Jim,
What you describe is chaos. I think the problem is, so many are into multi-channel and surround sound that the two channel listener has to fend for himself in the world of Blu-ray and DVD. The companies simply aren’t gearing these products to you.
Whats maddening, is even within the same company there are discrepancies.
The aforementioned Naxos BD’s definitely sounded better with 5.1, but on another disc from Naxos, the 2.0 and 5.1 were indistinguishable sonically, one not much different from the other!
Bottom Line, you are right. You have to choose among the formats as to what sounds best to you.
There is no way of telling in advance what’s going to sound best without experimentation.
What you describe is chaos. I think the problem is, so many are into multi-channel and surround sound that the two channel listener has to fend for himself in the world of Blu-ray and DVD. The companies simply aren’t gearing these products to you.
Whats maddening, is even within the same company there are discrepancies.
The aforementioned Naxos BD’s definitely sounded better with 5.1, but on another disc from Naxos, the 2.0 and 5.1 were indistinguishable sonically, one not much different from the other!
Bottom Line, you are right. You have to choose among the formats as to what sounds best to you.
There is no way of telling in advance what’s going to sound best without experimentation.