HDCD FLAC FOOBAR SPDIF Cary 303/200 HDCD

I think that cary 303 and the 306 doesn't decode HDCD via it's digital input. But to be sure, please check the user manual or contact the manufacturer.

dbpoweramp has an add on DSP that allows you to rip HDCD to 20 bit format file. Use that for ripping and you don't need HDCD decoding in the DAC. Its what I do with all of my Reference Recording CD's.

David256 - read my comments above. dBpoweramp uses the same code as foobar. It does part of the job of the old Pacific Microsonics chip, but not all of it. A DAC with the old chip will do a better job of reproducing the original HCDC sound than the software solutions.

Helian's point is important and needs to be checked out.

I have ripped all of my CDs in FLAC or APE. All of my HDCD's play on my 306/200 and 302/200 with the HDCD light on through coax, toslink or AES. Windows tends to mess up the outgoing bit stream. Use ASIO or Direct Sound in your sound card. Get a good sound card - it make a difference. I have found several USB sound cards that upscale to 48 kHz and will not work. You can hear it!

The older Cary players are very susceptible to jitter. I use an RME sound card with great results. I notice a huge improvement over my old M-Audio 2492 card.

Humm been awhile. Yaeh I emailed Cary to no avail. Used dbpower amp to redo them in 24bit. Scanned the library with foobar for all the hdcd files. Some good suprises. Did that yesterday. Took awhile as I'm just coming out of a vinyl phase.