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Console audio quality on home theater systems

K

Koudelka

Senior member
Hey guys/gals,

Recently, I finally made the move to getting a quality A/V receiver and 5.1 system. I've been trying to educate myself on PCM/uncompressed/compressed audio, etc.

I've also been trying to research which console provides superior audio and what I found shocked me.. After some extensive googling it appears that the PS3 will provide uncompressed audio up to 7.1 and the 360 will only provide compressed 5.1 audio.

So I have two questions:

1. Is that true?

2. If the PS3 has more faster hardware and vastly superior audio capabilities, why is 360 still the hands-down choice for most console gamers?

I'm not trying to initiate a ps3 vs 360 flame war, but I'm hoping someone can educate me here.

Would I not be selling myself short on audio quality to ever buy a game for 360 instead of PS3 now?

Thanks ahead of time for any constructive opinions!
 
1. Yes, but see below.

2. For games the difference is not audible. It only really makes a difference in movies with uncompressed audio, like blu-rays. Even then some people can not hear the difference.

3. So for games....not noticeable. For movies….. well the 360 does not have a blu-ray so it's a poor argument to argue.

This is assuming you have high enough quality sound system to MAYBE notice the small difference......
 
I wouldn't worry about the quality. Honestly most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between uncompressed and Dolby Digital/DTS/THX anyways. With uncompressed, the media not only has to have the uncompressed tracks (not every blu-ray disc does and no games do), it has to be an HDMI connection to the reciever (optical won't work) and you have to have a reciever that actually will accept uncompressed 7.1.

In other words, even if you had all the right hardware, only a percentage of blu-ray movies even contain 7.1 uncompressed audio. Games don't have it because it takes up too much room on the disc.

For gaming and general use your going to get the same quality of audio out of each console, regardless of the specs. The fact that you're using a dedicated sound reciever in the first place means you're getting a vastly better audio experience versus the tv alone. Just enjoy it and forget about the details.
 
Anteaus said:
I wouldn't worry about the quality. Honestly most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between uncompressed and Dolby Digital/DTS/THX anyways. With uncompressed, the media not only has to have the uncompressed tracks (not every blu-ray disc does and no games do), it has to be an HDMI connection to the reciever (optical won't work) and you have to have a reciever that actually will accept uncompressed 7.1.

In other words, even if you had all the right hardware, only a percentage of blu-ray movies even contain 7.1 uncompressed audio. Games don't have it because it takes up too much room on the disc.

For gaming and general use your going to get the same quality of audio out of each console, regardless of the specs. The fact that you're using a dedicated sound reciever in the first place means you're getting a vastly better audio experience versus the tv alone. Just enjoy it and forget about the details.
Click to expand...

A small percentage of BD's contain uncompressed 7.1 audio, however most BD's contain uncompressed 5.1 which can make a big difference (compared to lossy audio) depending on your hardware.
 
Actually, all games have uncompressed audio, as most use .wav files which are not compressed.

The audio should be the same on both. Though I believe the PS3 is the superior media machine. It has a better CD player and also has a BD player. With Blu-Rays, the quality of the audio depends on the disc and your receiver. Your receiver will do the decoding of the audio tracks, thus the PS3 only has to bitstream it. As for PCM, the PS3 can decode HD audio, and it will be the same as bitstreaming.
 
I have both, and the visual quality of regular DVDs (not just blu-rays) is higher on my PS3. On the 360 I sometimes see a screen door effect which is distracting.

I also prefer the PS3 bluetooth remote since the MS brand 360 remote I have has to be pointed carefully at the 360's IR sensor to work. Other IR remotes might be better.

For games I've never noticed a difference.
 
Yes, the PS3 has an advantage over even the PC in the audio department precisely because fewer PS3 games use lossy codecs at least compared to PC games released since 2006.

Lossy texture compression bugs me too, but it's never going to go away.
 
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