Is HDCD dead?

Eldartford, I was unaware Microsoft bought HDCD for Video-but, after all HDCD = high definition compatible digital-perhaps you have a point. I thought it was for CD; any others in the know?

CD has a dynamic range of 96 db.

The noise floor in quiet environments is around 30 db spl.

If you listen at more than 96 + 30 = 126 db SPL then you might benefit from HDCD over a regular CD (both recorded with a large dynamic range)

Few, if any recordings exploit the full dynamic range on existing CD's (see CD Loudness Wars on Wikipedia).

As a playback system the CD standard is already good enough.

Most high end audiophile speakers limit the consumer to about 70 db dynamic range anyway.

Studios benefit from the flexibility of more dynamic range but it is unnecessary for most playback systems.

Perfectionist, are you sure about the Naim's playing HDCD's? I have their entry level CD5i and have seen nothing to indicate it has this capability.

Jack_dotson,

While I've had a CD5i and CD5x in my system, and now have a CDX2, I may have misspoke. In reading on Naims' site, it looks like HDCD doesn't start till you get into the X2.
My apologie's.

The genius of HDCD will last as long as music is played via a non live medium-cd, gorecord(good old record), tape, gkw(god knows what)