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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?
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Showing 1 response by drubin

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drubin
3,265 posts
 
HDCD does tend toward a particular sound, which some people might not like. I believe Art Dudley of Listener magazine once described the format as sounding "phasey."

In any case, that quality would not (should not) be apparent on a non-HDCD player. And that Shady Grove disc has always sounded very, very good to me, with both HDCD and non-HDCD players in my system.
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