Hi,
I'd advocate going to the surrounds for the best and most realistic musical listening experience. Isn't realism the goal? Of course we are still in our living rooms or music rooms, but if you can close your eyes and be transported, even for a few minutes, to what I experience hearing a piano and cello recital in a well designed hall, then the illusion works.
There are a lot of misconceptions about DPLII. It does not digitally "manipulate" the signal a la Yamaha's "Digital Soundfield Processing". DPLII is a restorative process.
Dolby Surround was originally an analog matrix that subtracted L - R information from a 2-channel stereo recording and routed it, correctly, to the surround speakers at the sides, where the signals belonged in the first place. When digital processing enabled multiple channels and greatly improved separation, it became possible to extract ambient information and reproduce it very convincingly via 5.1 channels.
Think of using DPLII or Logic7 (or the dts version) as a restoration or correction of flaws inherent to 2-channel recording. This isn't to say that two channel stereo can't be very convincing at times, with a fine recording and very good speakers. But on lots of musical material that I prefer (large orchestral, choral, and operatic works; chamber music; and yes, bluegrass) the increased realism is astonishing when the ambience present in the 2-channel recording is restored via 5.1-channel playback.
You can always switch off the surrounds and listen in 2 channels. I often compare the two, and sometimes go with two channels.
Regards,
