You mention that you have a few hundred albums. If you are judging only by the HDCD logo showing on the packaging that's one thing. But in reality, I would be surprised if you only had 6 cd's with HDCD encoding. I myself have a surprising number where there is no logo at all, but the ''light'' confirming HDCD status does come on. Neil Young is pretty well-known to have HDCD encoding.
HDCD Decoding ?
Recently, I have noticed that the specifications for CD players sometimes mention that they are compatible with HDCD CDs. I thought that HDCD died about ten years ago. But HDCD CDs have always been playable on any CD players; albeit not all CD players would decode the HDCD formatting because that required a special digital filter from Pacific Microsonics.
Several years ago, when HDCD first appeared, Pacific Microsonics required that anyone licensed to use their HDCD filter had to install automatic attenuation in their players for ALL non-HDCD discs. This was not necessarily a good thing.
When a 21st century CD player will read HDCD discs, it may or may not perform the automatic change in volume as a result. The net impact in older HDCD players was that all normal (non-HDCD) discs were attenuated. I own a few hundred CDs and only about 6 of them are HDCD. I expect that now in the year 2013, this is no longer a problem regarding the Pacific Microsonics HDCD filter. My guess is that current players are not using a Pacific Microsonics filter.
Perhaps "compatible with" is simply a reminder that the CD player will play the older HDCDs as regular CDs?
What says the group mind?
Several years ago, when HDCD first appeared, Pacific Microsonics required that anyone licensed to use their HDCD filter had to install automatic attenuation in their players for ALL non-HDCD discs. This was not necessarily a good thing.
When a 21st century CD player will read HDCD discs, it may or may not perform the automatic change in volume as a result. The net impact in older HDCD players was that all normal (non-HDCD) discs were attenuated. I own a few hundred CDs and only about 6 of them are HDCD. I expect that now in the year 2013, this is no longer a problem regarding the Pacific Microsonics HDCD filter. My guess is that current players are not using a Pacific Microsonics filter.
Perhaps "compatible with" is simply a reminder that the CD player will play the older HDCDs as regular CDs?
What says the group mind?