DVD audio is much better than cd's, but because of illegal downloads and the stupidity of the music industry, DVD audio is stagnant and not really fixing the "problem" of the decline of recorded music sales. I believe this will (hopefully) change.
DVD-Audio is dead. Hopefully it'll be replaced by BD Profile 3.0
In audio, digital is only good for one thing (and up until high resolution dvd/sacd, just barely that), for storing/editing/processing analog sound.
Once you store analog sound in a digital format for editing and processing, it is no longer analog.
But there are new developments that give me hope about digital audio. DSD (direct stream digital). It is the future, and is almost as rich and audiophile as analog recording is. You heard it here first kids!
I heard of DSD and SACDs in 1999 as they were being introduced. I've also not heard of any popular music being released on them since about 2006. DSD is a horrible format, all the limitations of analog, a limited slew rate, and the inability to manipulate it mathematically, so it doesn't get much benefit of being "digital". Sony had the opportunity to have it included as an optional audio format for BD, and passed. If Sony doesn't have faith in their own format, it might as well be dead.
In the music industry, most big budget projects are typically recorded onto two inch analog tape and then transferred to digital audio workstations for editing/mixing/mastering. Why? Because digital is just not quite "there" yet.
How does recording to analog tape, and then passing that playback through an ADC differ from capturing the live performance straight into an ADC? Oh, the analog tape rolls off the highs, and adds hiss. Definitely don't want to lose out on that "analog sound".
That's also why most big budget films are still shot on film, not digital (unless it's mostly CGI/animation) and then transferred to digital for editing, etc.
The biggest budget film so far, Avatar, was shot digitally. So were: Alice in Wonderland, Apocalypto, The Cell, Coraline, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Gamer, Jumper, Knowing, Public Enemies, Sin City, Slumdog Millionaire, Zodiac, and so many others including, of course, the new Star Wars trilogy.
