just a theory - how about this - when cd's first came out, real 'hifi' systems were more prevalent and the people they were trying to win over to the new format were the gearheads - people who were sitting down and comparing the cd's to their other sources - so in order to be king of the hill and knock that r2r off the mountain - much more attention was paid to detail, mixing etc.
As the time goes by, the market is now mainly people with their portable cd player and in ear headphones - people plopping down the money for some serious hifi gear is not a big enough market for them to really concern themselves with any more.
Why pay so much attention to detail and have the added cost of producing the CD when it is going to be played in a RCA portable cd player (mixing)
Then mp3 players, nano players etc - how many people do you know who have serious audio gear? (this forum does not count obviously)
so as most everything else in our new global economy - bottom line rules and the bottom line does not mean I am going to waste any extra money producing a high quality cd - besides - who listens to those anyway?
Now this is just a theory of mine - but just another long line of new technologies that , in the end, drift us farther and farther away from what good music actually sounds like.
Comes down to the basic marketing question - do I want to sell a million of these for x amount of profit, or do I want to sell 10,000 at x amount of profit - todays economy dictates the million.
Is why now when you talk high end audio gear, it is from smaller companies that the majority of people have never heard of. They saw a demand for high end equipment and either had a love of music or did not want to become a global conglomerate to begin with - It is just much more profitable to sell sub $1,000.00 units then high end gear.
Even in the more expensive gear sold by many "big" manufacturers, the emphasis is on surround sound - making my movies come alive, less wires and smaller foot print the better.
I know for where i live, I do not even know where to go to look at an integrated amp - sure they sell them somewhere in Nashville, I think.
So most important aspect on a cd - profit profit profit - who is going to know the difference anyway.
Few months ago, I sure wouldn't have after listening to decades of mp3's. Had not played a CD in years and years. Only cd's I listened to were my oh so great (I thought at the time) mp3 cd's I burned myself.
Actually thinking about it now, the only requirement I even had in a cd player/dvd player was it could play mp3 cd's.......
Anyway - just me theory of why most cd's do not sound as good.
I even read an article a few years ago, an interview with Bob Dylan, where he was complaining about the format.
Before you buy search sites like this for opionions it usually pays off.
