I don't know that I'd say it sounds horrible - I'd say that the problem with software which uses profiles like this, is that it's dependent on the quality of the sound system being recorded, and most of them are not particularly good.
This is the main thing which prevented me from purchasing a Smyth Realiser too, since that is dependent on you finding a good enough speaker setup to measure yourself.
There were one or two presets that I liked when I tried the program, but I found that I had to change presets depending on the track playing, and they all had problems with the lower frequencies. Some of the presets also seemed like they were slightly off-center too.
At a tenth the price, I might have purchased it for occasional use, but it seemed very overpriced to me.
I wish that Media Center would separate downmixing from the output format DSP so that you could use VST plugins which require a multichannel input.
Right now, if you try to use a virtual surround VST plugin, it's downmixed first and only receives a stereo signal.
I had hoped to use
Blue Ripple Sound's Binaural Surround VST, as I think they do a great job with
Rapture3D in games, but it won't work with the way that Media Center currently handles downmixing.
There was also a person from GenAudio who said that AstoundSound might be a possibility if they had access to the multichannel source.
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=90456.msg622089#msg622089