I am a conductor -- well, used to be -- conducting opera, symphony and some touring musical theater. Then I was a classical music critic for 10 years and heard more live concerts than most people would hear in two lifetimes.

The conductor's vantage point also gives a skewed impression of the sound produced (though not so much as orchestra members, INCLUDING first violinists. I was one....) Part of the skill of being a conductor is learning how to balance an orchestra and get the right sound for "the house."

I also hear some timbral shift in DPL2 that I don't hear to the same degree in DTS Neo:6. But face it, all recorded music is an illusion, so these didactic arguments about "realism" are more heat than light.

I think everyone should just accept the "lie" they like best and stick with it. For my part, I go back and forth from Bypass, to DPL2 to Neo:6 depending on how I feel that day with that source material.

[This message has been edited by bobliinds (edited September 16, 2002).]