On Apr 6, 2007, at 14:55, brk wrote:
I would venture a guess that in a double blind test, most people couldn't tell the difference between the two decoders. Especially if you're just dealing with crap-level consumer gear (Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer, etc) and crap-level speakers (Bose, JBL, Infinity, etc), with crap-level room acoustics.
I agree. I'd definitely put the money into better speakers, and be ambivalent about the connection methodology. I wound up with some speakers sold as recording studio monitors from ROR Audio Research (now defunct) - they're small and sound great. I have them hooked up over heavy gauge analog cable (not Monster) and driven by a mid-range Sony amp (in Stereo) + 15" Sub, and it's great. There's a great big cable mess hidden behind the electronics in the living room, but I was maximizing for audio reproduction and budget, not cable neatness. I'll be sad when the speaker substrate finally decays. Oh, and I've had these for 18 years - so invest every penny you can in quality gear and the amortized cost will still be low.
By way of comparison I've seen $99 "Home Theater" speaker systems at the Warehouse Club with SPDIF inputs, and I'm certain they don't sound as good, even though they loudly exclaim, "Pure Digital", right on the box.
On 5.1 &. 7.1 - it's cool, but I realized I wasn't hearing the surround unless I was listening for it when I realized one day my surrounds had been disconnected for about 3 months when I forgot to reconnect them after cleaning up a cable mess. I still have the sub connected via an analog frequency filter and there's nothing wrong with it (that I can hear in a standard room). I'm all for audio geekiness and have spent time playing in anechoic chambers, but this is a living room. Also, I spend more time these days watching Norm Abrams and Fred Rogers than I do listening for the clink of brass on Chapter 29 of The Matrix, but I still need some quiet time with Miles Davis every once in a while and you just can't hear Tony Williams's brilliant cymbal work on bad speakers.
That is all to say, my design requirements may be different than yours, but there's one perspective to consider for where to allocate resources.
-Bill ----- Bill McGonigle, Owner Work: 603.448.4440 BFC Computing, LLC Home: 603.448.1668 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cell: 603.252.2606 http://www.bfccomputing.com/ Page: 603.442.1833 New Blog: http://blog.bfccomputing.com/ VCard: http://bfccomputing.com/vcard/bill.vcf _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
