heys guys,

I am an audiophile just getting into ht surround sound. How about your recommendations of dvds with near reference or reference quality soundtracks. Any genre will do. Dvds with poor audio quality, esp. the DIALOGUE part really URKS me esp. with all the current technology available to produce one. Hey we are paying good money for dvds. If movie sucks, the very least studios can do is to produce a disc with good pic and audio quality..right?

Saving Private Ryan DTS is just about my favorite for sound quality.

U:571 is supposed to be intense too
The Rock Criterion (Dolby Digital)

The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions

You might want to check out this thread.

Among my favorites are:

Saving Private Ryan DTS
Master and Commander
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Open Range
Kill Bill Volume 1

Last of the Mohicans DTS

I thought Master and Commander was very impressive with deep bass and extensive use of surrounds, especially with the silverware clanking around and the storm scene.

Band of Brothers DTS is great
SW Ep 2 has a great DD track
Master and Commander is indeed terrific with the best cannon sound ever and subtle atmospheric creaking ship sounds
The Bram Stoker's Dracula SB DTS track has some of the best usage of the surrounds I've heard, it's extremely creepy
The new ROTK has insane LFE and great overall quality.
The Rush Live in Rio surround track is great if you play it loud, you feel like you're at the show.
Triplets of Belleville is great, it's also one of the more interesting audio tracks around as there's so little dialogue.

I am a big fan of Das Boot, with nice rear use, I thought.

Fight Club also has a fun DD track.

Agreed. A lot of it is very subtle but very effective.

Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. are awesome as well.

Make sure you demo some scenes back to back, DD to DTS when checking some of these out. If you have a killer system (which I assume you do) you might end up being surprised by some of the results. DTS is far from being the automatic choice. Especially if you like super low LFE. Just make sure you turn your amp up a notch or two when switching to DD as DTS is usually just a little bit louder overall.

You can use the the "Advanced Search" option under the Review section here at DVD Talk for a good head start. Just refine your search to DVDs with 4.5 to 5 star "Audio" ratings, and you'll find a ton a worthy discs that'll make your neighbors hate you. Enjoy!

Well, since you're an audiophile... The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots DVD-A... Forget the DVD soundtracks, although there are MANY that are excellent, that high resolution surround track on Yoshimi can't be touched.

Of course, you'll need a DVD-A player... But since you're an audiophile that should be no problem.

Blade 2 is one of the best if not the best.

Most recently, Master & Commander and LOTR ROTK

Yeah, I'd say Costner's Open Range has one of the best sounding Western shoot-outs you'd ever here. Very realistic guns sounds. You know the sounds are going to be good when

Also, S.W.A.T. has good sound as well. Gun sounds in it are very realistic with several layers of sound in the mix to create the most realistic modern gun shoot-outs in recent history.

Roger Waters "In The Flesh". Best use of surounds in a concert DVD bar none.

Underworld hs one of the best Dolby 5.1 tracks I've heard in a long while. I would have guessed it was DTS if I didnt know ahead of time.

It also has Kate Beckinsale....

Brotherhood of the Wolf Canadian Version.

rotk, just play from chapters 28 and on

Bad movie, but good sound from Pearl Harbor.
Also Gladiator is pretty good, Toy Story 1/2, Black Hawk Down, Perfect Storm.

Some less obvious ones, Chicago, Se7en, Castaway

The best DD tracks I have heard are T3, Lion King, FOTR EE, Star Wars Eps. 1 and 2, and Die Another Day. My favorite DTS tracks are Daredevil, Master and Commander, Saving Private Ryan, X2, Gladiator, Blade II, T2 UE, U-571, and FOTR EE.

Roswell - Season 1 Soundtrack sounds great!!
but about 98% of the original songs were replaced. Other than that....Great tracks!