Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater DD and DTS for how many more years?

How many more years do you guys think it will be before a new digital sound format will be introduced? I'm talking about a jump similar to that of prologic to dolby digital and dts, not just DD and DTS with more channels. I ask because if it's likely going to be more than 4 or 5 years, then I'm going to go ahead and upgrade my DD only receiver...

On another note, How much of an improvement in sound do you all think I'd get going from a 3.5-4 year old $500 Yamaha receiver(rx-v595 70wx5, probably only around 50wx5) to an rx-v1300(100wx6, close to 90x6 most likely) which retails for $800?

If it helps, my speakers are M22's, vp150, qs8's, and a crappy/decent jbl 10in/100 watt sub.

Considering the massive investment being made into 5.1 soundtracks for both audio and video use, as well as the ongoing exponential growth of DVD and home theater sales, it's doubtful we'll be seeing anything revolutionary for a number of years. Besides which, the potential of 5.1 surround has really just scratched the surface, especially for music. Tom Holman of THX is developing 10.2 systems, but the likelihood of Joe Blow Consumer putting 12 speakers in a room is a stretch to say the least. The 5.1/6.1 ride is just beginning...

If you're happy with your receiver in terms of musical and movie performance, you probably don't need to upgrade it just yet. DTS soundtracks aren't night-and-day superior to DD ones, and with your QS8s in the back, the upgrade to 6.1 will not make as significant a difference as upgrading your sub (which is the route I would take). If the copyright issues around DVD-A/SACD are resolved, it could also mean a huge industry-wide change in receiver processing technology, which you'd hate to miss out on if you upgrade your receiver today.

If your receiver ISN'T cutting the mustard, though, a good AV shop will let you audition a new one at home to see if the investment is warranted. You could also think about auditioning models by Outlaw, Arcam or NAD, which offer better performance on music.

I wouldn't worry about changes in DVD-A/SACD. Both require the player to do onboard decoding and output the signal via multiple PCM cables due to bandwidth limitation in SPDIF. As such, so long as your receiver has inputs for enough channels, you should be golden with the replacement of your DVD player once the platforms are more firm.

On a side note, I'm not a big fan of Yamaha's low end models. Their DSP technology is certainly superior to everyone but that's not really a feature I use much and the sound quality is less than some of their competitors in the price bracket in my opinion.

From what I read the DVD-Forum has just approved using FireWire to send the DVD-Audio signal digitally from the player to the receiver (like SPDIF/Toslink for DD and DTS)

So I expect new receivers/players to start hitting the market in the next couple months. (Pioneer has already done it using FireWire but with a proprietary encoding)

In any case DVD-Audio sounds much better than CD, DD, or DTS even when using the 5.1 analog inputs we have now)

Michael

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess I should have mentioned that I'll only be using the receiver for movies, that means I won't have to worry about DVD-A right?

Correct, DVD-A is only for music, no video.

Michael