You don't really need HDCD for playback....16 bits is enough for a good mastering studio to play with and give you a good CD (96 db dynamic range).
A recording studio professional may benefit from the flexibility of extra bits and greater dynamic range to avoid clipping big signals or poorly quantizing small signals.
At home, even very high end home speakers are unlikely to put out very much more than 60 db dynamic range above their noise floor.
So if the recording and mastering studio have done their job well .....16 bits is enough on your source material. Although technology has changed, the engineering constraints that led to the choice of specifications for a the orginal CD format remain largely valid, even today. HDCD, SACD etc. improvements are diminishing returns at best...
A recording studio professional may benefit from the flexibility of extra bits and greater dynamic range to avoid clipping big signals or poorly quantizing small signals.
At home, even very high end home speakers are unlikely to put out very much more than 60 db dynamic range above their noise floor.
So if the recording and mastering studio have done their job well .....16 bits is enough on your source material. Although technology has changed, the engineering constraints that led to the choice of specifications for a the orginal CD format remain largely valid, even today. HDCD, SACD etc. improvements are diminishing returns at best...