Perfect sound forever?
9th Nov 2011Back in 1980, when many of the Cyrus team were working at Mission Loudspeakers, a project was initiated where our engineers should take the, then new, Philips - Sony compact disc format and create a player with the audiophile virtues of the Mission brand. To say the industry was split by the new format would be a huge understatement and much beer, if not blood, was spilled as the pros and cons of CD where debated, provoking quite unbelievable fury and vitriol! Despite, or maybe because of the wrangling, the Mission DAD 7000 CD player was an instant success and went on to become the acorn that grew into the Cyrus oak tree.
The famous “Perfect sound forever” CD strap line caused many to question both promises yet here we are in 2011 and the compact disc remains the most reliable format to buy high quality music. It may well be that high resolution downloadable files will become available but as I write this the music available at a higher resolution then CD remains quite limited.
Although reported in the press as declining, CD sales clearly continue as the dominant medium, and outside of individual track sales, remain globally popular albeit purchased increasingly online as opposed to the high street.
I hear many of our Cyrus customers talking about playing a whole CD rather than a track so the benefit of near instant access to any and all of a music collection is not always a top priority. The generic CD is not only safe storage but it is familiar and sounds really superb through a top quality CD player. I see no reason to stop making them as some manufacturers have. Streaming offers many advantages yet for me it is another source rather than a replacement.
Peter Bartlett
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