Quick surround sound survey

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 23 Apr 2005, 12:43

Hi I'm conducting a little survey. I was wondering if you could answer the following questions. Please be honest, I'm trying to examine public awareness of home cinema systems. Many thanks.

Most are "Yes" or "No" questions. If you cannot answers certain questions, just leave 'N/A' or 'not sure'.

1. Do you know who "Dolby" are?

2. Do you know who "DTS" are?

3. Do you have a surround sound system at home (5.1, 6.1)?

4. Would you consider upgrading to a 5.1 or 6.1 surround sound system or upgrading to a better model?

5. Do you have the ability to play DTS encoded discs?

6. In general, rate Dolby 5.1 encoded discs from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent).

7. In general, rate DTS 5.1 encoded discs from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent).

8. Which do you think is superior - Dolby or DTS?

9. Do you think that surround sound systems are currently cheap, reasonable or expensive?

10. In general, rate the audio quality of music through a portable device via headphones (MP3, mindisc etc) from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent).

11. Which do you think is superior - music through home entertainment system (hi-fi, DVD player etc) or music through portable device (MP3, mindisc etc)?

12. Rate the follwing idea from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent): A portable device that generates rhythmic vibrations in time with the music. It would be stored inside a rucksack. In other words, if you were to walk and listen to your MP3, you would essentially 'feel' the audio against your back or front (depending on how you wore your rucksack).

13. What would be a fair price for such a device: £40 or less, £40-£60, £60 or more

Ok cheers. Any help appreciated.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 23 Apr 2005, 14:03

1. YES
2. YES
3. YES
4. YES
5. YES
6. 4
7. 5
8. DTS
9. Reasonable
10. 3
11. home entertainment system
12. 2
13. £60-80

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 23 Apr 2005, 16:11

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes, but not for foreseeable future.
5. Yes
6. 4
7. 4
8. Haven't really noticed much difference. I'm not an audiophile!
9. Reasonable - depending on what Brand Name and quality of system you want.
10. 4. Got no complaints at all with my IRiver!
11. home entertainment system
12. 1
13. £40 or less

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 23 Apr 2005, 16:52

Hey I cannot really answr most easy at all, but will try a bit

1.Yes (I think I get the question?)

2. Yes (Again not sure what you mean exactly by who)

3. 5.1 (but I have a 6.1 amp, just no extra speaker)

4. no not at the moment as mines new

5. Yes

6. ? again not sure what you mean sorry, as every dvd is totally different

7. ? again not sure what you mean sorry, as every dvd is totally different

8. every dvd is totally different realy, but DTS is louder I guess, its too hard to compare them.

9. Cheap enuff

10. MP3 and Minidiscs sound very good thru my headphones

11. home entertainment system by a mile (but I like to use my MP3 a lot)

12. 1 it would make me sick

13. low

Mordib · Post by **Mordib** » 23 Apr 2005, 17:18

1. Do you know who "Dolby" are?yes

2. Do you know who "DTS" are?yes

3. Do you have a surround sound system at home (5.1, 6.1)?yes

4. Would you consider upgrading to a 5.1 or 6.1 surround sound system or upgrading to a better model? nope

5. Do you have the ability to play DTS encoded discs?yes

8. Which do you think is superior - Dolby or DTS?DTS

9. Do you think that surround sound systems are currently cheap, reasonable or expensive? all of the above

10. In general, rate the audio quality of music through a portable device via headphones (MP3, mindisc etc) from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent). 4

11. Which do you think is superior - music through home entertainment system (hi-fi, DVD player etc) or music through portable device (MP3, mindisc etc)? hi-fi

12. Rate the follwing idea from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent): A portable device that generates rhythmic vibrations in time with the music. It would be stored inside a rucksack. In other words, if you were to walk and listen to your MP3, you would essentially 'feel' the audio against your back or front (depending on how you wore your rucksack).1 (you wouldnt be able to tel if your mobile phone was vibrating

13. What would be a fair price for such a device: £40 or less, £40-£60, £60 or more£40 or less

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 23 Apr 2005, 19:29

1. Do you know who "Dolby" are?

Yes

2. Do you know who "DTS" are?

Yes

3. Do you have a surround sound system at home (5.1, 6.1)?

Yes - 5.1

4. Would you consider upgrading to a 5.1 or 6.1 surround sound system or upgrading to a better model?

No, dont think so. I'm happy with what I have!

