Difference in audo with ac3 passthrough on and off

General Discussions
1

I have a Windows PC using Plex Media player. I use a Vizio SB4051 5.1 sound system with my tv. I have been trying to decide whether I should enabled ac3 pass through in Plex or not. While watching Avengers Age of Ultron, if I did not have ac3 pass through enabled, my rear surround speakers produced louder audio than if I had pass through enabled. Since pass through allows the sound bar to do the decoding which is generally better than the software decoding Plex would do, I was wondering if the lower surround sound would be the more “real” experience that the movie maker would want the viewer to hear. So should I enabled pass through? I want to get the most authentic experience when listening to 5.1 audio.

Thanks in advance.

2

anyone have any ideas?

3

Can you not change the volume of the speakers independently so when using pass through you can make the surround speakers louder.
I have always been in the camp of letting the specific hardware do its job but when it comes to sound and vision it’s a very personal experience and you should use the settings you are happy with.