can you rank the order of audio codecs in order of quality?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

how would you rank audio codecs for movies by quality?
LPCM > Dolby TrueHD > DD+ > DD EX > DD

where does Dolby PL II fall? i don't like that it simulates 5 channels from a non-5 channel source.

what about DTS?
LPCM > DTS-HD MA > DTS-HD HR > DTS 96/24 > DTS-ES 6.1 > DTS DS
same story with DTS Neo:6?

 

[newnameman]

LPCM = Dolby TrueHD = DTS-HD MA > DTS-HD HR = DD+ (depending on the bitrate) > everything else

Note that LPCM, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD MA are exactly the same. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA are mathematically lossless codecs, meaning the bits are identical to the source.

 

[Shawn]

LPCM = Dolby TrueHD = DTS-HD MA > DD Plus ? DTS-HD HR > DTS ? DD > Prologic II ? Neo:6

edit: WTF too slow.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: Shawn
LPCM = Dolby TrueHD = DTS-HD MA > DD Plus ? DTS-HD HR > DTS ? DD > Prologic II ? Neo:6

edit: WTF too slow.

so you would also agree that prologic is crap?
i thoguht it was just me. the surround channels come in muffled and not loud at all, no matter how high i set the surround field level.
i hate this simulated surround/center channel stuff.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
i thoguht it was just me. the surround channels come in muffled and not loud at all, no matter how high i set the surround field level.
i hate this simulated surround/center channel stuff.

To be fair, the surround speakers are supposed to be used for ambient noise. You don't want that terribly loud. For more information on why loud ambient sound effects are annoying, try playing PSN Home, where constant snippets of conversations coming in on the side surrounds are _just_ loud enough to drive you insane.

But, yes, better sound / sound separation is one of the reasons to move up to the better codecs.

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
how would you rank audio codecs for movies by quality?
LPCM > Dolby TrueHD > DD+ > DD EX > DD

where does Dolby PL II fall? i don't like that it simulates 5 channels from a non-5 channel source.

what about DTS?
LPCM > DTS-HD MA > DTS-HD HR > DTS 96/24 > DTS-ES 6.1 > DTS DS
same story with DTS Neo:6?

For Dolby:

LPCM = TrueHD > DD Plus > DD EX = DD (EX is just a matrix 6 channel, no additional data).
Prologic II is post processing, it is not a codec. It shouldn't be ranked as a codec.

For DTS:

LPCM = DTS MA > DTS HD > DTS 96/24 > DTS ES Discrete > DTS ES Matrix = DTS
Again Neo 6 is post processing, not a codec.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: Shawn
LPCM = Dolby TrueHD = DTS-HD MA > DD Plus ? DTS-HD HR > DTS ? DD > Prologic II ? Neo:6

edit: WTF too slow.

so you would also agree that prologic is crap?
i thoguht it was just me. the surround channels come in muffled and not loud at all, no matter how high i set the surround field level.
i hate this simulated surround/center channel stuff.

Pro Logic II? Thats analog, and archaic.

 

[The-Noid]

THX Neural Surround > PLII

 

[scootermaster]

What about the "bass boost" button on my boombox? I'm pretty sure that's better than all of these. Except my friend has a tape deck that has "sonic hologram" on it, and that rules.

 

[Rubycon]

Bass boost is an augmented spinoff of the loudness curve - an overall boost in the lower frequencies below 200Hz to compensate for the lack of bass response of the human ear when listening to lower playback levels.

Sonic Hologram is actually a trademark of Bob Carver from the 80's. It used a form of interaural crosstalk cancellation (ICC) in a processing loop if I recall. Matthew Polk used a similar method in the SDA-SRS series in the late 80's as well. This when properly set up allowed the soundstage to spread well beyond the physical boundaries of the loudspeaker locations - a signature of a high end speaker system - accomplished with inexpensive cone and dome systems on a single plane baffle.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Pro Logic II? Thats analog, and archaic.

PLII can act on any two-channel source. It's just that most two-channel sources are analog these days. If I was feeling bored, I could enable it on a Netflix streaming video or something coming in over my 360 or Netflix HDMI connection.