First Listen To "The
Haunting" Special
Edition
As our "Essential Subwoofer Buyer's Guide" Special
Edition was drawing to a close, i.e., the print
deadline was hanging over all our heads, an early
check-disc DVD of the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
version of DreamWorks The Haunting arrived along
with a prototype of Denon's new flagship receiver,
the AVR-5800. Since the initial DVD release of The
Haunting had featured an earth shaking, system
threatening bass experience, we decided to include
a review of the latest incarnation of the
heavyweight champion of "shake and rattle"
soundtracks, presented in DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
surround.
The prototype Denon AVR-5800 receiver used for this
review features a DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 decoder as
well as the other decoding options of the DTS-ES
program, DTS-ES Matrix 6.1and DTS Neo:6, a matrix
decoding algorithm that derives up to six channels
of sound from two-channel material and operates
with analog or digital signals. The AVR-5800
carries seven channels of on-board amplification
allowing one or two speakers to be deployed to
reproduce the back surround channel. Each of these
seven channels is rated at a whopping 170 watts per
channel into 8 ohms, over the full frequency
spectrum of 20Hz-20kHz. The AVR-5800 employs dual
Analog Devices' SHARC-based 32-bit floating point
DSP processors for DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 decoding as
well as all other decoding and post processing
functionality. Digital to analog conversion is
supplied by 16 Analog Devices' reference AD-1853 24
bit/192 kHz DACs operating in differential mode to
provide two DACs per channel to each of the
AVR-5800's eight channels.
Picture And Sound - P5/S5+
Presentation
The video on the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 DVD is the
same transfer with the exact same video compression
stream (and therefore video data rate) as the
previous DVD release. In other words, the video
transfers on the two DVDs are literally identical.
As Film Review Editor Suzanne Hodges reported in
Issue 36, "viewed through the component video
output, the anamorphically enhanced DVD exhibits
breathtaking shadow delineation and contrast.
Colors are rich and fully saturated, with accurate
fleshtones and deep, pure blacks. View the film in
a completely darkened room to fully appreciate the
dark rich qualities of this DVD. Images are sharp
and finely detailed, with exquisite background
definition and superb resolution. There is no
distracting pixelization for a DVD that looks so
good, its scarier than the movie. The DVD is framed
at 2.32:1, anamorphic and letterbox."
Before I relay my impressions of the new DTS-ES
Discrete 6.1 soundtrack of The Haunting and how it
compares to the previous DVD release, I must point
out that this soundtrack is not sourced from the
same master as the Dolby® Digital Surround
EX 5.1-encoded DVD previously reviewed. The
Dolby Digital version was sourced from a 16-bit
matrix encoded Dolby Digital Surround EX 5.1
channel master while the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 is
from a newly created discrete 6.1 channel master at
24-bit depth. This is not meant to be an apples to
apples comparison of the two codecs involved, but
instead an observation of the differences between
two soundtracks available on two different DVDs,
one of which is on the market now, the other to be
available for purchase in August of 2000. This
information is meant to figure into your purchasing
decision when the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 DVD becomes
available.
The Haunting, played back in DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
via the Denon AVR-5800, is an absolutely stunning
experience that stands among the very best
achievements in movie sound. The acoustic spaces of
Hill House, itself a central character in the film,
are created convincingly and effectively in
three-dimensional space. Directional sound effects
are aggressively placed at all three surround
channel positions consistently, and imaging among
those channels is outstanding. The discrete back
surround channel is used to great effect, expanding
the soundfield into a 360° holosonic
assault. Phantom and sidewall imaging between all
channels is extraordinary, placing sound effects
far beyond the boundaries of the speaker
positions.
In all of the above respects, the DTS-ES Discrete
6.1 soundtrack, encoded at 754 kilobits per second
(kbps), improves upon the previous Dolby Digital
Surround EX release, offering greater clarity,
fidelity, inner detail and with overall resolution
that is superior by a substantial margin. The
discrete back surround channel is noticeably more
prominent in the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1soundtrack,
especially adding impact to the sound effects that
are intended to be coming from directly behind the
listener. The left and right surround channels
image much wider as well, creating a surround sound
experience that is much more expansive than the
previous release and at the same time more
spatially defined.
