My two cents is that multichannel sound suffers from the same problem that plagues the CD vs high-res debate. That is the fact that many recordings don't even come close to taking full advantage of the formats that are already widely available. Audiophiles often see 24/96 or 24/192 as some magic fix for CD sound when the real problem is poor recording, bad mixing and an infatuation with the loudness wars contest.
I'm of the opinion that the real difference between CD and high-res is very subtle and most of what people hear is due to the greater production care currently given to high-res since its intended market is ostensibly pickier. If high-res became the norm, it would inevitably suffer from the same trendy garbage that plagues CD. I believe the same will be true if multichannel becomes the defacto standard. The urge to use trendy effects will be irresistible. The capability for improved realism will be considered far too boring for many recordings and we'll be back to where were are with CDs today and LPs in the past -- a small percentage of absolutely magical recordings, a somewhat larger number of horrid recordings, and a whole bunch of mediocrity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ mlsstl's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9598 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=101201 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
