David, you are very right on all points. There are a few high quality units available, particularly from Mark Levinson (who BTW make their own HDCD decoding chips with permission). Then there's Wadia DACs and players which don't specifically decode the extra info, but unlike most, don't throw it away -- instead incorporating the additional data into their software decoding process. And HDCDs do sound terrific through a Wadia 27. I know, I have one ;--)
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