5. Do you have the ability to play DTS encoded discs?

Yes

6. In general, rate Dolby 5.1 encoded discs from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent).

4 (depends on the disc)

7. In general, rate DTS 5.1 encoded discs from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent).

5 (depends on the disc though)

8. Which do you think is superior - Dolby or DTS?

DTS

9. Do you think that surround sound systems are currently cheap, reasonable or expensive?

Reasonable.

10. In general, rate the audio quality of music through a portable device via headphones (MP3, mindisc etc) from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent).

Don't know

11. Which do you think is superior - music through home entertainment system (hi-fi, DVD player etc) or music through portable device (MP3, mindisc etc)?

Music through Home Entertainment!

12. Rate the follwing idea from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent): A portable device that generates rhythmic vibrations in time with the music. It would be stored inside a rucksack. In other words, if you were to walk and listen to your MP3, you would essentially 'feel' the audio against your back or front (depending on how you wore your rucksack).

Don't know...

13. What would be a fair price for such a device: £40 or less, £40-£60, £60 or more

£40 or less

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 23 Apr 2005, 19:53

I intended to answer your quiz, Bisc. Honest I did. But as I don't own a sound system all the questions - at least the ones I understood - became irrelevant. For the record I've heard of Dolby and DTS, but don't know anything about them technically, except to say most think the latter is superior.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 23 Apr 2005, 20:14

Awesome, I just wanna say a massive thanks guys for the responses.

Mark don't worry. Actually what you just said is quite useful to me.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 23 Apr 2005, 21:02

1. Do you know who "Dolby" are?

YES.

2. Do you know who "DTS" are?

YES.

3. Do you have a surround sound system at home (5.1, 6.1)?

YES. 7.1

4. Would you consider upgrading to a 5.1 or 6.1 surround sound system or upgrading to a better model?

NO. I already have the best one available.

5. Do you have the ability to play DTS encoded discs?

YES.

6. In general, rate Dolby 5.1 encoded discs from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent).

2.

7. In general, rate DTS 5.1 encoded discs from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent).

4.

8. Which do you think is superior - Dolby or DTS?

DTS.

9. Do you think that surround sound systems are currently cheap, reasonable or expensive?

Mine cost me £150 (speakers included). So: VERY CHEAP.

10. In general, rate the audio quality of music through a portable device via headphones (MP3, mindisc etc) from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent).

1.

11. Which do you think is superior - music through home entertainment system (hi-fi, DVD player etc) or music through portable device (MP3, mindisc etc)?

HOME ENTERTAINMENT.

12. Rate the follwing idea from 1-5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent): A portable device that generates rhythmic vibrations in time with the music. It would be stored inside a rucksack. In other words, if you were to walk and listen to your MP3, you would essentially 'feel' the audio against your back or front (depending on how you wore your rucksack).

1.

13. What would be a fair price for such a device: £40 or less, £40-£60, £60 or more

Don't care.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 24 Apr 2005, 00:40

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Yes
6. 4
7. 5
8. DTS
9. Depends on the quality. The cliche "Cheap things no good, good things no cheap" holds true here.
10. 1/5 for earbuds. 3/5 for a decent pair of headphones.
11. home entertainment system
12. 1
13. I wouldn't pay a cent for gimmicky rubbish like that.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 24 Apr 2005, 01:07

Jeez you are picky Romero Bisc was asking for an average generally speaking which do you prefer DTS vs. DD5.1.

What part don't you understand? Clearly you know who Dolby and DTS are.

p.s - Mark presumably you've owned some kind of personal stereo in the past so can answer those questions, no?

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 24 Apr 2005, 11:05

bradavon wrote:p.s - Mark presumably you've owned some kind of personal stereo in the past so can answer those questions, no?

