Q: SACD, DVD-A—ever hear of 'em?

Virtually every movie on DVD these days can rock your system in surround sound. Maybe you're wondering why you can feel like you're plopped in the middle of the audience while you watch those sweet concert DVDs, yet for the most part, you can't listen to your music collection in surround-sound goodness.

The demand simply hasn't been there, that's why. An audio/video receiver with Dolby Pro Logic IIx can spread the audio signal to all the speakers in your system and give two-channel music a multichannel effect, but actual recordings truly engineered in 5.1 surround sound are scarce on the shelves of your local music stores. There are two main formats, DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and Super Audio CD (SACD). Classical and jazz have been released more regularly on these formats than pop and rock titles, and you might have to scour the Internet to find a good stock of titles.

"Maybe you should check them out if you appreciate that these higher-than-CD resolution media bring the potential for better sound quality, and the music you dig happens to be available on these media. If either one of these two qualifications doesn't apply, then don't bother," says Gary Dayton of Thiel Audio. "The best sound quality in the world remains unimpressive if you can't stand the music."