DTS Neural:X and Dolby Surround Upmixing – Should You Use Them?
You might be considering adding overhead speakers, or you may have already done so. Either way, you want to know how to make the best use of them. You discovered upmixing, and you are curious. Should you use it? If so, which flavor? Is DTS Neural:X or Dolby Surround the best upmixing solution? Let’s discuss!
Upmixing and The Flavors
Upmixing is when an audio signal designed for a specific number of speakers is extrapolated to a greater number. A stereo signal that is played by all your speakers (provided you have a surround sound system) would need to be upmixed. There are two main flavors of upmixing: Dolby Surround and DTS Neural:X (ignore the AURO-3D pundits). The differences between the two are subtle. They both take any audio signal (all the way down to mono) and use all of your speakers. Most people agree that the DTS upmixing tends to play the overhead speakers a little louder (overall) than Dolby. Since it is very easy to switch between the two, try them both and see which you prefer.
Should You Use Upmixing at All?
You won’t spend long on the Internet before you come across someone with a strong opinion about upmixing. Invariably, that opinion is that it should never, ever be used. The reasoning is usually that you should listen in the format in which the content was mixed. Any upmixing invariably (according to these people) makes things sound worse.
What a load of hogwash.
If upmixing “always” makes things sound worse, no one would use it. This is demonstrably not the case. Many people have upmixing engaged on their AV receivers by default and don’t realize it. Not only that, many people experiment with upmixing and find that they like it. They are shouted down on the Internet, but I assure you that they exist. Test it for yourself and come to your own conclusion. Chances are, you will like upmixing and will prefer one flavor to the other. If you prefer to notice your overhead speakers, you’ll prefer DTS Neural:X upmixing to Dolby Surround. If you want your overhead speakers to be more subtle, you’ll prefer Dolby Surround.
Denon/Marantz Owners and the Music/Movie/Game Buttons
If you read our upmixing article, there is a section on the Music/Movie/Game buttons. At the time, they made a difference in how the upmixers performed. With the release of Dolby Surround and DTS Neural:X upmixing, these buttons have been rendered obsolete. From what we can tell, there is little difference between the three. Our original advice to use the Game mode still stands for older receivers (and will sound just fine with newer models). But if you have a newer AV receiver and couldn’t tell the difference between the three, it isn’t just you. They all sound the same now!
