cel4145
Headphoneus Supremus
Makes sense, just thought that since I was investing in a card for powering my Sennheiser's I'd try to improve the sound bar.
I might be investing in the full surround later on since where I work I get a accommodations through them so I get the equipment pretty cheap. Would it make a difference then?
Also what would be blu-ray quality sound? If I could get substantially better sound from a different system I would wanna look into it.
Most likely an HT setup of the same cost as the full Sonos Playbar, sub, and rear speaker setup would be better. I haven't heard the Playbar, but it's generally the case that you can easily improve upon soundbar setups. Even Endgadget came to that conclusion in their listening test:
Is it a replacement for your home stereo? No. Casual listeners will find no fault with the Playbar's sonic output, but if you're thinking this new Sonos can provide the depth of sound and stereo separation provided by a quality set of desktop speakers or a full component stereo, you'll be disappointed. The Playbar excels as a soundbar, providing a considerable upgrade over your TV's speakers and serving as a capable stereo substitute that provides a convenient way to listen to all of your music.
For instance, for the price of their sub at $699, most likely the HSU Research VTF-3 MK4 or SVS PB12-NSD would slay it in overall performance. If you are getting a good discount, perhaps you are getting a good value.
Dolby Digital, which is the common encoding for DVD 5.l, is compressed, lossy audio. Fairly high bit rate, but still not lossless. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA in Blu-ray are lossless and are supposed to give you an exact duplicate of the studio master. So you do hear a difference with a good audio system between a good quality movie recording on DVD vs. one on Blu-ray.