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Role of HDCD in an upsampling world

I am wondering about taking the plunge into upsampling players or possibly an outboard DAC.

My question is what will that do my HDCD discs? I have several hundred or so, and more on the way. These are some of the best sounding CDs in my collection and the music is nearly all of my favorites.

How can I best take advantage of HDCD and upsampling?

My system:

Arcam Diva 92

Rouge 99 Magnum (Sylvania chrome dome 6snt GTs)

Bryston 4B ST (Soon to be departed, likely for new Rouge Zeus)

Thiel CS 2.3

Cardas Golden Reference cables, PS Audio Lab II power cords, Power Plant, Ultimate Outlet, DH Cones and squares.

Thanks for this and all the advice in the past.
johnmcalpin
flex
292 posts
 
If your player is an HDCD-capable player, it will decide the upsampling question for you because it is a licensing issue. The player will either leave the decoded HDCD at 44.1 khz, or it will upsample it using PMI's upconversion filters.
If the player is not an HDCD-capable player, it will upsample with its standard upsampling algorithm but will not decode the HDCD, i.e. it treats HDCD as standard redbook.
mattybumpkin
590 posts
 
I have been contemplating the same. My intial thoughts were to get a better CDP that has HDCD capability or get a very nice DAC that upsamples regular CD's. That way, if I want HDCD playback I have my CDP with HDCD (unhook the DAC) and if I want better "regular" playback, well I have the upsampling DAC.

Regards,
hififred
9 posts
 
This player may not be up your alley, but have you taken a look at the Cary 306/200. With this player, you have the option of playing your HDCD discs through the Pacific Microsonics PMD-200 HDCD digital filter, or you can bipass the filter and upsample the discs to 24/192 instead. I'm not sure if there are DAC's or other players that have similar operations.

The following review of the 306/200 explains this process more specifically:

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue2/cary306.htm

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