Hdcd

[Still-One]

I had a couple of Musical Fidelity DAC's that would see the HDCD layer.

[US Blues]

I have an Oppo BDP-93 which decodes HDCD. More importantly, it will output the decoded HDCD signal via the SPDIF output to an external DAC.

[Wasatch]

Used to have the Rotel RCD-1072. It did a pretty nice job.

[Audioraven]

I can add a few more to Bob's excellent HDCD decoding product list.

Adcom GDA-700 DAC
Audio Alchemy DDE V3.0 DAC
California Audio Labs CL-10
Cary CD-306
Denon DCM-380, DCM-390, CDR-W1500, DVM-4800, DVD-5000
Toshiba SD-9200

[paulphoosreal]

Not to be sacrilegious here but Emotiva offers 2 units that play HDCD. I've used their upper end unit and it's a keeper. They are quality built units and I know of many satisfied customers. I've used the HDCD feature on mine and it functions perfectly. Good luck with your search!

[phishphan]

What phenomenal feedback. I found out that DBpoweramp has a feature to decode them...at least that’s what I read. I’m going to give it a try this weekend with my Grateful Dead HDCD collection

[Captelee]

Hello PhishPhan,

I am a huge GD and Phish fan, the Baker's Dozen was sick was it not? So rare for a band to be playing the best they have ever played and at the same time having the best live sound that ever toured the face of the earth. I wish a few other bands in the genre would take note! Especially my boys from Athens.

Anyway, why do you care about HDCD?
You know its kinda a BS aspect created by Microsoft to supposedly keep up with other advances, and it was all over in 2005....twelve years ago.
Get a $500 iFi audio DAC and you'll never think about disc' of any kind ever again.
All the Baker's Dozen shows are available now at 48KHz-24bit....it all has been since they started releasing live shows 2 to 3 days after the performance.
The remastered box sets being slowly mastered and released by the Grateful Dead...via Rhino lable are all at 192KHz-24 bit....forget HDCD completely man...get on the bus!!
Since you're asking about this stuff and I see you own killer gear you're like a Mississippi half-step away from having the 1973 Wall of Sound in your living room, whenever you want it. Or Madison Square Garden from the last couple of weeks.
PM me if you'd like to hear more and need some minor assistance.....I start work in two weeks and will be unavailble for the next six months.
Cheers....blaze on!

[rnrmf1971]

Originally Posted by Captelee

Hello PhishPhan,

I am a huge GD and Phish fan, the Baker's Dozen was sick was it not? So rare for a band to be playing the best they have ever played and at the same time having the best live sound that ever toured the face of the earth. I wish a few other bands in the genre would take note! Especially my boys from Athens.

Anyway, why do you care about HDCD?
You know its kinda a BS aspect created by Microsoft to supposedly keep up with other advances, and it was all over in 2005....twelve years ago.
Get a $500 iFi audio DAC and you'll never think about disc' of any kind ever again.
All the Baker's Dozen shows are available now at 48KHz-24bit....it all has been since they started releasing live shows 2 to 3 days after the performance.
The remastered box sets being slowly mastered and released by the Grateful Dead...via Rhino lable are all at 192KHz-24 bit....forget HDCD completely man...get on the bus!!
Since you're asking about this stuff and I see you own killer gear you're like a Mississippi half-step away from having the 1973 Wall of Sound in your living room, whenever you want it. Or Madison Square Garden from the last couple of weeks.
PM me if you'd like to hear more and need some minor assistance.....I start work in two weeks and will be unavailble for the next six months.
Cheers....blaze on!

HDCD wasn't created by Microsoft.

It was created by Pacific Microsonics, a company that made legendary AD and DA electronics used in in studios and mastering labs. Some engineers still employ their old products, despite being out of production for many, many years.
Some of the people from PM formed Berkeley Audio Design, whose Alpha DAC's are considered modern references and are regularly named in "best of" lists. Their DAC's still decode HDCD, as well.
Microsoft purchased the technology late in HDCD's life for reasons that aren't quite clear, although they were able to license the technology for use in universal dvd and blu ray players.

Also, once decoded and ripped to hard drive with dBPoweramp, you can play the file on any DAC of your choice.

[cmarin]

Hi rnrmf1971,

Thanks for setting the record straight. I happen to use a Pacific Microsonics Model 2 (PM2) DAC in my system. I've auditioned a lot of other DACs in my system but only a very small subset have come close to matching or bettering the PM2. It's still an amazing piece.

[eljr]

Originally Posted by eljr

same one I use for my HDCD's

Come to think of it, my NAD also decodes HDCD.