I don't have an HDCD player. I have the Steve Earle, El Corazon, Garcia and Grisman, Shady Grove, Neil Young, Silver and Gold and they all sound much better than the average red book CD, though no better than the better red book CD's.
Do HDCDs sound terrible on non HDCD players?
Being an analog guy I have but a small collection of CDs and only a handfull are HDCD encoded. All of them sound terrible on my non HDCD player with thick lower midranges, smeared, closed-in textures and a general lack of cohesiveness. For reference my player is the original Rega Planet and the HDCDs are as follows: Olu Dara, In This World, Steve Earle, El Corazon, Garcia and Grisman, Shady Grove, Neil Young, Silver and Gold. Any opininons?