[19lexicon78]

i have a feeling that there is no progress in audio formats.

I'm saving to buy a good R2R player and go for those ampex reel tapes. i haven't heard them, so it's a guess. but i think it's a good guess.

btw, the philips video 2000 was the best video-format.

 

[majid]

I have stabilized my CD collection to 600 or threabouts. I listen almost exclusively to classical music, so I have the benefit of the widest SACD/DVD-A selection (everything is relative). SACD seems to have an edge in classical music, and hybrid SACDs are not much more expensive, a couple dollars at most here in San Francisco. I make it a point to buy any new SACD release that I would like, even if it duplicates something I already have on CD, but I have mostly curtailed my CD buying. I rip the CD layer to iTunes (in Apple lossless format), and only occasionally listen to the SACD mix on speakers. Once I am done with my ripping project, I will shelve all the CDs and only keep the SACDs around.

The point about people not caring about quality is well taken, just look at the popularity of the iTunes "Music" Store with its crappy and DRM-infested 128kbps AACs.

A benefit of universal players is they have much cleaner DACs, even for red book audio. Beware of universal players that just convert DSD to PCM, that completely misses the point.