HDCD and XRCD. Which's one sound better?

JVC has another CD encoding process called K2 20 Bit Super Coding that is also excellent. The new remasters of all the Creedence Clearwater Revival CDs used this process and they sound much better than the originals-- and notably, the K2 CDs are not any more expensive than regular ol' CDs. I don't know how the K2 process compares to XRCDs though.

My DAC decodes HDCD but I have no way of comparing it to a regular CD. Lucinda Williams "Car Wheels on a Grave Road" is HDCD encoded, but the CD is not marked as such-- this is an excellent sounding CD, at least through my DAC. Cheers. Craig

For the record: K2 Super Coding is what is used on XRCDs. It is not a separate process. For details, check out www.xrcd.com.

Bomarc; Thanks for the info. that the JVC K2 20 Bit Super Coding and XRCD are the same thing-- that's good to know. The new CCR CDs are all marked as using the K2 process, but say nothing about XRCD. Cheers. Craig.

World if you have HDCD capabiliy then I'd get their 20 bit version.
Regarding statements that "neither will sound better than the other" & "HDCD claims of technical superiority are open to question"...
*unqualified statements* such as those are indeed open to question.
Sorry but apparently no one responding has actually heard these two within a viable side-by-side comparison. Even in a showdown, results could vary widely depending upon the playback equipmnent in use.

Buy the XRCD version of Jazz at the Pawnshop. This is one of the best sounding CDs I have ever heard and it is very close to the lp version. It has an astounding sense of immediacy, even though it may be a tad bass shy. And while I have never heard the HDCD version I cannot imagine that it can get much closer to the lp.

Also, the XRCD version has more flexibility as it will play on any cd player. Think about the future when you upgrade, your new cdp may not have the HDCD decoding chip in it.