HDCDs

[MikeMusic]

Don't normally take much notice, but when playing Stephen Stills self title CD I noticed
"HDCD"
popped up on my Naim CDX display

Sounded good too.
"Remastered from original tapes" so could be good or could have been trashed as often with remastering

Can't see anything anywhere on the CD or case saying it is HDCD

My Isis doesn't show "HDCD"

How can you tell ?

[StanleyB]

Could the Naim be faulty or reading a false positive?

[MikeMusic]

Could the Naim be faulty or reading a false positive?

Hadn't thought of that.
Very rarely displays HDCD
Don't think the Isis shows it at all

[Rare Bird]

Play it through Windows media player see if the logo shows. If so it's the HDCD Remaster..

It has a logo printed on the CD.

[MikeMusic]

Thanks
Will do

[Stratmangler]

The CD version is HDCD.
If you rip it using dbPoweramp (with the appropriate DSP plugins) it will extract as 24/44.1

[StanleyB]

The CD version is HDCD.
If you rip it using dbPoweramp (with the appropriate DSP plugins) it will extract as 24/44.1
I think you just answered a question of mine. Namely, where those 24/44.1KHz files came from. That could explain why I noticed a difference between 16 and 24 bit 44.1KHz files.

[Stratmangler]

I think you just answered a question of mine. Namely, where those 24/44.1KHz files came from. That could explain why I noticed a difference between 16 and 24 bit 44.1KHz files.

As Auntie Social has stated, Windows Media Player will also play the HDCD content.
Unfortunately they removed the indication light in more recent versions of WMP :doh:

[Rare Bird]

Windows Media Player will also play the HDCD content.
:

Um sure ive just said that in post #4!

[Stratmangler]

Um sure ive just said that in post #4!

I've amended my previous post.

IIRC the HDCD thing displaying finished with WMP10.

[MikeMusic]

Play it through Windows media player see if the logo shows. If so it's the HDCD Remaster..

It has a logo printed on the CD.

Didn't see anything in Media Player. Will check the CD tonight, don't think it has HD on it

[MikeMusic]

The CD version is HDCD.
If you rip it using dbPoweramp (with the appropriate DSP plugins) it will extract as 24/44.1

Thanks
I was hoping for an easy way for me, like the CDX displaying "HDCD"
Amazon says Remastered, which can be a curse, no mention of HD which I would have thought would be a good sales point :scratch:

[Rare Bird]

Didn't see anything in Media Player. Will check the CD tonight, don't think it has HD on it

It should be at the bottom left side of the media player where the album title shows. The HDCD Remaster is the present issue so i have no idea why it's showing as one! :scratch:

However there could be something in what Stan the man says in post #2

[MikeMusic]

At last

Found it on the CD, uppercase crap typestyle characters melting into each other

Nowt on Media Player- which I hardly use, so it may have been hiding

[lovejoy]

Another way to check it is to rip the disc as WAV files, then go here and download HDCD.exe (assuming a Windows PC). It's command line only so you need to learn the commands and use paths, but it will accurately report whether your CD is indeed HDCD encoded and will turn your WAV file rip into a 24-bit output file and give you most of the benefits of using an HDCD processor.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=129136

[Stratmangler]

Amazon says Remastered, which can be a curse, no mention of HD which I would have thought would be a good sales point :scratch:

Why would it be a good sales point?
When HDCD was SoTA very few companies released compatible players or DACs.
Since then we've had DVD-A, and SACD, and neither format properly took off and hit critical mass.

Pacific Microsonics (the originators of HDCD) were fortunate in that Microsoft were impressed with what they did and bought the company.
Since then Microsoft has not sought to do anything with HDCD, and as has been discussed here, even removed the HDCD decoding tag from their own Media Player, even though their media player is quite happy decoding HDCD material.
It decodes it, but it doesn't give any visual indication of it performing the task.

As far as correct labelling for HDCD, well that is a shambles.
There have been far more CD releases that have been HDCD mastered than have ever had the logo HDCD anywhere on the disc or the printed material.

Two discs I have with no mention of HDCD anywhere are "Time Out" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, and "Dig" by Boz Scaggs, and they're both HDCD mastered albums (great music on each too!).
Another which does have the logo is the CD/DVD-A (2 disc) release of "If I Could Only Remember My Name" by David Crosby, and the CD is not HDCD, so go figure that one out...

I believe that the Van Halen remasters were all HDCD mastered too, but no big deal has been made about it by Warner Brothers.

[MikeMusic]

Another way to check it is to rip the disc as WAV files, then go here and download HDCD.exe (assuming a Windows PC). It's command line only so you need to learn the commands and use paths, but it will accurately report whether your CD is indeed HDCD encoded and will turn your WAV file rip into a 24-bit output file and give you most of the benefits of using an HDCD processor.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=129136
Thanks. Ripping is something I will get into in the future

[MikeMusic]

Why would it be a good sales point?
When HDCD was SoTA very few companies released compatible players or DACs.
Since then we've had DVD-A, and SACD, and neither format properly took off and hit critical mass.

Pacific Microsonics (the originators of HDCD) were fortunate in that Microsoft were impressed with what they did and bought the company.
Since then Microsoft has not sought to do anything with HDCD, and as has been discussed here, even removed the HDCD decoding tag from their own Media Player, even though their media player is quite happy decoding HDCD material.
It decodes it, but it doesn't give any visual indication of it performing the task.

As far as correct labelling for HDCD, well that is a shambles.
There have been far more CD releases that have been HDCD mastered than have ever had the logo HDCD anywhere on the disc or the printed material.

Two discs I have with no mention of HDCD anywhere are "Time Out" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, and "Dig" by Boz Scaggs, and they're both HDCD mastered albums (great music on each too!).
Another which does have the logo is the CD/DVD-A (2 disc) release of "If I Could Only Remember My Name" by David Crosby, and the CD is not HDCD, so go figure that one out...

I believe that the Van Halen remasters were all HDCD mastered too, but no big deal has been made about it by Warner Brothers.

Maybe I'm confused
I assumed HD was at least a potential increase in quality, certainly sounded good to me
To normal Joe Punter I also assume HDCD means better than CD

[Rare Bird]

I have the YES & King Crimson HDCD's i still prefer them to the present editions..

[Spectral Morn]

I have the YES & King Crimson HDCD's i still prefer them to the present editions..

I was just about to say that the HDCD version of In the Court of The Crimson King is stunning.

I have a couple of bits of kit that will decode HDCD and I where I have a non HDCD version in comparison I prefer the HDCD version. Its sad it never took off and there are loads of CDs about that have it but the box does not indicate it and a few that indicate it but don't have it such as a couple of the Nick Drake CDs (Pink Moon etc).

I vaguely recall seeing a list once online that had all the HDCD versions of titles but I have no idea where - sorry.


Regards Neil

[Rare Bird]

Ive just remembered i still have a Musical Fidelity 'X-DAC' i kept if i ever wanted to listern to them.. I thought id still got the cambridge 'isomagic' but i remembered selling it along with my old Arcam 'CD72'..

[Stratmangler]

X-DAC should be able to decode the HDCD from ripped files as long as the files are bit perfect.

[Rare Bird]

Didnt the old Audiolab '8000DAC' have on board HDCD Decoding?

[John]

I used to have a CD player with HDCD and remember preferring the sound to standard CD

[Rare Bird]

The Cary '308' CDP had HDCD that was a nice player..

[twickers]

I had an Alpha 8se that had HDCD aswell. Nice player..