[Ruined]

Originally posted by tomdkat
He just preferred the "sound stage" presented by the DD audio. The sound that came from the front speakers didn't sound like it was coming from any particular speaker, but from the front and he liked that. With the dts audio, the dialogue (basically reporting how busted the sub was) came distinctly from the center speaker. With the DD audio, this sound seemed to come from the front, but didn't sound as distinctly from the center channel.

What he was hearing was Dolby's channel combination over 15khz at 448kbps (or over 10khz at 384kbps). Technically, this isn't a good thing, but in this case, he preferred the less accurate version over the more accurate version. This is a very possible outcome of a test, and perhaps with this person he will prefer DD in general if he does not like sound coming just from the center (though this would probably be remedied with a better center channel, or maybe even properly calibrated volume levels and delay times).

Does this mean HE thinks DD is "better" than dts? Probably... does this mean DD *is* "better" than dts? Probably not. Just because I like dts audio over DD, why must everyone around me also have the same preference?

When I debate about DD vs DTS, and which is "better", I usually talk about which is more accurate. Everyone around you might like Full Frame or Pan & Scan better than OAR Widescreen, but wouldn't you say OAR Widescreen is "better" or "more accurate"? So, it's not that its bad for him to like DD better, but its okay to explain the advantages of the DTS soundtrack, and what the differences he was hearing were likely attributed to.

Like IndyPhantom indicated, dts can sometime be "overbearing" in the home environment, something the THX processing specifically tries to address.

The only way DTS is more overbearing than Dolby Digital is that it starts out at the master's original volume level, instead of several decibals lower than the masters volume level like DD (due to DD dialog normalization). In addition, DTS soundtracks are fully discrete and have unmodified LFE channels so they may give your speakers more of a workout.

Well, for one the highs (like when the archers where shooting the bows) were much higher, and sharper WITHOUT THX processing than WITH THX processing.

This is due to THX's Re-Equalization circuit which rolls off high frequencies (in case you were unaware), and is generally not desirable these days since studios Re-Eq home mixes before encoding them, and applying a THX Re-Eq at home would essentially be rolling off frequencies that shouldn't be rolled off.