It remains to be seen if Hi-Rez (to blur things even more) formats will survive or if redbook will remain the future standard. Given that storage space becomes cheaper every year and file transfer speeds increase, the argument around file size or download woes is a fleeting one.
Most consumers don't even listen to lossless files, but listen to compressed streaming files. If I asked any of my many co-workers under the age of 40 to tell me what DSD or 24/96 meant, they would be clueless. They love Spotify. They have grown up on earbuds and compressed music files. My son is age 30 and has rarely in his life listened to music through speakers, even though there have been two high quality stereo set ups in the house during his lifetime.
So, for the moment, Hi-Rez is mostly a thing for audiophiles -- or whatever you would like to call us. In my life I can recall how utterly ****** cassette tapes and 8-track tapes sounded, yet a crapload were sold for several decades. Mostly for use in autos or out of convenience. Many folks had no clue as to their inferior sound and couldn't care.
I am not sure how well my now 64-year-old ears are able to differentiate between formats, but I am happy to adapt to a format if it delivers sonic benefit in scientific measurement as well to my ears. I need a new DAC and I figure I might as well buy one that is good for the upper limits of PCM and DSD, maybe even with MQA. Who knows what will prevail and you can get coverage for them all in $300-$600 DACS.
40 years ago I never envisioned the turntable and vinyl becoming obsolete. After near extinction, records and their players are somewhat back, but it is more a thing than a audio movement. Talk about file size, 300 records take up a crap load of real estate vs. a tiny $100 hard drive.
DSD vs PCM. It will play out and consumers will decide. At what point does a flat screen TV's resolution no longer matter? I am not sure, I just know that each time I buy a TV it looks better to me.
OMG! define many!
