Emulated surround sound is better and here is why from an audio standpoint.
TRUE surround sound absolutely cannot exist without a proper airspace between the monitors and the ear. Moving a set of surround sound speakers around your head would cause the whole thing to accumulate wavelenths and build up, thus sounding muffled or with peaks and valleys in certain frequency ranges. Emulating surround sound allows you to control the sound so that it sounds more truly as if it was a set of speakers 10'ft from the listener.
TRUE surround sound absolutely cannot exist without a proper airspace between the monitors and the ear. Moving a set of surround sound speakers around your head would cause the whole thing to accumulate wavelenths and build up, thus sounding muffled or with peaks and valleys in certain frequency ranges. Emulating surround sound allows you to control the sound so that it sounds more truly as if it was a set of speakers 10'ft from the listener.