I'd love to get the Beosound 5 - and probably will, however I have some concerns regarding sound quality;
Customers generally seem to be schizofrenic when it comes to audio/video requirements; On one side, people seem obsessed with picture quality, requiring Full HD, BluRay and now even 3D capabilities, whereas they seem much more relaxed with respect to sound quality when they seem perfectly happy to download the majority of their music libraries from iTunes or other "lossy"/compressed formats.
After all, the sound quality is only going to be as good as the weakest link in the HIFI set-up allows, in these download times being the compressed music files themselves. So why blow fortunes on Beosound 5, Beolab 5 etc. if you are only playing iTunes files? And yes, the difference between a CD and an iTunes track (even in the socalled - but far from - "lossless" format) is clearly audible when played on decent speakers, and not only to audiophiles!
To my knowledge there are currently no download services available in true lossless quality, at least not any with any decent sized music library. So those of us who care about sound quality are forced to keep buying CDs. However, with CD sales dropping fast, CDs may be outfazed before we know it, and buying CDs is obviously more inconvenient and often more expensive because you are forced to buy the whole Cd and cannot just pick the exact songs you like like on a download service. So, the purpose of this posting is actually to ask the Beoworld audience if any of you know any rumours about upcoming lossless download services - surely, there must be a market for it...?
