Sound recording-will there be progress forever?

Recording and reproducing technologies are now so good that even experts find it difficult or impossible to distinguish the output signal from the input signal. In the last few years this has been true for the best embodiments of both analog and digital recording systems. Strictly speaking, then, we are essentially at the end of the line in recording and reproducing perfection, Further developments will relate to cost reductions, ease of operation, and the addition of enhanced features. There is so little left to do in the way of actually improving sound that workers in the field are forced to scratch around the edges looking for useful things to try. One new thing has been identified that seems to please listeners: the addition of spatial effects to the sound recording and reproduction process. In fact, I think that we are now right at the beginning of a new multichannel sound format era that will represent the foreseeable future of audio in the home.