In the age of technological advancements, all fields that are highly dependent on technology have experienced a significant amount of development. One such dynamic field is the recording industry which, over the last few decades, has seen high levels of technical advancements and developments in the ever evolving ways to capture sound accurately.
Alongside high fidelity audio recordings, there have also been high levels of investment in the development of coding methods and various audio formats. Juggling between the contradictory objectives of achieving the highest resolution possible, cost minimization, decreasing file sizes, catering to wider markets and managing the controversial trade-off between art and creativity and the monetary goals, the world has also seen invention of playback devices, from 7.1 surround sound systems to a finger sized stereo mp3 player. Quintessentially, internet streaming has become a fairly popular phenomenon in the recent times and although internet speeds have risen, the quality usually ends up being compromised upon due to a multitude of factors.
Keeping these issues into consideration, the recording industry has reached a point upon which it is crucial to understand what the consumers want – not only do we need to understand listeners’ perception on accessibility of high-resolution audio but we also need to develop an understanding of how much consumers want to spend on music (affordability factor) and listener’s preference when he/she feels like listening to his/her favorite music as well as the enjoyment factor vs. the “high quality” pleasure. Developing an in depth understanding of the aforementioned factors is of crucial importance to the recording industry not only from a technical perspective but also from a productive one.

Keeping abreast with the dynamic nature of technological advancements, we need to develop an understanding of whether listeners/audiences are maturing along with the technology, and if they are, whether they are maturing at the same pace or at a greater or lesser pace. Some important questions to be kept under consideration when contemplating issue of technogical advancements include: Where do the current standards stand as far as high-tech audio is concerned and at what point does it start going unnecessarily overboard? What are the demands of the consumers in terms of music preference? Is the consumer’s preference for a certain format and his understanding of music quality influenced by the genre of music he is interested in? And most importantly, do the consumers even care about these factors? Are the consumers educated enough to understand different formats along with their advantages and drawbacks?

Keeping in perspective all the questions that form a linkage amongst, and aim to explore the relationship between, high-tech audio and consumers, a ‘psychological study of human behavior, when it comes to complex audio formats and playback systems, influenced by the genre of music one is into’, is needed.
A research that would examine the paradox between advanced audio and its average use.

Although the research may provoke some enthusiastic music listeners as they may perceive the research as discouraging of technological advancements. Practicality of audio format and use needs to assessed.