Dolby AC-3 vs DTS, which is sonically better?

[Ferbose]

Today I saw a demo-used Naxos DVD-A on sale at Tower for $6.75, so I bought it. I don't have a DVD-A player, so my DVD player can only read the Dolby AC-3 or DTS material and fold it down to 2 channels. I am not too familiar with these two compression schemes, except that they are both lossy. Can some one tell me which format is theoretically better in terms of sound quality?

As a side question, how does the fold-down stereo signal of Dolby AC-3 and DTS compare to standard redbook CD. Since I only have two-channel stereo system and DVD-V player, is it worth to but Naxos DVD-A versus the CD version?

 

[Nisbeth]

Save for a few notable exceptitions (such as the R2 edition of LOTR II), DTS soundtracks are normally better. DTS is normally encoded at a higher datarate than DD.


/U.

 

[Jasper994]

Generally on DVD-A's DTS tracks use 1536kbps so the sound quality is much better than the DD tracks. It's best you listen for yourself but what I've generally experienced is that the DTS tracks have much better seperation and clarity.

The fold down quality depends on the individual player, some are much better than others. Overall quality is really dependent on the whole package. My EM-U 1212m gets damn close if not equal quality out of a good CD as my DVD-A player (budget Panasonic DVD-A player) gets playing DVD-A. Ultimately the DVD-A will outperform the CD but you have to consider all the pieces.

 

[SunByrne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferbose Can some one tell me which format is theoretically better in terms of sound quality?

This is a religious-war kind of question, like asking if, in an absolute sense, if Senns or Grados sound better. Google this and you should get many hits.

Most people will tell you that they think DTS sounds better, but honestly I find that I've some movies with DD that sound great and some movies with DTS that don't sound all that great--the mastering and editing/care given to the sound is far more important than which scheme.

 

[KR...]

To my ears DTS sounds better.

 

[GokieKS]

, and proud of it.

~KS

 

[Garbz]

DTS is the master i believe between the two. ALthough both DTS and DD are lossy codecs.

Having a look at the ELP DVD-A the track was recorded in Dolby Digital at 445kbps. This is as near to lossless as a lossy codec can get anyway. But i believe that DVD-A generally sound better then CDs (the DD track i'm talking about) because it normally goes through the same mastering process as the DVD-A. Unless ofcource the cd went though the same that is.

ANyway give it 10 years and all dvds will be encoded with lossless music at 192khz 24bit and 50 channels

 

[Ferbose]

Thanks for the info.

I spent a little time comparing DD and DTS material on my Naxos DVD-A disc. The differences is very small and only after a careful listening was I convinced that DTS is a bit smoother with violins playing higher notes. Further checking the bit rate of each program, DTS is 1509 kbps and DD is 448 kbps, which is probably why DTS sounds a tiny bit better.

When I have time, I will try to listen to the CD version of this work and determine if DTS or DD sounds better than CD.

 

[Mr.Radar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garbz Having a look at the ELP DVD-A the track was recorded in Dolby Digital at 445kbps. This is as near to lossless as a lossy codec can get anyway.

But that's for 6 channels, not two like on CDs. (BTW, that's for the DVD-V layer, you can't decode the surround Meridian Lossless track on the DVD-A layer which should be somewhere arround 7000 kbps)

 

[purk]

I more experience with the SACD player/media. I have the Phillips 963SA, will it play the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" DTS disc? If "yes" how will it sound? I hates to buy the disc and found out that it wouldn't work on my C222ES and C555ES. It is a pain to shop locally for SACD titles. There are so many titles that I want, sadly, many are in DVD audio formats. BTW, what is different b/w DVD-A disc and the DTS disc?

 

[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by purk I more experience with the SACD player/media. I have the Phillips 963SA, will it play the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" DTS disc? If "yes" how will it sound? I hates to buy the disc and found out that it wouldn't work on my C222ES and C555ES. It is a pain to shop locally for SACD titles. There are so many titles that I want, sadly, many are in DVD audio formats. BTW, what is different b/w DVD-A disc and the DTS disc?

963SA is a DVD player that supports DTS and Dobly Digital. Therefore any DTS CD and the DTS material of DVD-V and DVD-A can be played normally. DTS is a multichannel format, so the stereo output will be a down-mix of 5.1 channels into 2 channels. I believe the engineer stores some mixing parameters in the disc and your DVD palyer will create a stereo mix using these parameters. DVD-A has MLP 5.1 and/or 2.0 matrerial that requires DVD-A player to decode. DVD-A will also have material that can be decoded by DVD video players, such as Dolby Digital/DTS/LPCM. As for the sound quality of DTS down-mix to stereo vs. CD, I am eager to find out which one is better myself.

 

[Mr.Radar]

The DVD-A layer should sound better than the DVD-V layer (the one with the DTS and DD tracks) because DVD-V compressed audio is limited to 24/48 (if the player has a 24-bit decoder, otherwise it's 16/48 which is only a marginal improvement over CD quality and only equal to or less if you take the encoding artifacts into consideration) while almost all DVD-A layers have at least 24/96 and most also have 24/192.