To me, it's seems that the engineering improvements on recent CD's are becoming less and less noticeable. There for a while, I was really impressed how the studio engineering was coming along, and it gave me some faith that 16/44.1 wasn't such a bad format, especially considering how long ago it was introduced.

But now, seems to me the studios are pushing their limits. Instruments sound very crisp and defined on current cds. But when compared to a good dvd audio, the difference is day and night.

I hope Redbook stays around. I want to keep my right to rip music in maximum quality to my hard drive and transcode it to the lossy codec of my choice for my MP3 player.

Theoretically, so far as I am aware, 16 / 44.1 is too good for huiman hearing...

...The main problem is with the mastering...

I agree with Twombly, regardless of if I'm right or wrong though, the day I lose the ability to rip / use my discs for portable is the day I stop buying them.

Quote:



QFT.

That's why I don't plan on buying SACDs/DVD-Audio. Unfortunately, the growing popularity of music-on-demand companies suggest to me that compressed audio with DRM will be the medium of the future.

Redbook may not be the highest quality sound avaliable anymore, but it isn't going to die anytime soon, in my opinion. There's still going to be alot of regular redbook cd players around for a long time. That means people are going to want regular redbook cds to go with their players. Most people aren't audiophiles and aren't going to buy a whole nother player just to get some extra quality. CDs are here for a while. My 2 cents.

I too, agree w/ Duncan. DVD-A is neat, except the whole encryption thing. If they removed the encryption, or there was a reliable way to get around it, I might think of buying some. How many people really listen to the discs anymore? I don't know any techies that do.

Main stereo system: Squeezebox, using music in FLAC; though there is a DVD player that gets occasional use.
PC: soundcard, using music in FLAC.
Portable: I5 1GB, using --preset standard MP3s, made, as needed, from the FLACs.