If sound quality is your only issue then I can assure you that the 3DS XL will be fine.

OT: It's nice to see that it is indeed ahead of the DS. This won't last forever so we must enjoy it now!

Their was no reason to believe that the DS Lite would have caused the DS to explode either, but it did.  And I say 30+ million because I believe that the psp stole some of the DS' sales, and with the vita selling so little, I wouldn't be surprised if the 3ds ends up selling more because of it.  And pokemon is going to sell a lot of units this year, no doubt about it.

Great for 3DS. Honestly at this rate 3DS could very well become my favorite hand held.

agreed. this handheld is amazing and nintendo is supporting it so much i forsee a strong future for thy 3ds

Yeah Nintendos software lineup for 2013 is pretty darn amazing.  I was already happy with it before but the Zelda announcement made it truly epic

Good news especially considering it was release in the smartphone and tablet era, i remember reading a survey on what was the number device kids wanted for christmas last year and it was an ipod touch, i remember as a kid you never saw an adult on a gameboy, while now i think ive seen more adults on ds and 3ds then children the market has really changed

Personally, I think it would be wise for Nintendo to release an official "3DS Lite" model with the sleek dimensions and improved buttons of the DSi (perhaps even with the matte finish).  If released in late 2014/2015 and coupled with a price drop, I think we'd see a nice sales surge from a move like that.

No, the DS Phat was absolutely pig digusting and scared away most normal people, and I say this having bought the original at launch... It was the first console I ever bought on launch day, in fact.

The Lite came with a price cut, NSMB (best selling game on DS iirc or close to it), and as already mentioned generally stopped being so repulsive.

Regardless, the 3DS's first year was 2 - 3 million ahead of the original DS's if I remember right.

I don't like using headphones much. They're annoying to pack and carry around in my pocket and they get tangled up. I'll wait for the official "lite" version.

If we're talking about the US, Pokemon had not come out at this point in the DS's life.  The 3DS also isn't really on track to outsell the DS.  It is still above the DS for now (well not "now", but as of the end of March), but by next month it will be well below it in the US.  There are seven months (including October) until Pokemon.  In the equivalent time period (Dec-Jun 2007) the DS sold 4.288 million in the US.  The 3DS didn't even do a third of that number in Apr-Oct last year.  If the 3DS performs similarly in that period before Pokemon, it will be about about 2.3 million behind the DS after 32 months.  In order to just temporarily catch back up to the DS, it would need more than 3.11 million in November and December.  That would require a 74% increase YoY.  The streams would also cross very briefly most likely.  In months 35-38 the DS did 4.95 million  the 3DS would have no chance of seeing these numbers in Jan-Apr 2014.

How much do you expect X/Y to sell if you think it will boost the 3DS to 30 million per year?  The 3DS did 14.3 million last year, and is down YoY at the moment.  That would be about a 16 million boost.  Diamond and Pearl didn't even sell that much in 2006 and 2007 combined, so even if every person buying it was a new user it wouldn't result in such a large boost.  New hardware could potentially play a larger role, but I don't see how those two things alone could sell as much as 90 million hardware units over 3 years.

The DS itself only saw one calendar year with over 30 million units shipped, and VGC shows no years with 30 million sold.  I just don't see how you think Pokemon and a hardware revision are going to do this when NSMB, Nintendogs, Mario Kart, Brain Age, and a hardware revision didn't.  Those four games were even bigger than Pokemon D/P on the DS.