HDCD: What do you like?

I own a Cary 303/200 CD player and believe that with this CD player there is no comparison between HDCD encoded disks and non-HDCD encoded disks. The HDCD CD's do not sound like recorded events, they sound as if the musicians are in my living room. I am not sure if this is the difference between analog and digital because it has been many years since I had a turntable in my system. I have seen commentary from other A'goners that described the difference that way. It should be noted that the current Cary CD players use the new Pacific Microsonics PMD 200 HDCD filter which is supposed to be a significant advance in HDCD playback.

As previously mentioned the Reference Recordings HDCD collection of classical releases are all wonderful. The best HDCD recordings that I have heard are those contained in the Grateful Dead reissue box set called The Golden Road. These recordings should make anyone a believer. My previous favorite was Willie Nelson's Teatro.

Many good hdcd releases of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones with Warner Bros., they have recently switched to Columbia though and new releases aren't in hdcd format.

The Mavericks "Trampoline"
Eric Clapton "Reptile"
Megadeth "Cryptic Writings"
Mark Knopfler "Gold Heart"

If you like folk/rock vocals, here are my top picks:

Joni Mitchell's "Hits" and "Misses" were remastered on HDCD and sound amazing.

Also, most recent David Wilcox CDs are HDCD.

Although the recording quality isn't as high, almost all Neil Young CDs in the past five years have been HDCD -- even some of the grungier live recordings.

If you like classical, try Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances by Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra, Reference Recordings RR-96CD. This good performance of pretty compositions is well recorded and the transfer shows off the HDCD process.