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HDCD a flash in the pan already??

I started looking for a new CD Player a while back but put the search on the backburner for a bit(needed a new sub & picked up a Onix Rocket UFW-10)so now it's back to CD Player hunting and it seems to me there are less HDCD players coming out then when I orginally researched. For example the new Music Player 25.2 isn't HDCD ready where the CD-25 was nor is Onix's best CD Player CD-2(their lower one xcd-99 is). Even though they're out of my price range players newly released players like the Rega Apollo,Cambridge Azur 640 or Naim CD5i do not appear to be HDCD. Is this another format that isn't going to make it or just a option on lower end players. I was recently at a couple local CD stores (Borders, Fye and Barnes and Noble) and there were at the most 3 HDCD Cds there none of which I would be interested in.. Starting to seem like HDCD shouldn't even be an option to look for in my CD Player search.. Any comments?
pmt1209
pmt1209 OP
44 posts
 
This may be a tough question or a non-applicable one but here it goes:
Would a player with HDCD playing a HDCD cd sound better, the same or worse then a "newly released" CD Player using the newer Burr-Brown Dac such as what's in the Music Hall CD-25.2 (Burr-Brown PCM 1738 24 bit/192k DAC) or players using Wolfson WM8740 DAC, 24/192 DAC such as the Arcam Diva C-73, Rega Apollo(which is getting some great reviews, off the point but had to mention it) and the Cambridge Audio 640Cv2 which actually is using 2 Wolfson WM8740 DACs(one for each channel)??
It would be interesting if someone has tried setting up a say a Music Hall CD-25 and a Music Hall CD25.2 both with the same HDCD cd in and toggled back and forth to see the difference.. Or in this whole analogy am I comparing apples to oranges?
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
A while back I went the player with DAC route and had this experience: I had three DACs, an Adcom GDA-700 with HDCD, a PS Audio (forgot model #) with HDCD and a Bitstream (forget model #) without HDCD. The Bitstream DAC was head and shoulders above the other two DACs when decoding standard cds. But when a cd encoded with HDCD was played the Adcom won hands down. On well recorded cds the difference wasn't subtle. I used several different cd players as transports, one of which decoded HDCD and as a stand alone player it bested the Bitstream when an HDCD disk was the subject of comparison. I feel there really is a difference, spatial clues are more evident, smoother quality to music without any loss of detail or resolution.
Of course technology will advance and new developments will make HDCD obsolete as well as cd at some point. Until then I'll make sure I have some means to decode HDCDs.
pmt1209 OP
44 posts
 
Well now all I have to say on this thread I started is "I HOPE NOT!!" LOL.. I decided on and bought a Music Hall CD-25 w/mods.. I figured it's a great player for the money(which was a consideration unfortunately) with or without the HDCD capability but having HDCD is just a nice bonus.. a win win situation I think..
vlad1456's avatar
vlad1456
20 posts
 
PMT1209, I agree with your selection. The Musical Hall cd-25 is a great buy at the price point you could afford. I owned one in the past and was very happy with it. I hope you enjoy your new cd player.

Enjoy!
Roger.
robm321
932 posts
 
Congrats Pmt209! - sounds like a win win to me too.
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