Why HDCD did not become a dominant format?

Are XRCD's Still produced, manufactured?

XRCD, Yeah I wanted to order a couple but at over 30 bucks shipped normally, and that seems a bit of a risk considering not that much essential music (for me anyway) is produced on them.. Oh well maybe one day I will give them a shot, but there is only like one title I saw that really interested me, I am mostly a rock listener.

Fatparrot, Dbphd, just as you both have touched on with the Hybrid layer, and the HDCD re-master, I do believe many cases is the recording is just that much better when done in redbook with these formats on the disc, and the end result is they can sound just as good without the decoder in many cases, meaning sometimes it has less to do with the technology, but the better mix.

Sharpnine, Yeah thats the exact point I was illustrating way back on this thread.. For sure the main point is most HDCD or Hybrid SACD's simply have better Redbook playback as well due to they ended up thru a better re-mastering process anyway vs. the original redbook only versions.. I believe it has much less to do with the technology or decoding of the actual Hi res layer vs. just the fact the re-master version just comes that way from the recording being bettered in the first place.