CES 2008: Alan Taffel Takes a Look at Next-Gen Audio from CES
January 23rd, 2008 — By Alan Taffel
Next-Gen Audio Is Stereo
In my thorough, if not exhaustive, exploration of the show, I saw not a single multichannel audio demonstration. To be sure, I heard plenty of multichannel sound, but always and exclusively in conjunction with movies. I queried both DTS and Dolby, whose new audio formats for Blu-ray and HD DVD discs could easily support discrete, multichannel, high-resolution music. Neither has plans for anything of the sort.
Indeed, so concrete is the assumption that music will be stereo for the foreseeable future that DTS displayed a sophisticated new process that emulates surround sound from two speakers. Called Surround Sensation, the gimmicky-sounding product was actually highly convincing in a headphone-based demo. How well it will work through speakers remains to be seen, but DTS has clearly done its psychoacoustic homework.
The lack of multichannel audio was, for me, the biggest surprise of the show. When done right–a major qualification, I know–multichannel is irrefutably more like being in the presence of the real thing. However, the trend, at least for now, is clearly toward higher-resolution stereo as opposed to more channels. Which leads to the next observation:
Next: True High-Resolution Audio Has Arrived
While I heartily applaud just about all of your observations (especially the recognition that REAL High Definition audio has finally arrived and can be downloaded at iTrax.com), I would like to point out that multichannel audio is not dead at all. It’s true that there was very little surround being demonstrated at the Venetian this year…but I believe the reason is the lack of adequate space to pull of a great demo and the limited view of most manufacturers.
The future is high definition, surround audio playing back from a music server. It will take time and the tipping point is still some years away, but those that have heard great recordings in 5.1 surround wonder know it’s coming.
AIX Records has been creating true HD Audio in stereo and surround for 8 years (almost 58 recordings many with HD Video) and is glad that optical discs are diminishing in importance. We still produce and release DVD-Audio titles for those that appreciate the benefits of HD PCM encoding…but now those that are properly equipped can download HD into dedicated music servers. The show was a hint of things to come.
The most important technological innovation in the area of music servers was not being shown to the public but was tucked away in a suite at the Belaggio. The future is coming but I have to hold my thoughts until April or May.
Comment by Mark Waldrep January 26th, 2008 @ 8:33 pm