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Is hdcd worth having ??

I'm going to buy a universal player==probably the Denon 2900. However, for about the same money I can buy the 2910, which has HDCD. I think the 2900 may be better overall, but was wandering if HDCD might be a good reason to go with the 2910.
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Showing 2 responses by eldartford

eldartford
4,262 posts
 
In my experience HDCD buys little or no improvement, particularly in view of the newer high res formats. However, I thought that the 2910 had other new features which you might want.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
As I understand it, HDCD is a VERY clever way to provide a few additional bits of information from a 16 bit media. If we only had 16 bit media HDCD would be a winner. However, the world has moved on to 24 bit media, and that changes the picture.

Some say that the 24 bit DVDA is not audibly superior to 16 bit CDs, so there should be no surprise that HDCD does not sound dramatically better. I have at least one regular CD which has the same reissued music as is on a HDCD. Frankly, the regular CD is better, probably because of the way it was mastered. The only CDs that light up the HDCD indicator of my equipment are ones that are so labeled on the case.
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