Using Your “Second System” For Surround Music

The years have not been kind to high-end surround sound. Only a relatively few audiophiles now invest in serious surround systems, and only a few companies keep issuing serious surround-sound recordings. The potential promise of surround music DVD-As and SACDs that once helped lead to the creation of The Perfect Vision has largely been forgotten. DVD-A has long been effectively dead; Sony, SACD’s original sponsor, has ended its support of SACD; and high-end streaming is far more focused on issues like MQA and high-resolution recordings than on five- or seven-channel music. To the extent that new surround recordings exist, they …