Downmix

I know about the downmix option to 4.0, but I'm wondering what is the best way to downmix multichannel to 2-channel stereo? Is it simply to choose that option on the Oppo, or is there a clever way to allow the vanity module to do the down mixing?

The best way to get stereo is play stereo content whenever possible (SACD/DVD). If there is only multi channel content available I would suggest to leave it to the OPPO to do the downmixing by selecting appropriate speaker config/downmix option. The Vanity module can do downmixing only for multichannel DSD, nothing else.

Thanks, Pavel.

Oddly, I often prefer the down mixed multi over the stereo mix, which is sometimes much more dynamically compressed, congested, and "loud" compared to the surround. For SACD's, the vanity hd gives me yet another downmix option to play with.

That it a very interesting observation. Most people find the multichannel mix a bit plain and disintegrated. I guess it differs from one recording to another.

I hear what you’re saying. I’m referring to releases where compression is overly applied to the final mix, but the multi-channel tracks retain their full dynamic range (or close to it). I noticed this with the remixed Sgt Pepper blu-ray issue, among others, for example. In these cases, I sometimes get a better result over the compressed stereo mix by downmixing the uncompressed tracks to two channel.

Michael