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CD Players, Digital Music & Servers Aurender, dCs, Esoteric, Lumin. |
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#1
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HDCD on Berkeley Alpha DAC Series 3 - Any Others?
I have a large number of HDCD encoded CD’s.
Are there any other relatively modern DAC’s besides the Berkeley Alpha DAC Series 3 that offer HDCD decoding? I have an old Adcom GDA-700 DAC that has a Pacific Microsonics HDCD decoder chip, but I suspect newer DAC’s sound much better on Redbook CD’s than my ageing Adcom DAC. I’m finding it difficult to justify spending $10,995 on the Berkeley Alpha DAC Series 3 just to play back less than about 1,500 HDCD encoded CD’s. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
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My A/V System: tinyurl.com/vinyl-rules |
#2
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Personally, I don’t know of any. As you likely know, Pacific Microsonics, who developed the format, folded in 2000, and HDCD format was discontinued by Microsoft in 2005. So, looking at it from the perspective of “technical” product development, sales, and distribution, I don’t why any current DAC manufacturer today would expend the fully-burdened cost of R&D, product development, parts & logistics, QA, and QC, as well as sales and warranty support, to support a digital encoding format that was discontinued almost 20 years ago. It doesn’t make sense from a business perspective because the additional sales revenue they’d obtain from the very small installed-base of customers with your exact product requirements that MAY buy it, isn’t likely to return a profit from the fully-burdened costs of developing, manufacturing, selling, and supporting it.
Acc. to Wikipedia, Panasonic DVD players and the Oppo line of players featured HDCD decoding, several Yamaha Blu-ray players, and some Emotiva CD players could decode HDCD, so maybe you could find a used Oppo or an Emotiva player that could be used as a transport. HDCD is a good example of why I’ve personally stayed away from these more “esoteric” encoding formats…because they’ve had this history of “coming and going”, and why, when buying discs which I’m going to rip anyway for my music server library, I’ve standardized on “Redbook” 16/44 content. Personally, I found that the quality of the mastering is far more important than the actual digital encoding format. For example, the best sounding digital recordings that I personally own and have heard are the Audio Wave BlueNote XRCD24 jazz recordings remastered by Alan Yoshida. These are all Redbook 16/44 recordings. So, with that, for listening to these over the long term, while it would be a major project, IMHO, your best bet would be to see if you could rip your HDCD library to FLAC using dBpoweramp. Alternatively, you could use MusicBee or Exact Audio Copy. That way, you could use any DAC of your choice, now and in the future.
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Lumin P1 streamer/DAC/preamp, Constellation Inspiration integrated TT: Michell Gyro SE MkII, SME V, Koetsu Urushi Vermilion, EAR324. Harbeth 30.2s, REL R-305, Shunyata Alpha V2 ICs, Alpha V2 SPs, Sigma XC, Sigma NRv2, Omega QR-s & Alpha NRv2 PCs, segmented Altaira SG stack w/ Alpha & Omega CGCs, Everest 8000 PD. Remote Server Room: Uptone EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock & LPS, Alita, Battle Angel, (Akasa NUC Roon Core), iFi DC Purifiers (for SMPS used for Alita & router), Shunyata Gemini combo power distributor & Altaira-type CG GP-NR hub, Venom & Alpha CGCs, Shunyata NRv14 power cords for digital components. Last edited by Puma Cat; 02-01-2024 at 10:01 AM. |
#3
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Quote:
And, have also found dBpoweramp to be easy to use for ripping CDs to file.
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Glenn... Canton Reference 9 Clearaudio SM Pro Focal Bathys JLA 10" Dominion Kuzma Stabi S w/MC & MM Magnepan 1,7i McIntosh MA8950 & MR88 Oppo 203 Roon Nucleus Rose Hifi RS150B Shunyata Gemini-4 Sony ST-A6B, TA-F6B, ST-J75 & PS-X75 Sorane SA1.2 & TA-1L Stillpoints LP1v2 WW Pt, Au & Ag |
#4
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Quote:
Quote:
Cheers!
