HDCD Question
- Thread starter wanders
- Start date
I swear, sometimes I must have my head in the sand or elsewhere. I did a little searching and came up with a couple of titles I already own on CD that are also HDCD encoded. I found 3,but 2 of them aren't labeled as such. One is the Take Five album. I actually have 2 copies on CD and one of the two lights up the HDCD on the preamp. Without a doubt, the HDCD version played back on my crappy sounding Sony BDP-S300 bluray player sounds so much better than the CD does on my standalone CD player with an A/B comparison.
TerryO
Super Member
I think it's been mentioned already, but "the CD layer" that you mention on your SACD, is quite often mastered in HDCD. Most Professional Studios have HDCD capable equipment (Pacific Microsonics) on hand.
Best Regards,
TerryO
W9TR
Super Member
Wanders,
To the question of the BDP-95 - it does sound very good in 2 channel stereo and it does decode HDCD encoded Redbook CD's and SACD's, along with multiple other formats, and, here's the kicker - 24/96 hi-Rez audio files! I bought mine when they first came out, and it was a grand even shipped to my door. It compares very favorably to my McIntosh MCD500 CD/SACD player and has the added benefit of playing multi channel SACD's.
Regards,
Tom
P.S. While not relevant to this thread, the video performance is stellar as well.
To the question of the BDP-95 - it does sound very good in 2 channel stereo and it does decode HDCD encoded Redbook CD's and SACD's, along with multiple other formats, and, here's the kicker - 24/96 hi-Rez audio files! I bought mine when they first came out, and it was a grand even shipped to my door. It compares very favorably to my McIntosh MCD500 CD/SACD player and has the added benefit of playing multi channel SACD's.
Regards,
Tom
P.S. While not relevant to this thread, the video performance is stellar as well.
dewdude
High on resolution.
I should also mention...if you have a 24-bit sound card, Windows Media Player will play HDCD since Microsoft bought Pacific Microsonics a couple years ago. You have to go in to options and enable 24-bit playback...but it will display the HDCD logo and do the "decoding"
soundboy
Super Member
Both "Time Out" (the Dave Brubeck Quartet album from which "Take Five" came from) and "Brothers In Arms" are available as HDCD-encoded CDs. If you are to come across the rare hybrid SACD version of "Time Out", the CD layer contains the HDCD-encoded version as well. However, there are no HDCD logos to tell you it's such a disc.
Tillerman
Active Member
More HDCD
This may have been mentioned already, but if you are playing an HDCD through an external DAC that is capable of decoding HDCD, do not digitally attenuate the signal before the DAC or you will lose the benefit of the HDCD decoding.
I discovered this when playing HDCD flac files via SB Duet to an external DAC. If I had the SB volume attenuated (anything less then 100%) and the HDCD lamp would go out.
This may have been mentioned already, but if you are playing an HDCD through an external DAC that is capable of decoding HDCD, do not digitally attenuate the signal before the DAC or you will lose the benefit of the HDCD decoding.
I discovered this when playing HDCD flac files via SB Duet to an external DAC. If I had the SB volume attenuated (anything less then 100%) and the HDCD lamp would go out.
wanders
Super Member
Ordered the Marantz
All things equal, I liked the Oppo's best; and I would not reject the 95 because it had m/c capability. Also, I'm reluctant to walk away from hdcd; even though I've got only a couple of these and many believe the technology is dated, I would like to maintain the capability.
Having said all of that, IMO, digital input is a must; and, at the $1000 price point, the Marantz SA 8004 was the only real choice.
All things equal, I liked the Oppo's best; and I would not reject the 95 because it had m/c capability. Also, I'm reluctant to walk away from hdcd; even though I've got only a couple of these and many believe the technology is dated, I would like to maintain the capability.
Having said all of that, IMO, digital input is a must; and, at the $1000 price point, the Marantz SA 8004 was the only real choice.
Dr Tone
Active Member
I'm still finding newly released discs that are HDCD. If it's dead it certainly doesn't want to die.
Here are some that I added to my collection recently.
Sheep Dogs - Five Easy Pieces [EP] (2011)
Neil Young - A Treasure (2011)
Mr. Big - What If (2011)
Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (2010)
The White Stripes - Under Great White Lights (2010)
I use dbpoweramp to rip my CDs and it's HDCD plug in will decode the HDCD and store the flac as 24/44.1, no need for HDCD capable player.
Here are some that I added to my collection recently.
