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HDCD fans out there?

I've been reading all the discussions about SACD vs CD vs all other digital forms and it is interesting. I do see a few who mention HDCD, which I really enjoy. For the most part, I find them to be closest to vinyl, at least in my system. They are a fairly recent discovery for me but I do enjoy them. I've purchased some old Denon players and a Cambridge Audio unit to be able to read them properly. I think the Denons do the best job among the compatible units that I have. Maybe the difference between Burr Brown 24 bit and Cirrus Logic 24 bit. I know there is more to it than that but that's the simple thought process of it. 

Not all HDCD's are created equal and some are better than others. The same is true of redbook CD, with some of them seeming to be much better than others. I don't know why exactly, other than maybe a better system making the master or a better engineer etc. I just listen and evaluate for myself. I have found some HDCD's that are not labeled as such. Decca label, I think. Any idea why that would be? I also have one or two redbook Cd's that have at least one track of HDCD on them. You'd never know it if you didn't have HDCD capable pleyer. It is a very noticeable difference when you get to it. Just kind of odd and interesting. Anyone else a fan of this obscure format? I enjoy them a lot. 

billpete
billpete OP
396 posts
 

@mrdecibel I'm tying to understand the whole transport/DAC business as I am still living in the past and enjoying older gear that has the capabilities that I need. Are all CD transports able to play all formats as long as the outboard DAC supports them?

I did try vertical bi-amping with my AR9's but I must have done something wrong as I caused a short in the right channel and overloaded one amp. I decided to try it when I got the new Blue Jean Canare speaker wire since I had to do a bunch of rewiring anyway. I had a problem with the spade ends on the speakers as they are quite large and able to turn and short against each other. One post is somewhat loose on the speaker and did turn and cause a short. This may have been the only problem and was solved by putting the spade ends on the amps and the banana ends on the speakers. I went back to my old configuration of one amp to both lower halves and other amp to upper halves. I may try it again sometime but it scared me enough to go back to my old way. If I can be re-assured that nothing can go wrong when wired correctly with vertical, I'll try it again. 

What did you replace your AR9's with?

mksun
871 posts
 

@billpete Its the concept of separate components outperforming all in one boxes, all things equal. This is of course never absolute and depends on the quality of the components, synergy and interconnects. I replaced my aging Rotel CDP with a Audiolab 6000 CDT and Denafrips Pontus II DAC and have never looked back. The other benefit of separate components is flexibility, and I also use the Pontus with my Bluesound streamer and have since replaced the Audiolab with a more expensive Jays Audio transport. I can only playback standard Redbook CDs and have an OPPO DVD player strictly for SACDs. 

mahler123
4,147 posts
 

@billpete 

 

It isn’t a given that all transports and DACs can handle all codecs.  I had a really ancient Denon SACD/DVD-A player that wouldn’t read a HDCD disc.  The likelihood is that most equipment wouldn’t have an issue, but if you are potentially repurposing an older disc reader as a transport there may be a hiccup.

secretguy
1,997 posts
 

Another HDCD fan here. I only wish I had more.

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