Very interesting example of what the near future may hold. I appreciate that it came out as an audio, not HT, product.
IMO the 5 year horizon high-end audio could look like this:
1. Because of their availability, acceptance, adaptability, and low prices home audio and HT will continue to become more PC based and blur together.
2. Separate circuit boards for video, pre-amp, DSP, power amps, disk drive, hard drives, etc. will offer plug and play performance. Software upgrades will be common place, enhancing performance.
3. High speed internet with lossless compression software will spawn replacement of bricks and mortar CD sales, video rentals, and TV with downloading. (Because of the numbers it will be the TV and video rental business that drivers this development.) Good-bye Blockbuster and Comcast.
4. The relegation of analog, vinyl/disk, and hollow/solid state to vintage status (already happening in the sub 30 demographic) will be all but complete.
5. Large full range floorstanding speakers will be replaced with smaller speakers and subwoofers, all with digital correction/crossovers to offer more life-styling and flexibility.
6. Room correction will continue to develop and could even be designed to "follow" the primary listening position around the room with a constant feedback system from the remote control location. (This is currently the major beef that insiders have with room correction.)
7. Software will be made to provide "environmental" controls for headphones and to convert the strict left/right signals into something that produces full/proper soundstage. Note that headphone use among the sub 30 demographic is much higher now than ever before.