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Lumin P1 streamer/DAC/preamp, Constellation Inspiration integrated TT: Michell Gyro SE MkII, SME V, Koetsu Urushi Vermilion, EAR324. Harbeth 30.2s, REL R-305, Shunyata Alpha V2 ICs, Alpha V2 SPs, Sigma XC, Sigma NRv2, Omega QR-s & Alpha NRv2 PCs, segmented Altaira SG stack w/ Alpha & Omega CGCs, Everest 8000 PD. Remote Server Room: Uptone EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock & LPS, Alita, Battle Angel, (Akasa NUC Roon Core), iFi DC Purifiers (for SMPS used for Alita & router), Shunyata Gemini combo power distributor & Altaira-type CG GP-NR hub, Venom & Alpha CGCs, Shunyata NRv14 power cords for digital components. Last edited by Puma Cat; 02-01-2024 at 10:28 AM. |
#5
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Quote:
You answered Tim's question & recommended a solution better than I or probably anyone else could Stephen. Well done Sir. Bob
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Amps:VAC 450iQ Monos in Silver Flake on HRS M3X2-1921's, HRS G7 Footers/G-Links & Sound Anchor Conecoasters. Preamp:VAC Statement (on order) (Silver Flake) Digital Source: dCS Rossini CD/SACD Transport, Vivaldi APEX DAC, Upsampler Plus & matching Clock (Silver) Analogue Preamp:VAC Renaissance SE Phono stage in Silver Flake with XLR Output Option & with Nordost Valhalla XLR's. Analogue Sources:SME 20/2 w/SME V arm & Nordost Odin 2 Tone Arm Cable, Palo Santos Presentation Cartridge & Akai GX-400D Reel-to-Reel w/relapped heads by JRF Magnetic Sciences. Akai RC-17 cabled remote (original owner since 1974). Vibration Control:TT on HRS M3X2-1921 shelf. Speakers:Wilson Audio Alexia V (on order in Ferrari Argento Silver/Parchment grills sitting on Acoustic Diode Kit). Power Cables:4 Nordost Odin Supreme Reference on amps, preamp & DAC. Ansuz Acoustics C2 on Transport & Clock. Power Distribution:Ansuz Mainz D3 Distributor & Ansuz Mainz C2 1M Power Cable Power Outlets:Furutech GTX-D NCF (R) duplex outlet, GTX Wall Plate & Duplex Cover (x2) on dedicated, same panel phase, 20A breakers. Speaker Cables:2M Nordost Odin 2 Supreme Reference on Nordost Sort Lifts. Signal Cables:Nordost Odin XLR's on dCS DAC & Amps. Digital Cables: Nordost Odin 2's, 110-ohm AES/EBU on dCS Transport to DAC. Clock Cables:5 each 75 ohm 1.25M Nordost Valhalla BNC/BNC Digital Ethernet Cable: WireWorld Platinum 1M Starlight® 8 Twinax Headphones:Vintage Koss Pro IV AA. RCM: Audio Desk PRO Tube Test Gear:Mint late '60's/calibrated Heathkit TT-1A, MaxiMatcher Power Amp & Preamp & Space Tech Labs ATT-3.02 tube test sets. Last edited by vintage_tube; 02-01-2024 at 11:23 AM. |
#6
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Great post Stephen.
agree - convert the HDCD format to a more mainstream format.
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Main - Roon on Synology/Sonos Port/SoTM Neo endpoints; Chord Qutest, Bryston BP-17 cubed with phono option; EAT C-sharp with Ortofon Bronze MM, Bryston cubed Amplifier; Revel F126Be on custom Atocha stands; interconnects by WireWorld, furniture by Atocha Design 'Phones Audeze LCD-3, Bryston BHA-1; Office: Sonos/Roon; OPPO HA-1, Naim NAP100 and PSB Mini-C. Media Room:, Samsung QLED QN90 series, Sonos, OPPO 205, ATI N-core driving KEF LS-50's with REL subs; furniture by Glassisimo; Kids - U-turn for vinyl, Sonos Play5; Summer Shack - Sonos, vintage Pioneer, Dynaudio Special 40's. Last edited by clpetersen; 02-01-2024 at 12:03 PM. |
#7
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Spectral CD players still have HDCD decoding. They are expensive.
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Wilson Alexia V, ARC Ref 160M MkII,Ref 40,Ref Phono2SE, Shunyata Triton3, Typhon, Sigma PCs, ICs & SCs, Spectral SDR4000SV (w MIT IC), Belcanto PL1, Oppo 205, Marantz 2270 (tuner only):AudioDesk and VPI record cleaners, Furutech Demag & Destat; Stillpoint Apertures, TechDas AF 3S Premium with SAT CF9 and Kuzma 4pt 9" arms, Lyra Atlas Lambda SL, Dynavector XV1-t stereo and XV1-s mono carts, Miyajima mono, Shure V15VxMR, |
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