Do you use "stereo to surround" upmixer when listening to stereo music?

I do it when I play Rock Band. Otherwise, I don't really listen to music day-to-day - I prefer the silence.

 

My answer is not covered . No because I have no sorround setup.

And I probably never will, as I am going for high end speakers and electronics. If I buy something cheap to try it out, it will very likely not be able to compete with what I have. Also don't quite have the room for even more speakers

 

My AVR is possibly set to Dolby PL II (Cinema, Music) or DTS:Neo 6 (Cinema, Music) when I listen to music. I really don't remember how I set it up years ago. One of those set it and forget it things.

 

Hmm, no display in your AVR?
Neo:6 Music has been my default mode for many, many years; back when TV and streams didn't have real multichannel I sometimes switched it to Neo:6 Cinema. Generally Neo handles stereo encoded surround somewhat better than PL2, imo.

 

It has it's own mini-LED front panel display, but I don't look at it at all and the music is usually streamed in from some digital device so I'm more looking at that on the TV screen. I really don't use any of the built-in apps of the AVR.

 

Never crossed my mind that such things existed. But this is the age of IoT and all that of course.
My AVR and speaker setup is from the age before HDMI existed in AVRs, must be closer to 20 years now. But I've never seen any point replacing it as long as it works.

 

My amp has this built in. I tend to use auto settings which work well in general. Sometimes music still sounds slightly better with the original ‘direct’ settings that just uses the front two speakers.

In general though when mixed well a surround setup beats more expensive stereo speakers. There is more resolution (5 channels VS 2) and the space that the sound was recorded in is simulated properly including the distance between instruments, the rebounds against walls, etc., or that is properly simulated when high grade studio reverb was added.

This is also why sometimes music in movies sounds so much better than ‘regular’ music that was just recorded in stereo.

 

That is like comparing a Cyberpunk2077 screenshot to a Picasso painting, though - both are pictures and you may think one looks better, but most 'regular' studio recordings were never intended to sound anything like a live performance (especially 'acoustic' one without PA). Movie soundtracks are mastered for surround playback, whereas an old school stereo recording with panned mono instrument tracks will not sound comparable with any sort of upmixer.

This is where I draw the line, for headphones I don't want any of those consciousness expansions. I just doesn't feel right.

 

Yeah listening to Anesthetize concert in DTS-HD MA 5.1 is amazing compared to the original stereo track.

 

That's may be just one reason, IMO.
Another, is that a different mastering technique is probably used. Music in movies should have higher dinamic range than what's released commercially.
One thing is making music sound good for airpods and car stereos and another for the cinema sound system. (i.e. usually horn-loaded speakers which excel at dynamics and liveliness)

 

My AV Rx does DSP to simulate different listening environments using my 5.1 SS system. Depending on the type of music, I do enable stereo to DSP surround but not always. If I'm listening to say acoustic guitar track I like to select chamber surround effect because it gives it more "air" but again it depends on the mix. Some acoustic tracks already have "reverb" added so they don't need "chamber" DSP effect. I don't use Dolby Pro Logic II as I don't like the way it sounds, but I do use DTS Neo: 6 sometimes.

 

Not really, no.
Usually use the multi stereo to get music fill the room, but not stereo to surround.

I do like to watch 5.1/7.1 movies with Atmos/DTS-X upsampling though.