I am confused to read the following in a review of the Toshiba DVD HD-XA2 I was considering purchasing.....

"The HD-XA2 takes a slightly different tack. Instead of transcoding to DTS, it converts the signal to Dolby Digital 5.1 at that format's maximum bit rate of 640 kb/s. This is arguably inferior to the DTS method (Dolby advocates would disagree), but ensures greater backwards compatibility.

Does anyone have any songs they can recommend for sound demos? Preferably upbeat, maybe blues, I have sheffield labs now and I really like number 7.

Does anyone have any recommendations on some songs that sound great for sound demos?

I just started wondering about a few things related to 2 channel situations and powered subwoofers.

1. For those that are into 2 channel or hyrid HT/2 channel, how often do you use a subwoofer if at all?

2. Does listening to vinyl lend itself to having a subwoofer whatsoever?

3. I can say through my extensive use of 2 channel CDs, that I find that some recordings are better just using the two main speakers, while other stuff, espicially live for some some reason, I like to fill the room with more bass. Is this the norm?

I just thought I would pass this along now since by the time the articles come out it will be March. Cabe Sipes (google him) is considered one of the top car customizers in the world and has been doing so for over 15 years. Well he has retired from the automobiles and has started his new home theater line of products. I spoke to him at SEMA and again on the phone a couple weeks ago and he said his website and products will launch the beginning of February.

I am using a low-end HD DVD player to play music CD's. The player's spec sheet says its internal DAC's are 24/192. I figured that'd be better than what my 'pre-amp' (Yamaha DSP-A1 a/v receiver) is likely to have, being 7 or 8 years old. (I emailed Yamaha to ask them for information about the DSP-A1's DACs's. I know from the manual that it is a '24 bit' resolution converter, but it doesn't say what the sampling frequency is.