HDCD , 24/96--mutually exclusive

If I had 3 theta gen 5s one 'plane', one with hdcd, and one with the 24/96 mod, The best BY FAR would be the 24/96 one. It improves all your cds;and to a further degree than hdcd does.They are now pressing some cds using 24/96 equipment,but they are playable on any cd player,and yes they sound better.

I agree with George that the 24/96 is the best, but unless you are upsampling, the 24/96 dacs are only reading 16/44...

The key is to add an upsampler (i.e. I use DCS Purcell), which will upsample 16/44 to 24/96 (or even higher, like 24/192 if you have a dac that can read it- i.e. DCS Elgar). Once upsampler is in the mix, THEN the 24/96 dacs WILL read the upsampled version, providing the superior sound.

And back to the original question, yes, HDCD and 24/96 can be mutually exclusive. The HDCD is a chip (in absolute terms, it really just provides a filtering function)- I believe the HDCD chip in my Sim Audio Eclipse CD player is a Pacific Microsonics PMD-100. Whether or not your dacs can read 24/96 is a separate issue. Hope this helps!

With the older PMD 100, HDCD and 24/96 are mutually exclusive I think. However, the new generation PMD 200 is supposedly a 24/192 cabalbe chip so it will accomplich both HDCD and 24/96. I know the new Assemblage DAC 2.7 uses this chip and I am expectign mine to arrive any day now. Check out the Parts Connection web page.

happy listening

Craig