Computers and music have been intertwined since the beginning. I remember hearing Christmas music being piped through my first shop, circa 1979, using oscillators. It was tinny and mechanical, but it was there.

Then we got the sound cards and digital recording. I've dabbled in MIDI and digital recording along the way.

A second cousin of Jon Bon Jovi has created a technology that can make even a cheap system sound like the top end through the magic of programming.

The Magic Chip.

This brings up a few questions:

How will this advancement impact the current sound reproduction marketplace, including home theaters?

If the quality of sound the average consumer hears suddenly jumps up to studio levels, will commercial music itself become better?

Conversely, if really subtle things are heard, might this be distracting? Some musicians hate high quality for this very fact. Consumers might not want to hear every little nuance.

I personally can envision a self-programming system that checks out the acoustics of a room and automagically adjusts, maybe even as people move around. The quality of the sonic experience will be like it has never been before, including live performances.

I'm also thinking about outdoor concerts. That might blow the little chip's mind. This technology might be useful only for enclosed spaces, but I sure do want to play with it!

How will this advancement impact the current sound reproduction marketplace, including home theaters?
it seems pretty revolutionary to me, drastically lowering the bar for access to high end sound.

If the quality of sound the average consumer hears suddenly jumps up to studio levels, will commercial music itself become better?
define "better". even from a purely technical standpoint along with improved fidelity we currently have pop singers who have to be manipulated with pro-tools to stay in key.

Conversely, if really subtle things are heard, might this be distracting? Some musicians hate high quality for this very fact. Consumers might not want to hear every little nuance.
i don't see it being distracting. even those of us without high end stereos at home have been to concerts and experienced live music which has more dynamic range than radio.

How will this advancement impact the current sound reproduction marketplace, including home theaters?

I have no idea, I guess it would be how its sold. I mean most the time Bose has the high end stuff I heard. Personally I still want some guaranteed eviction notice speakers.

If the quality of sound the average consumer hears suddenly jumps up to studio levels, will commercial music itself become better?

I don’t know. Depending already simply on headphones already on the market the amount of noise you will hear in a song can vary greatly, a pair I got last year made entire songs different on various albums. People do put noises at various frequencies.

Conversely, if really subtle things are heard, might this be distracting? Some musicians hate high quality for this very fact. Consumers might not want to hear every little nuance.

I think it might depend person to person, and of course for every setting. A person might like to hear the whole song but hate having to lose 20-30 songs on there ipod or whatever.