Putting your head in the sand is one way to deal with the issue, I guess.
Maybe its a matter of perspective, as my experiences are probably different than yours. I approach audio and video from a purists (not
Stereophile or Monster Cable) and engineer approach. The most basic principle is once a signal has been digitally sampled it must stay in that format. Otherwise the quality is degraded.
The question is can a HTPC now replace all other components? Hmmmm...
Does a stand-alone CD player resample from 44.1 to 48Khz? no
Does an PS3 or Xbox or most HTPC quietly resample the audio? Yes!
Why does Blu-ray and HDTV broadcasts look so good today? Because the 1920*1080 signal format is untouched! Here its called 1:1 pixel mapping, where each pixels remains untouched from the camera to the HDTV. This is why computer text is so clear with playback at the native rate. It is also why Best Buy does NOT payback their computer displays at the native rate - do you know why?
I realize that young people ripped to mp3, a format which was developed when storage space was expensive. That dear friends, is no longer the case. Today we have an entire generation that doesn't realize what they have been missing. That is quality. Comparable to just eating fast-food?
Even worse its difficult to unlearn bad ways. Incidentally, this ingrained attitude is the root cause why HTPC progress with HDMI audio has been so slow too. ATI is enlightened, Nvidia is not (incidentally which is American designed?)
Previous versions of Windows butchered the sound quality. Windows 7 manually allows setting the playback rate (44,48,88,96KHz) and the bit depth (16 or 24 bits) without corruption. Everyone clap!
So like why can't the software transfer any incoming format and pass it on to the HDMI output untouched? After all HDMI is designed to handle all these formats. Dah!
From my empathy, I realize a bit more patience is required to unlearn those bad ways.
Well excuse me but I gotta go grab some Taco Bell. Yummy!