The triumph of mid-fi

For major manufacturers such as Sony these days, the major markets seem to be for DVD video (replacing VCRs), home theater sub-sat systems, and laptop PCs. Walk into a Circuit City or Best Buy store some time and watch what audio equipment the customers carry out the door; for the most part, it's not two-channel stereo. Walk into a CompUSA computer store and you'll see Sony products, and multimedia sat-sub speakers, but no high-quality audio equipment. It's a comment on Sony's market share that they've had sufficient depth of resources to be able to afford developing SACD for what is, at most, a niche market for them. The equipment at the top end of Sony's line is quite good. Could high-end audio manufacturers find ways to improve upon Sony's best? Probably so. Has a large enough catalog of SACD recordings developed to support a consumer market for SACD players sufficient to attract a number of equipment manufacturers, including high-end firms, to develop and market new models to compete with major multinational firms such as Sony? Thus far, the answer seems to be that a market for such products exists, but it's a relatively small one. If you can find a higher quality SACD player than Sony, and have the money to afford buying it, by all means do so. When you're enjoying it, though, just remember that you would probably never have seen this format if Sony hadn't decided to commit their financial resources to developing both the equipment and a market for it. I don't work for Sony, or own any Sony stock. I'm just pointing out that audio equipment companies are part of a multinational industry which primarily rewards economies of scale in manufacturing large quantities of the things that the majority of consumers like to spend their money on, rather than small quantities of higher-quality goods for specialized luxury markets. Whether for good or ill, that's just the way the world is. Wishing things otherwise won't make them so.