Goddammit I can't believe how downmixing x.y to 2.0 isn't a solved problem by now and is so broken through and through.
I mean, it's never ever done in a way that doesn't produce quiet dialog that makes you raise volume and loud sounds that makes your eardrums bleed. Like, even basic audio normalisation would produce half-decent results, but no we get crazy contrast by default and constant volume switching.
The interesting part is that most media is being consumed with stereo audio down-mixing. Everyone streaming content on their laptops, with their television's speakers or with a sound bar. Yet all the audio is recorded and mastered for surround sound systems, even though they could include mastered stereo audio without the down-mixing issues like quiet audio.
I mean, it's never ever done in a way that doesn't produce quiet dialog that makes you raise volume and loud sounds that makes your eardrums bleed. Like, even basic audio normalisation would produce half-decent results, but no we get crazy contrast by default and constant volume switching.