There is a lot of pessism about the survival of hi-rez on the net, both here and on other boards, and it is justified IMO. Why?

1. The public is spending its consumer dollars on plasma screens etc worth thousands and supplementing that with crappy, cheap, surround sound audio. This report is coming from many dealers.

2. Following on 1., the public is no longer interested in audio & is spending dollars on DVDs, not CDs, and certainly not on DVD-A's or SACDs - look in your local store to see how many (if any) hi-rez discs are on display

3. The public is pretty ignorant about DVD-A & SACD - none of my friends, even those keenly interested in music, have a clue what I'm talking about.

4. The public generally cannot appreciate the better fidelity of hi-rez. A demonstration here meets polite interest with no spark of "WOW!". They recognise surround sound but that is about all, but it is not dramatically different from what Meridian does to 2ch anyway.

5. VERY few people (and count a lot of audiophiles in that) have heard how good redbook CDs can sound.

6. DVD-A & SACD titles are not always easy to track down. Amazon have come up with blanks on some requests.

7. The catalog of DVD-A's & SACDs is still relatively pathetic compared to that of CDs.

8. Even nutters like me who have a very resolving system with hi-rez capacity are not spending big dollars supporting the software. Why? The performances, the artists etc are just not there whereas there is heaps of choice, at bargain basement prices, to choose from in the CD catalog.

OK, no argument that DVD-A & SACD CAN be more resolving, but my (limited) experience is that this is not always the case - you cannot make an aural silk purse from a relatively poorly processed master.

And that is the irony. A well recorded master comes through very well on CD!!! I find little advantage to hi-rez in small scale works. Yes, there is better resolution & fidelity in orchestral cresendos & big choral works, but no significant improvement in chamber pieces, piano, solo vocalists, small jazz etc.

As for surround sound, Meridian does such a great job of processing surround from 2CH that is not an issue with me, although I concede it could be for the general population should they be educated about it & take the time to listen.

Add in the battle going on about double royalties for dual layer disks and you complete a rather depressing picture. Not a happy one in the light of the big outlay I've made here on both DVD-A (the 800) and SACD (a highly and expensively modified Marantz SA-17S1) but one must be realistic.

John