Why is 2 Channel better than multi-channel?

I'm not sure why people are being so intransigent about this - any subjective scenario of this nature is neither right nor wrong. I know Robert Harley is a well known fan of multi-channel music but I hate it. Having music coming at me from all angles is as unnatural an experience as I can imagine. I am lucky to be able to have separate systems for audio and TV/movies. The latter is never used for 2-channel and I find stereo TV unwatchable nowadays, as the sound now sounds flat. That said, my surround system is a significant number of steps down in quality compared to my main rig. 2 for music and multi for TV but that's just me.

People who buy high end (uberexpensive) audio equipment almost always express distaste for the multichannel format. It seems to be part of their personalities. Liking multichannel disqualifies you as a "serious" audiophile.

Because of this it is no surprise that dealers do not promote multichannel music. To do so would label them as not serious audiophiles, and send the high end customers elsewhere to a dealer who will play along with their prejudices.

When you're in a concert hall (reflected) music is coming to you from all angles as well. A MCH system is better capable of recreating this acoustic environment than 2 channel. Of course, this is not the same as some old quad mix with guitars blaring from the surround channels behind you. Here I agree with you. I also hate most synthetic surround sound generated with a DSP from 2 channel sources. What I am talking about is well recorder discrete 5.1.

Subjective as this may be, I am 100% sure that if I played the same track in 2.0 and 5.1 in my system to 100 random listeners, >90% would prefer the 5.1 track. The simple reason is that it is closer to the live experience.

Niacin wrote: Having music coming at me from all angles is as unnatural an experience as I can imagine.

I do not generally care for such either but that statement indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of the goals and advantages of multichannel reproduction. It is not about dumb surround effects.

Kal

What? I said nothing about any sort of sound effects ata ll - please read my post. I said I do not like music coming at me from all angles and that is what surround sound does! It might be subtle but there are still elements coming from the rear speakers - if there weren't it would not be utilising the multi-channel system. Your need to be patronising does you no favours and was unwarranted thank you!