What digital evolution?

The music industry--at least on the software side---operates much like General Motors and Ford did until the arrival of Datsun(now Nissan), Toyota and Honda. Until this time innovation was defined by the addition of nylon seat covers. If is was not for the Japanese our cars would still have fins.

The music industry will not innovate as the investment in a new format will not be worthwhile until the hardware can catch up and they can convince the public to invest in yet another copy of our favorite albums in yet another format. Hey, I already own the Crosby, Stills and Nash debut album in vinyl, cassette and in CD and one really big reason I don't buy into SACD is just because I really don't want to buy it again.

You are correct in that there are a bi-zillion small improvements in CDs, much like in, for instance Photoshop software but our hardware can't support it.

Perhaps Steven Jobs will further explore this but I really doubt it. So what I have done is to invest in the best hardware upsampling system that I can which is the Audio Aero Mark II CD player. Now I am told by many here that I respect that the new kid on the block is EMM and this one is even better.

Hey wait a minute! You can't call your own commentary "thought provoking"!! That's just not right.....

Enjoy,

TIC

I saw a new car the other day and it had...fins on it.

UncleJeff,
Those are my sentiments, too. Maybe I'm too cynical, but my question remains: are there really improvements being developed so quickly in digital playback technology that the life cycle of CD players and DACs is like a PC (say 18 - 24 months)? If this is the case, then I want to understand what these improvements are.

Computer life-cycles are short because of Moore's Law, making more processing power and memory available to run more complex software at a given price point. I don't see the parallels to digital playback. Considering Redbook only, the software is no more complex, some DAC manufacturers promote simplicity (no upsampling like 47 Labs and Zanden and even old DA converters, again Zanden) as a virtue.

Perhaps equipment manufacturers would like the market to believe that technology evolves quickly and that equiment is obsolete in a few months, as an incentive to increase unit sales.

Reubent,
Ooops, maybe this is only thought-provoking to me!

I don't think the parallel with Moore's Law is terribly relevant, but if you think it is, then ask yourself whether people are much happier with their computers these days because of chip speeds. I would suggest not much more than people are happier with their DACs.

One obvious issue is that audio gear performance is as much driven by vibration issues, imperfect passive components, management of stray interference, how much trial and error through listening went into the finalisation of the design as it is by improvements in active components like DAC chips.

Another obvious issue is the problems of needing to stay within a standard format - the size of the CD/DVD, Redbook standard etc.

For a more continuous development of digital audio we need to move CD Players away from being vertically integrated standardised items towards open architecture, open standard devices, and move away from physical media like CDs to downloaded files. Therefore in the future, if your device has enough power, the release of a new piece of music in a new format is as simple as downloading the file and the software to decode it into analogue audio. Your PC is already a device of that type, and Media PCs are moving towards becoming more specialised to meet entertainment needs. It is not too much of a stretch to imagine the release of a Wadia Media PC (in whatever incarnation they are in at the time). Some of us remember that this vision was first envisaged by, I think, Theta. But our understanding of what it takes to deliver good audio via digital has still to evolve a bit before that dream will be a reality. And we also have to overcome the desire of the likes of Microsoft to turn the Media PC into a proprietary device, or one crippled by high royalties for its operating system - but I think Linux has that one covered.