JVC XRCD CDs, are they worth the extra cash?

I've always been skeptical of those "gold" CDs. There's no magic technology out there that makes CDs sound worlds better. The real difference is in remastering, and JVC seems to do it better than anybody else. I'll echo the Bill Evans plug, but don't miss the live albums (Waltz for Debby and Sunday at the Village Vanguard).

Also, JVC licenses its jazz (some of it, at least) from Fantasy (www.fantasyjazz.com, I think), which sells the same remasterings for a lot less than the high-end catalogs charge for XRCDs. You can even find them in record stores. Just make sure that a JVC engineer (and the K2 process) are mentioned on the back of the CD.

Worldcup: XRCDs are not encoded, so they play in any CD player, just like a normal CD (only better!)

I wouldn't stake my record collection on this, but I believe that XRCD is a brand name, and that XRCDs use the K2 20 bit Super Coding process. So they are functionally equivalent. If someone has information to the contrary, please share it.

Gboren: I suspect that JVC wouldn't want to tell you that their disks are available on other labels for less than $20. I have a few of the Fantasy Jazz K2 releases, and they clearly state that they were mastered by someone at JVC. Rest assured, JVC did not bother to do 2 separate remasterings, so it's a fair bet that the XRCD and Fantasy releases are identical.