Narrow focus

Let's change gears from network audio. I think my last posts haven't been up to the task at hand and I apologize. We'll reconnoiter again when thoughts are clear enough to foster better understanding. We've been working a good amount of time on a new transport, one that'll be the first in the world legally capable of rendering SACD content in pure DSD form to an external DAC. It's a big deal, a tall challenge and one that's got me quite chomping at the bit. But along the way we were forced to make a decision. Should the new transport be audio specific, or should we broaden its scope to include video? Said another way, do we narrowly focus the unit's purpose to limited appeal, or broaden its focus to gain wider acceptance? And, second question, why would the answer to that not be obvious? Isn't it always better to be all things to all people? Creating anything comes with risks: painting a picture, a new clothing line, car, tire, cable, novel, transport, and so forth. The risk is simple. Will anyone like this enough to adopt it? Just look at our new magazine, Copper (yes, please do, it's awesome :)). When we created the magazine we had to make a number of decisions, chief among them–who are we writing for and what are the risks in doing so? Not everyone will like it. Some have already decided they don't like it at all. In fact, several people have objected to a few article so much they never want to see it again. That's price of narrow focus. So, what's the rewards? Purity of content. We understand there are no perfect solutions. Each decision we make has ramifications, both plus and minus. By building an audio only transport, the audio you get is noticeably better than if we had included a video output on the transport. The video processing and signal radiation detract from the audio. Each time we broaden the appeal, we dilute the product's performance. It's always a tough call for any creative enterprise but, in our experience, the purer the purpose of our creations, the better the results for those who appreciate what it does.