Sheep Dogs - Five Easy Pieces [EP] (2011)
Neil Young - A Treasure (2011)
Mr. Big - What If (2011)
Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (2010)
The White Stripes - Under Great White Lights (2010)
I use dbpoweramp to rip my CDs and it's HDCD plug in will decode the HDCD and store the flac as 24/44.1, no need for HDCD capable player.
FauxHall
Super Member
My Oppo 980 deciphers HDCD.
I learned this one day by accident. I put in a Grateful Dead CD and noticed that it sounded especially good! I looked to see if perhaps is was a SACD but read the little HDCD light on the Oppo's screen.
So yes, HDCD disks can sound better than CDs. The inventors have started a new company in Berkeley to do high end, high bit rate DACs, BTW.
I learned this one day by accident. I put in a Grateful Dead CD and noticed that it sounded especially good! I looked to see if perhaps is was a SACD but read the little HDCD light on the Oppo's screen.
So yes, HDCD disks can sound better than CDs. The inventors have started a new company in Berkeley to do high end, high bit rate DACs, BTW.
I have an (older) Oppo DV981HD - plays SACD, HDCD, and DVD-A ... plus DivX and a ton of other discs - but that one won't do HD-DVD or BluRay.
I read a tech article that told me to hook it to a TV so I could go through the screen settings, force it to PCM mode and force down-convert to stereo.
I did that and then moved it to my 2 channel system (see avatar) and it seems to be working fine.
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Interesting. I have quite a few Grateful Dead HDCD disks but no player for HDCD. I do have a 24 bit sound card and the PC is on my vintage amp now so I will have to check it out. Thanks, good info.
TerryO
Super Member
If you haven't heard the Berkeley Alpha DAC, you owe it to yourself to audition one, it a wonderful design and is the absolutely best sounding DAC I've heard at any price.
One thing that is worth considering is that the DAC has a volume control and serves as a very nice linestage as well as a DAC, which may make the price of the Berkeley seem more reasonable.
Disclaimer: Rene' Yeager of Berkeley is a personal friend and I've listened to his system dozens of times.
Yes, he uses the Berkeley in his own system!
Best Regards,
TerryO
goldear
Certifiable Audio Junkie
Yes that works. But the far better option is to force it to select the stereo SACD, and stereo DVD-A mix by default. The internal down-mix to stereo really does not sound nearly as good as a good stereo mix does.
Also, be careful about the forcing PCM bit. You loose most of the sonic benefit of from SACDs when you play them as PCM rather than DSD. Also you don't need to force PCM to for it to down-mix. Forcing PCM really only helps you if you are using a two-channel DAC with the player. However you still can't play an SACD through your DAC if you do this, unless your DAC happens to have an HDMI input.
goldear
Certifiable Audio Junkie
It will be interesting to see your reaction when I eventually demo my modified Oppo BDP-93 for the club. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.If you haven't heard the Berkeley Alpha DAC, you owe it to yourself to audition one, it a wonderful design and is the absolutely best sounding DAC I've heard at any price.
One thing that is worth considering is that the DAC has a volume control and serves as a very nice linestage as well as a DAC, which may make the price of the Berkeley seem more reasonable.
Disclaimer: Rene' Yeager of Berkeley is a personal friend and I've listened to his system dozens of times.
Yes, he uses the Berkeley in his own system!
Best Regards,
TerryO
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TerryO
Super Member
Hi,
I'm always willing to be pleasantly surprised!
The Oppo is a great player and the recent comparison between the stock 95 and a modified version was a real eye-opener.
Best Regards,
TerryO
goldear
Certifiable Audio Junkie
That modright player that we heard tonight was certainly impressive. However I can't say that I felt that way about the players that we heard at the previous meeting.
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TerryO
Super Member
Hi Jim,
I don't know if it was where I was sitting (way off axis), but I thought that the sound was...odd. Even moving to the back of the room didn't seem to overcome whatever it was.
I really believe it was the speakers (which shall not be named) being used that was the problem, as I've heard the ModWright gear a number of times in different systems and it's been consistantly good.
The problem, as I see it, was the presentation. The electronics and the speakers were both unknowns. To evaluate them correctly should, at a minimum, call for using just one piece of gear introduced at a time into the Club's reference system.
By the introduction so many (and unknown) variables at once leaves little discretion in forming an opinion. One component in the chain that is malfunctioning, or of poor design, can make the whole presentation sound bad.
Best Regards,
Terry