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whats a good older hdcd cd player?

i had a chance to listen back in the mid 90s a system that blew my mind. didnt have the money for it but remember the cd player was a nad player and the speakers were psb stratus golds. i now own stratus silver i speakers and a old school pioneer elite 39tx pre amp. the cd player now is a old elite dv37 which is dvd also. i would like my own cd player but dont wanna spend a ton since my equip is pretty low fi stuff. do non hdcd players equal out at all to a non hdcd. i would like a nad c541 but cant find one. thanks for any info. newbie kevin
flyin2jz
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Bob - your Denon might be the best solution for Kevin if it's not too expensive.
flyin2jz OP
51 posts
 
thanx for all the info guys. I really dont think a external dac is for me considering that im just learning. I will keep reading about this stuff and try to upgrade my equipment as the wife allows. Kevin
studio68
17 posts
 
Cary CD 306/200
david12
1,454 posts
 
I agree about HDCD, it really is an improvement on CD, probably why it did'nt take off, with the perverse market we have. Another vote for Copland, I used a 266 for years. good price, lovely organic sound, no digital glare. Great on HDCD
belyin
61 posts
 
I've had an Anthem CD-1 for ten years; I think it sounds good. I too think HDCD is an improvement. Perhaps that one reason didn't catch on was that it started life as a proprietary process, not an open system. I know that the Sonic Solutions mastering suite wouldn't encode it (I don't know if this is still the case,) and Sonic Solutions was the market leader in cd mastering.

I may be wrong in the details, but this was the reason I wasn't able to use HDCD on some the cd projects I produced, at least according to my mastering engineer. The reason I stuck with him was because he is the best in town, and my one experience with using out-of-town mastering taught me I want to be present at the session. (In the end I caught what I wanted on that project (including HDCD) but it was an expensive learning experience.)
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