HDCD and XRCD. Which's one sound better?

XRCDs are by far better, especially if your player does not do HDCD.

Worldcup,
As far as the sound quality goes I whole heartedly think the JVC XRCDs sound better. I don't know of any recordings that are covered by both. With or without the HDCD decoder, HDCDjust doesn't sound as good to me. Most likely it is the mastering by JVC. All of the XRCD artisit are from the JVC library which does limit the artists that are available from them. I do like that I hear a remarkably good sound from XRCD without a special decoder chip.

Hi,
Actually, I plan to buy an album "Jazz at the pawnshop", and this album has HDCD, and XRCD. The XRCD is more expensive, and my CD player can play HDCD. This confuses me because I don't know which one should I buy. I wish I can buy both for the comparing, but I can not due to the "Jazz at the pawnshop" is quite of expensive.
Thanks
DT

Well do you have an HDCD decoder chip on your player?
If not, then forget about getting the HDCD version...
XRCD is about the same as the SACD's out there and they sound awesome! XRCD's showed me how much the recording quality matters in the system... I used to think the cd player was the most important, now I think it's the recording. XRCD is the best out there right now, but you'll pay the premium for it! Enjoy

JVC has another CD encoding process called K2 20 Bit Super Coding that is also excellent. The new remasters of all the Creedence Clearwater Revival CDs used this process and they sound much better than the originals-- and notably, the K2 CDs are not any more expensive than regular ol' CDs. I don't know how the K2 process compares to XRCDs though.

My DAC decodes HDCD but I have no way of comparing it to a regular CD. Lucinda Williams "Car Wheels on a Grave Road" is HDCD encoded, but the CD is not marked as such-- this is an excellent sounding CD, at least through my DAC. Cheers. Craig