Is HD AUDIO worth the investment?

[admin_exported]

I currently have the sublime Yamaha AX-1 as the hub of my home cinema set-up and cannot stress just how good it is. HOWEVER I never use any of the many surround sound processing programs available on it and I use none of the internal amplifiers, preferring to use the pre-outs into separate Rotel Power Amplifiers. I am therefore only really using it as a processor. I have considered replacing it with a standalone processor such as a Lexicon, but these all seem to be VERY expensive, probably due to the limited market. I am therefore looking at the ONKYO 875 AV receiver, but would end up doing pretty much the same thing with that as with the Yamaha, but would gain both Dolby Digital HD Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio. Would I actually notice any benefit changing from a £2000 Yamaha to a £800 Onkyo just to get HD Audio. Has anyone experienced the difference between DTS 6.1 and DTS-HD on similarly spec'd equipment? I have heard the demo of HD Audio but would like to hear a back-to-back demo of the same sountrack in "standard" DTS 6.1 to see if there is any real improvement.

 

[Clare Newsome]

The difference is immense - you suddenly realise just how compressed those DD5.1 and DTS5.1 soundtracks were.

However, the real peach - if you find an HD disc with it on - is uncompressed PCM: so far on the discs where both are on offer, it's (unsurprisingly) superior to the new HD formats.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Clare,

Im in a similar boat looking to get a receiver that handles better sound & am using an external amp to drive the speakers. Do you have a feeling on wether the Onkyo 875 or Audiolab 8000ap would provide better sound as a preamp?

thanks