We built DMP, a reference standard disc player, at a time when interest in the medium is said to be waning. Why do that? Why not march forward with products that many believe represent the future?
There are two reasons. The world needs a reference standard, a benchmark from which to judge all future products. Fact is, streamers and servers still struggle. We hope this won't always be the case. We're working hard on having that happen. But so far it hasn't. Servers and streamers are still second place, sonically.
Secondly, there seems to be this perception that because the future is moving away from a medium it spells death for the format. We can prove that because sales of CD and SACD have dropped dramatically. It must mean no one is playing them. Only, that's about as accurate as those who predicted vinyl's demise.
Formats don't just suddenly vanish. Most of us have large collections of discs we still enjoy. And some of us, like me, aren't happy with second best no matter how convenient.
I truly hope someday servers and streamers will trounce the best disc players. We are working hard to make that a reality.
In the meantime, we need reference standards.
