Hdcd

[phishphan]

Just about all of the live Grateful Dead discs I have are encoded to HDCD. When looking around all the high end gear I've ever considered, or would consider, I've never come across a player or DAC that even mentions HDCD.

Does anyone around here have a player they use? Or does anyone have a clue how I could rip the HDCD layer to my mac?

[Joe Appierto]

The Oppo 105 does. As did the earlier 95 but not sure about their current generation series.

[tdelahanty]

If my memory serves me correctly the Levinson 360S dac decodes HDCD.

[audioguy3107]

I owned the NAD master series SACD/HDCD player for a couple of years before I went with my Ayre player, I believe it was the M55. It did a nice job, especially on SACD. I did some comparisons with HDCD vs. Redbook and of course SACD and I really didn't think that HDCD offered much advantage. ON some discs I really struggled to hear much of a difference when I got my Ayre player which doesn't decode HDCD. Sure it could be that the Ayre is just a better disc player, but the NAD was pretty expensive and sounded excellent with SACD. I just found that I really wasn't going to miss much if anything without it.

- Buck

[GSOphile]

Mark Levinson 390S and Proceed CDP both support HDCD. Less sure about newer models.

[GSOphile]

If I recall correctly, an HDCD disk played on a CD player that didn't support HDCD would play as a CD.

[rnrmf1971]

HDCD isn't really a "layer."
In the simplest terms, I think HDCD might be described as doing the following -
There's a part of the cd data called the "subcode" that includes 4 additional bits of encoded information that takes your cd from 16 bit / 44.1K to 20 bit/44.1K

When the cd is played in a CD player that does NOT decode HDCD, you get 16/44.1, just like any other cd.
But when HDCD was a "thing" during the 90's, players that had the decoder could decode those extra 4 bits.

There are a bunch of other stipulations and options with regard to HDCD encoding based on the person mastering the disc as well as the possibility that you may not even get the entire extra 4 bits, as I recall reading.

The easiest way for me to have a foolproof way to play my HDCD encoded discs, these days, is to rip the cd with dBPoweramp, which has an HDCD option, and rips the decoded HDCD disc to a 24 bit file, with the extra 4 bits (20-24) empty. Your DAC sees the file as a 24 bit file.

That said, I also own an older Oppo BDP-105 for spinning HDCD discs.
I believe some Yamaha and Emotiva spinners might be the only disc players left that decode HDCD.

[tutomac]

IIRC Cary Audio also has/had some HDCD players...

[vintage_tube]

I'll add Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1 (tubed player) I had -- believe it was HDCD compatible.

Not all inclusive:

Advance Acoustic MCD 204 (CD Player)

Arcam Diva DV 79 (DVD Player)
Arcam Diva DV 135 (DVD Player)
Arcam Diva DV 137 (DVD Player)
Arcam FMJ DV 139 (DVD Player)

Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC (DAC)

Cambridge Audio Azur 650 BD (Blu-ray Player)

Cayin CDT-15A (CD Player)

CyberHome CH-DVD 635 (DVD-Player)

Denon DBP-A100 (Blu-ray Player)
Denon DBP-4010UD (Blu-ray Player)
Denon DVD-A1UD (Blu-ray Player)
Denon DVD-A11 (DVD/SACD Player)
Denon DVD-A1XV (DVD/SACD Player)
Denon DVD-A1XVA (DVD/SACD Player)
Denon DVD 2800 mk2 (DVD/SACD Player)
Denon DVD-2910 (DVD/SACD Player)
Denon DVD-2930 (DVD/SACD Player)
Denon DVD-3800 (DVD/SACD Player)
Denon DVD-3910 (DVD/SACD Player)
Denon DVD-3930 (DVD/SACD Player)

Harman/Kardon FL-8370 (CD Multi Disc Player)
Harman/Kardon HD-750 (CD Player)

Linn Majik CD (CD Player)

Mark Levinson ML 37 (CD Player)
Mark Levinson ML 39 (CD Player)
Mark Levinson ML 390S (CD Player)
Mark Levinson No. 36 (DAC)
Mark Levinson ML 360 (DAC)
Mark Levinson ML 360S (DAC)

Music Hall CD 25 (CD Player)

NAD C 542 (CD Player)
NAD M5 (SACD/CD Player)
NAD M55 (SACD/DVD Player)
NAD T 585 (SACD/DVD Player)

Naim CDX2 (CD Player)
Naim CD5x (CD Player)
Naim CDS3 (CD Player)
Naim CD555 (CD Player)
OPPO BDP-80 (Blu-ray Player)
OPPO BDP-83 (Blu-ray Player)
OPPO BDP 93 (Blu-ray Player)
OPPO BDP 95 (Blu-ray Player)
OPPO DV-980H (DVD Player)
OPPO DV-981HD (DVD Player)
OPPO DV-983H (DVD Player)

Original CD-A8T (CD Player)

Panasonic DVD-S52 (DVD Player)

Pioneer DVR-550H-S (DVD Player)

Restek EPOS (CD Player)

Rotel RCD-02 (CD Player)
Rotel RCD-1072 (CD Player)
Rotel RCD-991 AE (CD Player)

T+A CD3000R (CD Player)

Toshiba SD 500E (DVD Player)

Vincent S1.1 (CD Player)
Vincent S3 (CD Player)
Vincent S5 (CD Player)
Vincent S6 (CD Player)

Best Sirs,

Bob

[eljr]

Originally Posted by Joe Appierto

The Oppo 105 does. As did the earlier 95 but not sure about their current generation series.

same one I use for my HDCD's