AV Reciever sound modes, which ones do you actually use?

hyperseven

hyperseven

hyperseven

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AVR's seem to come with an increasing amount of these.

Which ones are you daily drivers for say music, gaming, TV and movies?

On my 7.1 setup, Onkyo AVR, I just tend to use the same ones:
Music - Stereo (with sub)
Gaming - Direct
Movies - Direct
TV - Dolby neo
 
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Movies - direct?

You realize that means you're only using the fronts and the sub?

I use:

Movies - movie mode
Music - pure direct (no sub, no processing)
TV - Stereo
 
FurryLemon said:
Movies - direct?

You realize that means you're only using the fronts and the sub?

I use:

Movies - movie mode
Music - pure direct (no sub, no processing)
TV - Stereo
Click to expand...

Its an Onkyo, only had this model a couple of weeks but thought Direct used the same as the source, so if Stereo then Stereo, TrueHD-TrueHD etc, or is it me reading things wrong again :confused::D
 
Direct could be straight Dolby Digital/DTS decoding, no extra processing. On Yamaha this is called straight.

Pure direct means no bass management, no room correction.

Depends what AVR OP has
 
I have a Sony as well, used for TV and Movies, I leave it set to Neo:6 Cinema all the time, this means all 2.0 sources are upmixed but anything that is DD or DTS is left alone and played as is.
 
direct means all the fancy stuff is switched off. no bass management, no speaker distance correction, no speaker volume level correction, no audyssey or the equivalent if you're running it etc etc. the source is what you hear through the speakers. absolutely the last thing i'd want to run on an AVR.

for me, i dont use any surround modes and the only processing i do use is audyssey. dolby and dts stay as dolby and dts. stereo is stereo. DSD is DSD and so on.
 
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I have a brand new Denon AVR-X1300W with HDMI passthrough from 4K TV.
It chooses the format for my in relation to whatever i throw at it. 5.1 DD, DTS, DTS X, multi stereo.. its really nice, tho my flatmates don't think so...
 
james.miller said:
direct means all the fancy stuff is switched off. no bass management, no speaker distance correction, no speaker volume level correction, no audyssey or the equivalent if you're running it etc etc. the source is what you hear through the speakers. absolutely the last thing i'd want to run on an AVR.

for me, i dont use any surround modes and the only processing i do use is audyssey. dolby and dts stay as dolby and dts. stereo is stereo. DSD is DSD and so on.
Click to expand...

doesn't say any of that in the manual, so you have an Onkyo amp?
 
I've had an 805 since 2007, yes. what model do you have?

This is what the manual for the PR-RZ5100 says about Direct, just as an example:

Direct
This listening mode can be selected for all input signals. It shuts down processing that affects sound quality to deliver a playback sound quality
closer to sources. Speakers play the sound field according to the number of channels in the input signal, so there would be output from only the
front speakers for a 2 ch signal, for example.
Click to expand...
 
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james.miller said:
I've had an 805 since 2007, yes. what model do you have?
Click to expand...

SR444, needed HDCP2.2 so had to get rid of my old HK one :(

In the book:
Direct
In this mode, audio from the input source is output as-is.

For example, if a 2 ch source from a music CD is input, the output will be stereo, or if Dolby Digital signal is input, the sound field will be controlled in accordance with the number of channels present.
Click to expand...
 
indeed, you hear the source and you cannot apply any surround processing, but it goes further than that. Look at page 14 onwards at the audio features which cannot be enabled if the listening mode is direct:

*AUDIO:
- Bass, Treble
- Phase matching Bass

*A/V Sync

*AccuEQ room calibration

*Music Optimiser
*Cinema Filter

etc.

Direct turns it all off :)
 
james.miller said:
indeed, you hear the source and you cannot apply any surround processing, but it goes further than that. Look at page 14 onwards at the audio features which cannot be enabled if the listening mode is direct:

*AUDIO:
- Bass, Treble
- Phase matching Bass

*A/V Sync

*AccuEQ room calibration

*Music Optimiser
*Cinema Filter

etc.

Direct turns it all off :)
Click to expand...

cheers, suppose I better have another read through :D
 
On my marantz AV7701, I use direct for everything except the turntable which is set to pure direct. This means that I get what goes in coming out, so 90% of the time that is PCM 2 channel. The bluray player, dvd player and pvr can output bitstream and if they do it picks it straight of and switches.

I don't use any of the audessey room EQ features as it just sounds weird.
 
This is one feature of the Arcam AVR 550 I've been impressed with (as well as the Dirac sound EQ), for 2 channel sound I've selected Neo6:cinema (obviously you can select your own preference) and it actually remembers it. So when viewing Sky if I get 5.1 it does to the correct Dolby Surround setting, get 2.0 it goes to Neo6:Cinema - perfect.
 
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