HDCD and XRCD. Which's one sound better?

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

For the record: K2 Super Coding is what is used on XRCDs. It is not a separate process. For details, check out www.xrcd.com.

Bomarc; Thanks for the info. that the JVC K2 20 Bit Super Coding and XRCD are the same thing-- that's good to know. The new CCR CDs are all marked as using the K2 process, but say nothing about XRCD. Cheers. Craig.

World if you have HDCD capabiliy then I'd get their 20 bit version.
Regarding statements that "neither will sound better than the other" & "HDCD claims of technical superiority are open to question"...
*unqualified statements* such as those are indeed open to question.
Sorry but apparently no one responding has actually heard these two within a viable side-by-side comparison. Even in a showdown, results could vary widely depending upon the playback equipmnent in use.