inexpensive hdcd player or dac

At the risk of annoying you (but I am trying to help), I would point out that HDCD is just one of the important technology choices that contribute to the sound quality of a CD player. Remember that marketing is core to all business endeavours and creating a new techno "buzz" is what sustains this particular industry - and HDCD is not much more than another hype alongside a 24/96 DAC, or an upsampling DAC. While each may or may not bring benefits, it does not mean that any old HDCD CD player will outperform all non-HDCD CD players. For what it is worth, to my ears HDCD provides perceived benefits in soundstaging but at the expense of robbing the music of pace and rhythm. My musical values are more aligned with the latter than the former. For an inexpensive CD player, it depends on your budget. Many of the Marantz CD players have the benefit of fitting into budget systems very well (warm and romantic but dynamically constrained). For more money the CAL Icon second hand is very nice (tends to over-inflate the soundstage at a small loss of pace and rhythm). A second-hand Arcam or Rega will give you a very tidy, but smaller, sound with excellent pace and rhythm.

The tempo and urgency of a CAL Icon MkII can easily be increased by using the very inexpensive Homegrown Audio Super Silver analog IC's (which, though inexpensive, are great IC's anyway, IMO). Further improvement can be had by upgrading the power cord. I am now using the CAL with an outboard DAC but was very pleased with it's performance as a stand alone player. I have wondered what the HG IC's (or another detailed and fast IC) would do for the sound of the planet. Does anyone use this combination?. I agree with RedKiwi in that HDCD or the bit amount of the chip does not signify better sound. A friend of mine has an ancient (by digital standards) Marantz player (625 or 626 I think) that sounds much more musical than many of the latest tech. models. The only thing that I feel could be a problem with the CAL is that It may be too bass heavy depending on speaker type and location. Yes, that's what I said - too much bass may be a problem if you already have prominent and rumbly lows.

I agree Dekay, particularly re the bass of the Icon, but add that in a large room or one with a suspended wooden floor the enlarged bass of the Icon is a real bonus.

However, if you are still looking for an inexpensive DAC with HDCD capabilites, look at the MSB Link DAC. Although I agree with the previous posts the Link DAC is the only inexpensive DAC that I know of that is capable of playing HDCD.