I have a personal CD player which is what I always listen to music on. I've never heard DD or DTS thru speakers so how can I compare?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 24 Apr 2005, 11:34

Questions 10 and 11 have nothing to do with 5.1/6.1 sound and are comparing a home stereo to a personal stereo.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 24 Apr 2005, 13:51

I just find it imposable to say what I prefer, as its imposable for me to compare DTS to DD as the sound levels are soooo different and the DTS is soo loud its imposable for me to set my sound to the same levels and compare, I have no idea how any of you lot do it as I cannot compare them, and for that its imposable for me to say which is better. I automatically go for DTS as its apparently better, no other reason realy.

and as for Who DTS and Dolby are, no idea what to say, who? doent you mean what?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 24 Apr 2005, 18:31

No Who. What's so confusing about it? Everyone else understands.

Do you know who they are as companies? Of course you do as you use their technology.

Another example: do you know who BMW are? Do you know who Rover are?

As for DTS vs. DD5.1 it's not hard to up the volume when listening to DD5.1 to get a proper comparison. To me most of the time (and certainly not always) DTS sounds crisper and more dynamic. Some times it's blatantly obvious and others it's very subtle, where at first I can't tell a difference.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 25 Apr 2005, 09:11

To be fair to Romero: I too pondered the meaning of 'who' over 'what'. Was the question wanting to know WHAT they do? or WHO they are? There's a difference. But I figured it was basically meant as 'Have you heard of them?' and so answered that.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 25 Apr 2005, 12:53

Isn't the difference marginal though?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 25 Apr 2005, 12:59

Tom how can you have 7.1?

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 25 Apr 2005, 13:09

Just a massive thanks once again. I'm sorry if I worded it badly.

I've now included the stats in this report I'm writing for Uni. Cheers.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 25 Apr 2005, 13:13

grim_tales wrote:Tom how can you have 7.1?

Easily.

It's not a standard like 5.1 or 6.1 but many amps support 7.1:

1. Centre x1
2. Rears x2
3. Sub x1
4. Fronts x4

Equals = 7.1

Instead of having 1 front left and 1 front right you have 2. The 2 additional front speakers sit to the left and right of the chair which is in the centre.

I believe it's the same data though. My amp supports it but it would be to many speakers to be practical. I don't believe it's as good as proper 6.1 though as 6.1 has a sixth channel of different data.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 25 Apr 2005, 13:37

OK.

Well I have 5.1 and am very happy with it (or I will be when its working again)

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 25 Apr 2005, 23:13

bradavon wrote:It's not a standard like 5.1 or 6.1 but many amps support 7.1:

1. Centre x1
2. Rears x2
3. Sub x1
4. Fronts x4

Equals = 7.1

Instead of having 1 front left and 1 front right you have 2. The 2 additional front speakers sit to the left and right of the chair which is in the centre..

Cheers Brad, I've wondered how 7.1 would work but never bothered to look it up. Sounds like a waste of time IMO.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 25 Apr 2005, 23:27

Tom how can you have 7.1?

Look at my amp, Grim (and count the speakers

):

1 Center.
2 Fronts.
4 Surrounds (for DD-EX and DTS-ES).
.1 Subwoofer.

150 quid.

as for Who DTS and Dolby are, no idea what to say, who?

DTS is Steven Spielberg.
DD is George Lucas.

DTS is primarily used by Universal.
DD is primarily used by Warner.

That's how I understand it.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 26 Apr 2005, 08:13

Cheers Tom

150 quid? Blimey thats cheap, my 5.1 (seperates mind) cost £320

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 26 Apr 2005, 10:21

Yeah, mine was a bit more than £150 too!!!

A seperates DTS etc receiver (Pioneer VSX-D510) for £100
Five speakers for £50 (Panasonic SB-HEP20)

(I think it was)
Subwoofer about £100 (Eltax Atomic A10 I think) - I got too good a sub. It has its own volume control on it and I've NEVER needed to put it up beyond 1/3 its volume. any higher is just too bassy for my room!

Bullets 'n' Babes

Quick surround sound survey

Quick surround sound survey

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