@curiousjim From what I read, the latest series, 203/205, is where they stopped incorporating HDCD software.
HDCD vs the Newer SHM-CD, BluSpec, UHQCD, etc
Has anyone directly compared the early 1990s 20 bit HDCD format to todays 16 bit SHM, BluSpec, UHQCD, etc, improvements of Redbook?
I’ve been very happy with the audio quality improvements I’ve heard on the recent generations of CD improvements, via improved surface materials, internal materials and cutting/forming of the reflective mirrors which the laser reads. I’ve tried them all (I think? lol), but have been particularly disappointed with HDCD, an early ’90s format. Theoretically HDCD should be better, despite lacking the improved materials and manufacturing techniques of today’s SHM and similar CDs. Then I realized my Oppo 205 doesn’t decode HDCD, and I’ve only been listening to the standard Redbook 16 bit signal of the HDCDs I’ve bought (5 over the past few years).
Looking around I’ve noticed that there is a vast array of music titles available on the used HDCD market. So I’m wondering if I should get a second disc spinner from the used market just for HDCD’s, with the intent of dipping into the array of music in that format.
I’d greatly appreciate anyone’s thoughts, who has compared these source materials, before I just go out and spring for an HDCD player to find out if it’s worth it to buy more HDCD discs, rather than just stick with the improved 16 Bit formulas available today. With that, yes, I also have a decent library of DVD-A, SACD & Hybrid SACD... but that field is limited, and generally pricy. Thanks!
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I have a 105 and a 203. The 203 sits in a second system and hardly gets used. I bought it when Oppo announced they were discontinuing their players as a hedge against anything ever happening to the 105, which I use as my transport in my main 2 channel system. I’ve never attempted to play a HDCD in the 203-I only own a few of them- but I will try and dig one up and see what happens on the 203. To return to the Blu Spec discussion, the first that I heard was Mahler Second Symphony with Bruno Walter conducting the New York Philharmonic, recorded around 1960. This recording was my introduction to the work in the late seventies and I am extremely familiar with it. When it first came out on CD I was blown away by the wealth of information I was hearing. One could really hear the coloration in the double basses that open the work. Grunts from the conductor, the sounds of sheet music falling off stands and hitting the floor with a whap!, and even the HVAC system turning on and off we’re clearly audible. So I bought the Blu Spec a few years later and did some comparisons with the Redbook. It sounded a bit smoother and detailed on the top end. A slight improvement over Redbook but not as revelatory as the vinyl vs CD. Then Sony reissued all the Walter recordings (a mother of a boxed set costing more than $200, but filled with really great recordings). The Redbook CD from that box sounds identical to the BluSpec. The book that accompanies the box is very detailed and states the mastering comes from Japan, lists equipment used, and given the limitations of the sparser documentation of the Blue Spec disc , I believe they are the same mastering. So I conclude that it’s the remastering, not the disc materials, that accounts for the differences between Blue Spec and Redbook. I had bought some other Blue Spec recordings that clearly outdo their Redbook alternatives, but here I don’t have multiple remasters to compare. I burned the Blue Specs to my NAS, a Melco N 100, and I can’t perceive much difference between playing them on my streamer and play the Blue Specs from the Oppo, into the same DAC |
Thanks @sfcfran Thanks for the answer. I have about a dozen hdcd’s, mostly Grateful Dead and some actually sound a bit better, but they all sound good! |
Ripping Blu Spec and HDCDs doesn't work, although SHM CD do pass their resolution on, I never heard an XRCD, so I can't comment. Some DVD-A's are better than SACD and vice versa. The Steven Wilson remasters of many classic albums (YES, King Crimson, Tull etc.) in DVD-A and Blu- Ray are fantastic. If you can't get what you want on DVD-A or SACD, SHM Mini LP CDs are your best bet. I've never heard a MQA CD, am I missing anything?
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