I voted that “Blu-Ray Audio won’t help” for the reasons Andrew gave. The only possible exception I can see are concert Blu-rays but even then just because they have more channels doesn’t mean they will be mastered well.
Even the first “audiophile” BD I got, which came with my Oppo had nothing but reverb mixed into the center channel. Sound engineers know that most people don’t have surround sound systems and of those who do most don’t have “audiophile” surround systems rather something like a HTIB.
I’ve found that the real issue for me is not simply bit rate or number of channels. I tested mp3s I ripped myself from well mastered CDs using different algorithms and up in the 192-320 bit range I had to listen for specific mp3 anomalies to tell the difference between them and the original on my Axioms. Even on my Sennheiser HD 600 headphones I couldn’t reliably tell the difference at 320 bits.
I found something similar between CDs and SACDs in that a SACD didn’t sound any different to me than a well mastered CD version if available. In fact except were reviews said the SACD was an improvement I switched back to only buying well mastered CDs using reviews and a local audiophile store for info.
Also in line with what John said about algorithms to extract the surround channels, I have several DVD-A concerts with both multi-channel and two-channel and it’s hard to tell the difference between the mult-channel and the extracted two-channel.
So as Andrew said for the mass market there just isn’t a reason for quality BD audio and we (peeps like us) are not a big market.
On a side note I had an uncle from Illinois, who’s played in bands all his life, out visiting and demoed a lot of music I listen to for him. He was pleasantly surprised by how well mixed all the bands I from Asia I played for him were. I hadn’t thought about it but besides just getting bored with U.S. bands I think the recordings, at least for pop and rock bands, are better mastered than the crap here which may also be why I’ve gravitated toward them since getting a good sound system.
Last edited by grunt; 03/10/12 03:31 PM.
