The home stereo system, with an amplifier, CD player and expensive speakers may be a threatened species thanks to the new generation of portable audio systems, according to the Mercury News on Monday.

There was a time when audiophiles obsessed over their home stereo system, racks of black box stereo components and speakers designed to make one feel the music.

The popularity and portability of the iPod and it’s ability to hold tens of thousands of songs may be changing all that.

"In many ways, good enough (sound quality) is fine," said Paul Connolly, an art installation specialist and longtime audiophile from Sugar Land, Texas, who’s now in the process of digitizing his 2,400 CD collection in Apple’s lossless digital audio format. "The warmth and the nice distortion that the album had was beautiful," he said. "But do I long for the days of albums? No. Do I long for the days of CDs now that we’ve gone digital? No. It’s a medium."

Others may be trading in their racks of equipment for iPods, especially those who like to carry their music with them all the time.

However, the key issue is the quality of that sound. Music ripped from a CD at 128 kbps doesn’t have the same quality as the original music. For many, it’s isn’t an issue. While the argument lingers on, some traditional stores that cater to the audiophile are feeling the pinch.

"Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, a Canton, Mass., retailer of mid to high-end audio equipment, is closing 49 of its 153 stores nationwide. Slumping sales at Sacramento-based Tower Records led that former industry juggernaut to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August," the story related

TMO notes that all that may be true for music, but then there’s that Dolby 5.1 sound coming accompanying HD sources. Watching and listening to Casino Royale on desktop iPod speakers or the tiny speakers built-in to most HDTVs is probably not the best way to experience that kind of content.