2) sure is(to me at least)...what headphones/amp did you try it on?
Basic 50 € headphones on my receiver, but I was thinking more about the surround effect than the sound quality. The effect you got out of this is very nice, much more "real" than anything you get with Dolby Headphones for example (I can't stand that thing; the Creative one is nicer though, but still sounds artificial).
you talk about surround speakers, do you apply any room correction EQ?
Just the Audyssey in my receiver, but even without taking that into account I mean I just can't "feel like being there" with headphones, I can't forget I'm wearing things over my ears, it's just that.
(BTW I got the same feeling with my recent first experience with 3D cinema, the supposedly enhanced movie experience can't make me forget the additionnal glasses on my nose - and over my everyday glasses).
Plus, I always feel the sound is coming from a few millimeters from my ears: even when the direction is right, the distance effect just doesn't feel right.
Plus, you can enjoy speakers with your girlfriend/friends.
3) surround, whatever native binaural(like you can find on some BD's) or my own 3D-ish stereo downmixes...it sounds horrid through the new resampler, does that mean all the other Reclock users have wooden ears, or crappy sound systems? or both
Well maybe we simply don't (want to) pay attention enough. I know I pay more attention to video quality than sound quality because I notice it more easily like most people do I think (except of course when SQ is so crappy you can't help but hear the artifacts), and when video quality is good enough to not distract me, I just fully enjoy the movie without paying attention to sound quality, just enjoying the soundtrack. For most people paying attention to differences in sound quality is much more demanding than doing the same for video. Plus, the brain adapts itself to lower sound quality more easily than to lower video quality.
Yesterday I did my first serious test trying to compare SRC Very good with SRC Excellent, but I had to push the volume quite high on pop (= quite compressed) music to finally hear a small difference (but it was not blind so that might just have been my brain actually), but still it was only on vocals on a specific track, so I might not even hear the difference in normal viewing.
Anyway, you don't have to convince me that sound quality, even though we don't hear the difference when concentrating, can impact our experience in the long run: someone I knew who was studying sound once told me his professor said our brain enjoys sound more when it's clearer and more dymanic, and I can perfectly understand that: what we might hear as "nice as loud", for example modern pop music, is just hurting in the long run because it has no dynamic. No wonder people don't enjoy modern music anymore, our brain just considers it as noise, not melody, when listened to for a while, even though when we compare short samples we might find the louder more compressed one "nicer".
It might just be possible that we subconscioulsy enjoy a higher SQ more over a longer listening, like a full 2h movie, even though we can't seem to hear the difference when we actively try to spot it over 10 second samples. :agree:
anyway, I understand it's a case of the world Vs me...I'll stick to b58, and let you guys work out what's best for you...catch you on the next wave!
I'm sure you'll be joined by others: you can't possibly be the only sound "maniac" who likes movies, and ReClock will probably get more attention when SlyPlayer is released.
Plus, see James' post: I think you would just have to "port" SRC to the ReClock resampling DLL "format"...