will HDCD copy when cloned?

Thanks Marco, good to know. As for XRCD - it's a standard 16-bit CD, the term XRCD is about JVC's especially refined mastering process, not the format.

Dmitrydr - All the HDCD's I have burned to a standard CD-R as well as those same files burned to my hard drive DO activate the HDCD indicator on my DAC which otherwise remains dimmed if streaming 16-bit data.

I've been told also that XRCD's can be duplicated by conventional means, but have no way of confirming that.....anyone?

Marco

What I heard is that HDCD uses some "reserved" checksum and other data fields for storing an additional audio info. Does anyone knows for sure that a standart CD-ROM can really read those fields as data?

It may interest you know, not only will it copy to another CD when cloned, but it will also rip to your hard drive that way as well (assuming you are ripping in a lossless format).

Marco

Thanks to all!

Whoops, I didn't mean to say Apple Lossless was not a cross platform format,
because iTunes software is now available for PC as well as Mac. It just will
not work with any other audio software AFAIK.

Marco

Use EAC with synchronized mode enabled. Under this mode it will give you a bit for bit copy. When burning keep the burning speed under16x for best results.

I've heard good things about EAC Tgrisham, but I use a Mac so it is not an option for me. I rippeed all my files in either .WAV or Apple Lossless. I honestly cannot tell any difference. Apple Lossless is a compressed format but renders the file bit-for-bit according to both Apple and Wavelength who did a test of that format. It takes longer to rip files in AL (about 2-3 times as long as a WAV file), but it ends up taking up about half the space on your hard drive as an uncompressed file like WAV. I don't know if EAC uses compression, nor how file size is in comparision. Perhaps someone else could chime in. The only downside to Apple Lossless is that is an proprietary format to iTunes and is not a cross-platform format. There are software solutions for converting AL files to other formats, but that, of course, comes at the expense of time, and I do not know that the conversion is bit-for-bit.

Hope that helps.

Marco

alcohol 120% or clone cd software works fine...

Jax2,
What software is the best in your experience for bit-to-bit copy? How is EAC? Thanks!

Yes, as long as you are using a bit-for-bit or lossless format to copy it you should get an exact copy that does play as the original.

Marco