A common question people ask when trying to find the best sound quality for their TV or entertainment system, is "What's a better format, PCM or Dolby Digital?"
Before we decide which one is better, let us first get a better understanding of the two, so this way you can make a better educated decision.
PCM is an acronym that stands for: Pulse-code Modulation. When using PCM, you are converting an analog signal into a digital signal so it can pass through a digital communications network. It is used in music play back CD's and also used in DVD for data storing. It is essentially the original recorded digital audio. The output of a PCM will resemble a binary sequence of 0's and 1's.
Dolby Digital, also known as Dolby AC-3 is an audio compression technology, developed by Dolby Laboratories. It reduces the amount of data needed to produce high quality sound. It provides five full-bandwidth channels, front left, front right, center, surround left, and surround right, for true surround sound quality.
Now that you know a little more about the two different technologies, what does this mean for you.
While both offer high quality sound, Dolby Digital is compressed which creates a lossy audio format. That means some of the data that your ears can not perceive is deleted during the compression process so this way it can be more easily converted over the internet.
While most might not be able to tell the difference, most true audio enthusiasts prefer PCM because it is uncompressed, giving a more richer, lossless sound.
When using the ChairSpeaker, you can adjust your settings to PCM when using the optical digital cable to connect the transmitter to your TV.