It has been little more than a decade since the end of the audio format war in which compact discs toppled the mighty LP. Though they’ve since been challenged and survived, CDs now have what appears to be formidable competition.

The culprit? CD’s younger but much bigger cousin, DVD-Audio, which is among the latest digital entertainment technologies making inroads into a ballooning consumer electronics market.

The biggest complaint from audiophiles, who considered CDs a soulless, plastic ’80s upgrade, was that digital technology couldn’t deliver all the folds of sound buried deep in the grooves of vinyl. But technology finally has caught up with the past.

DVD-Audio, CD’s distant cousin, is an audio advancement offering the multichannel surround sound popular in home theater systems, most of which feature a DVD player. Prices for DVDA players available at the same places you can find DVD-Video players range from less than $200 to more than a $1,000. Home theater systems can run anywhere from $500 to $5,000.

The technical differences between CD and DVDA formats are immense. DVDA contains up to seven times the storage capacity of a CD (just like a DVD-Video versus VHS), has a 192 kHz sampling rate compared with CD’s 44.1 kHz and can deliver up to 24 bits of data compared with CD’s 16.

For everybody else who didn’t major in audio engineering, the difference is where you’d expect it: in the sound. DVDA sounds a lot like vinyl did but on a studio sound system, according to John Trickett, CEO of DVD-Audio software leader 5.1 Entertainment.

“It’s like having listened to music in black and white all your life, and then getting color,” Trickett said.

Like albums, DVDA is closer to the master studio recordings than CDs. Another plus is that DVDA players can play CDs as well as DVD-Video.

But with the industry little more than a year old, there’s nothing to say this run at high-tech audio won’t die. Consumers have heard grandiose analogies before and didn’t bite. Remember Laserdisc?

What the burgeoning industry is counting on, Trickett said, is not just upgrading the 30 million-plus homes that have DVD players, but rather moving into the ready-made market that’s made DVD the most successful product launch in the history of consumer electronics, according to the DVD Entertainment Group.

DVDA isn’t expected to be confined to the flat-screen TV or cell phone-cum-MP3 player lifestyles, Trickett said.

“I think it’s really something separate from that,” he said. “Soon you’ll be able to get a DVD player for less than a hundred bucks.”

Aside from the bump in sound quality and the opportunity for much longer recordings, DVDA discs offer DVD-quality visuals.