Quote Originally Posted by Feanor
As I said in the 'BluRay sales down' thread, if BluRay hi-rez audio happens at all, it will be a niche market exclusively. For even this to happen, it will need to displace SACD -- SACD is not dead or even dying but it is a small niche market. (The people who declare it dead aren't classical listeners; there is a small but quite steady stream of new classical releases.)
Of course it will be a niche format, but niche does not mean unsuccessful or not appealing. It does not need to displace SACD at all, it can co-exist just fine. Some folks have bluray players, but not SACD. Some folks never bought into SACD but love DVD-A.

People just aren't that interested in hi-rez audio. 95% of listeners can't hear the differences on their equipment -- or maybe it's 100% if you acknowledge that more careful mastering is the real reason for the superiority of hi-rez recordings. Most of them don't care in any case. Hi-rez video, yes, but not for movies, for sports events, (where BluRay is irrelevant anyway).
I used to think this way as well, but it appears there is more support for hi rez audio than I thought. The ability to pass it through a single cable is probably much more appealing to folks than trying to hookup 6 analog cables. With bluray music the receiver can do the bass management and delay, something that was not possible with SACD.

Careful mastering is VERY important. But if the carrier of the signal has limited resolution, then it renders careful mastering moot. Just take a well mastered CD, and transfer it to MP3. Well mastered audio's benefits become more apparent when the system can capture all of the nuance and detail within the mix. This is where higher sample and bit rates kick in. Remember Nyquist-Shannon theory only speaks to capture, not the sound quality of that capture. Any who thinks that redbook is good enough has a rude awakening when you are able to hear it side by side with audio with much higher sample and bit rates.