Dynamics and transient impact are improved with the
DTS-ES Discrete, increasing the "jump" factor of
soundtrack significantly. Chapter Eight "A Bedtime
Story," provides a terrific example of this as the
crackle effect from the fireplace and the breaking
piano wire are much more visceral and realistic on
the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 soundtrack. Jerry
Goldsmith's terrific music score is even more
haunting as well, always maintaining the rich
fidelity and soundstage width and depth of the
score even when this incredibly dynamic soundtrack
is full scale in all channels with sound effects
and other soundtrack elements competing for
bandwidth.
While the ghost of Hugh Crane is not seen until the
third act of The Haunting, his presence is heard
and even felt throughout the film as a subterranean
deep bass rumble that thrashes through the walls
and all about Hill House. The DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
soundtrack imparts all of Hugh Crane's fury and
then some, improving on the previous Dolby Digital
release's efforts with a bass presence that is
consistently tighter with superior pitch definition
and texture. While the previous release was system
threatening, the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 soundtrack is
house threatening, offering perhaps the deepest and
tightest bass I've heard yet from a motion picture
soundtrack. At times I literally feared for the
integrity of my listening room!
Prime examples of all of the previously noted
strengths of this incredible soundtrack are evident
in Chapter 10, "Creaking Pipes," and again in
Chapter 17, "Bump In The Night." The menace of Hugh
Crane is imparted almost entirely through the
creative use of the discrete 6.1 channel palette in
these scenes, placing his terrorizing sonic image
all round the characters of the film and the viewer
alike. While the Dolby Digital version is very
impressive, the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 track creates a
much more convincing spatial rendering of Hill
House, especially in the surrounds, and hits low
frequencies so deep and tight that impact is felt
as much as heard. While the Dolby Digital
soundtrack matches and perhaps even exceeds the
DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 soundtrack in overall bass
output and level, it sounds almost bloated in
comparison to the punchy and defined character of
the DTS' bass response. The impression I was left
with was that the Dolby Digital version had more
bass energy in the 25Hz-50Hz region, while the DTS
version was just as loud while hitting lower in the
bass registers. This deep bass is not confined to
the LFE channel either; just as Hugh Crane rumbles
through the walls of Hill House and all around the
characters in the film, the deep bass in this
soundtrack moves with him all around the soundfield
providing a holosonic deep bass experience to all
channels, and an extra thrill to those with full
range capability in all channels, including back
surround!
Needless to say I preferred the deeper and tighter
low frequency presence of the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
soundtrack, which re-defines the term "Deep Bass
Challenging." An important point to make here is
that only the most robust full range speakers and
dedicated subwoofers will be able to resolve the
intense but articulate low frequency energy at 25Hz
and below that's found in all channels of this
exciting, reference quality DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
soundtrack. Interesting to note is that when the
original theatrical printmaster for The Haunting
was created there was some concern about the
prodigious amount of deep bass energy present in
all (three) surround channels throughout this
aggressively mixed film. The filmmakers worried
that the movie theatres out there did not have
surround channel amplifiers, speakers and bass
management systems that could handle the deep bass
extension at the high volume levels that The
Haunting's soundtrack demanded in the surround
channels. So great was this concern that a special
software program was developed to act as a
multi-band dynamic bass processor for the
surrounds. I'm grossly over-simplifying here, but
essentially what this means is that when bass
frequencies hit certain low frequency registers at
certain volume levels the processing software moved
those elements from the surrounds to the LFE
channel to prevent overload and clipping in the
surround channels. This step was employed during
the creation of the original matrix-encoded
Surround EX 5.1 channel printmaster and was
repeated during the creation of the new DTS-ES
Discrete 6.1 soundtrack.
Conclusion
Overall, the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 soundtrack for The
Haunting, mastered and encoded at 24-bit depth,
does a superior job of recreating the uncompressed
discrete 6.1 channel master that I heard during the
printmastering session at Skywalker Sound, and is
the reference presentation of this magnificent
soundtrack.
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