among other things (perhaps some non DPL2 processing). I guess the only way to know for sure is to listen, but really you can't assume that while receivers sound largely different from each other, they all sound the same when switched to DPL II!
Incidentaly, 5 Ch stereo is MUCH better with my Denon 4802 than on my Onkyo 575x. I realise this doesn really apply since 5Ch stereo is not a proprietary format, but I willmention it anyway
--
Holadem

 

[Jed M]

Could DPL II sound better on one receiver that has better processing than another

Yes, but if its a better processor that means NEO (or circle surround) should sound better as well.

 

[John Corkery]

I decided to give Neo:6 a closer evaluation yesterday, too. Guess what? I like it!! On my system, it does seem to create a cleaner, fuller sound.

 

[John Kotches]

My tests between Neo:6 and DPL-2, in a 5 channel environment came to the conclusion that DPL-2 is the winner, but only by a little bit.
There are times when I hear ping-ponging out of DTS:Neo where the algorithm can't decide where within the front soundstage a sound should appear, and I get ping-ponging between (example) left-center-left-center. I haven't experieneced this effect with DPL-2 yet. I have a definite preference for the music option, which is less agressive than the movie option for steering.
I didn't like the effects of either algorithm (long term) with music, although initially it's pretty cool. I prefer discrete surround mixes.
Either of these is a requirement for me these days, as I can't imagine going back to traditional DPL, and it's tendency to collapse into the center channel. I watch sports and some broadcast shows that aren't in DD5.1, so I find them indispensable until all of them are available in HDTV (as god intended )
With respect to differences, some companies use the stock algorithms that come with DSPs, others (Lexicon, Meridian et al) use their own algorithms to adhere to the specifications.
Regards,

 

[John Corkery]

Just out of curiosity, John, what are your preferences for the PLII Music settings?

 

[John Kotches]

John,

The piece I'm using at the moment doesn't allow access to any of the adjustable parms for DPL-2, and I don't know where its defaults are.

I am receiving a new HT processor which should give me access to all the parms for more tweaking.

Regards,

 

[Bob_L]

There are times when I hear ping-ponging out of DTS:Neo where the algorithm can't decide where within the front soundstage a sound should appear, and I get ping-ponging between (example) left-center-left-center.

Here's a great example illustrating "different strokes" in the HT audio realm.
John listens for logic steering artifacts and prefers DPL2 overall.
I listen for timbral balance and general imaging environment and I prefer Neo:6.
Who's right? Well, we're BOTH right. Each tech has its own pluses and minuses. I use both, actually, but tend to use Neo:6 more often.
I suspect John will like DPL2 even more when he has the ability to tweak the settings on the music mode. It doesn't work miracles but permits some nice refinement of the soundfield.
We do agree, however, that a discrete surround mix is always the best. Still, I remain constantly impressed at what a good job both algorithms do at expanding two channel audio into the surround domain.

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Just to clarify my statement above, DPLII performs the same (in what it does) in all equiptment. The quality of parts w/ different units may affect the tonal qualities of what you hear, but you don't have to spend more $$$ going from mid-fi to hi-end equiptment to get a "better" DPLII presentation.

 

[John Kotches]

Kevin,

If everybody were using the same code, and the same DSPs, I'd agree with you.

This isn't the case. There are 3 dominant solutions in the DSP marketplace, Crystal Semiconductor, Motorola and Analog Devices. All of them come with DPL-2, DD and DTS algorithms. Only if the source code that creates the firmware instructions for the DSP is identical will these different DSPs come up with identical answers.

Further, while I don't have the capacity to perform the test, this could be easily verified. Feed a 16 bit 44.1K signal to each of these DSPs with default algorithms in place for DD/DTS. Compare the digital output of the DSP for each solution. I'd be willing to bet they don't have identical output from the DSPs.

I haven't even touched on the custom algorithms that some companies employ.

Regards,