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High Definition CD or HDCD - What is it exactly?

I have an Audio Aero Capitole MKII and always thought it had the ability to read HDCD's. I thought this until recently playing an HDCD on a friend's CEC CD player which has a small light that appears that tells you that it is reading the disc as an HDCD. The improvement and realism in the sound was awesome. The realism in sound reminded me of SACD in many ways, although I don't have much listening experience with either HDCD or SACD.

What exactly is HDCD and why can't the Aero Aero (at this price point) play/read these types of CD's?

One more thing...I burned a copy of the HDCD, but the CEC player did not recognize the copy as an HDCD.

Your comments are appreciated. Thanks,
128x128gerryn
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Microsoft seems to have dropped this, but many performers insist of recording in HDCD. I have had two universal players that decode it properly. The first was the Lindemann 680D. I was shocked at the improved performance. My Exemplar/Denons also show a light with HDCD, but the performance jump is not as great.

If you can get the capability to play such disks as HDCD, go for it.

I have made copies of HDCD that do play as HDCDs.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Well thank God for Tobias (especially), Ghost, and Tbg -- y'all saved me from a lot of typing ;--) So I'll just add a couple of things:

First, I highly recommend Keith Johnson's newly ressurected Reference Recordings site: www.referencerecordings.com for both incredible HDCD recordings and info/links. As most of you know he co-invented HDCD.

Second, regarding HDCD decoding: The new(er) Levinson DACs and CDPs use a proprietary Levinson HDCD decoding chip, not the ones normally provided as OEM parts to most manufacturers. However, software-based DACs, such as my Wadia 27 and some others, do a perfectly marvelous job of decoding HDCDs. And even though you don't get the HDCD indicator light, some folks (like Steve Huntley @ GNSC) feel the Wadias do a better job than the HDCD implemented DACs.

I'll say one thing, I can usually tell (blind) if an unfamiliar disc is an HDCD or an XRCD (but not which is which ;--) Let's not do it here, but I'm going to start a thread for listing favorite HDCD/XRCD titles (if no one's done it yet ;--)

BTW, I agree that any bit-for-bit burner should copy an HDCD or an XRCD faithfully.

.
mfsoa
76 posts
 
I think Dusty Vawter of Channel Islands Audio eschews HDCD decoding in his DACS because the HDCD D-A chips don't sound as good as he wants them too.
I don't think I'm mis-paraphrasing him - Just another side of the coin to consider.
My HDCDs are the best sounding ones I have, on my compatable player.
alpass
174 posts
 
is there a site with a list of HDCD`S
thanks
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
Tobias, that's the clearest explanation I've read.
I've been a big fan of HDCD for sometime. My first experience was with Joni Mitchell's "Blue," amazing depth and deail. I have noticed many unmarked cds are HDCD encoded with no indication on either the label or cd. There is a thread listing favorite HDCDs here and a rather lengty one at audiocircle.
One of my favorites is Stepen Stills "Manassas."
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