Does HDCD sound better than regular CD?

[robforst1]

I have been thinking about buying a HDCD CD Player. Does anyone have experience with one of these and if so, does it sound better than a standard CD player?

Also, does anyone know what purpose a D to A converter serves, especially when it is not a part of the CD player/transport?

Thanks for your replies in advance.

Rob

[Ray Garrison]

To address the second question first... a standalone D to A converter performs the same exact function that the D to A converter built into a CD player performs - it converts the digital signal into an analog signal that can be fed into an analog preamp, integrated amp or receiver. The reason that stand alone converters exist is because it occured to some manufacturers some years ago that they might be able to built a dedicated D to A converter, using higher quality parts and more brute force engineering, that would sound better than the (presumeably) lower quality D to A that was included in most CD players. These "outboard" D to A boxes proport to have better resolution, better bass, smoother sound, you get the idea. It might seem that a digital signal is a digital signal, and there's nothing you can do to it (other than wreck it) that's going to make is sound any different, but it's not quite that simple. The degree to which the encoded signal in the datastream interacts with (modulates) the clock, and the accuracy of the data clock, can measurably distort the analog signal that's recovered (this is "jitter" and it is a bad thing). Also, keep in mind that the signal that comes out of your CD player's converter or your separate D/A converter is an analog signal, generated with transistors or tubes and all the other analog bits and pieces that go along, and better quality analog engineering is going to sound better than lesser quality analog engineering.

*HOW MUCH* of a difference an outboard D/A is going to make will depend on so many variables (quality of CD player, quality of transport, quality of D/A converter, cables, power supply, impedence match between transport / cable / converter / cable / preamp, etc.) that I'm not going to say whether a stand alone converter will or will not sound better - it depends. Try one before you buy, that's for sure. I personally use an older Adcom GDA600 (non HDCD) converter with my Toshiba SD3109 DVD player (uh, I also have an Audio Alchemy DTI-Pro jitter reducing / resolution enhancing widget between the Toshiba and the Adcom, and a Musical Fidelity X10-D tube buffer stage following the Adcom and driving the amp, but then I'm nuts ) because I think, in my system, it sounds better than the analog outputs on the Toshiba. Also note that CD Players are much better nowadays than they were when external D/A converters were all the rage.

Whew...

Now, as for HDCD vs non-HDCD... a *LOT* of people who's hearing and taste I respect (like, fer example, Neil Young) think HDCD is *VASTLY* superior to standard CD. One of the problems with determining this is it's not exactly easy to compare the same song with and without HDCD decoding, because you can't turn it off if you have an HDCD compatible player and the CD is an HDCD CD, so you have to compare the sound of player A, the non-HDCD player, to player B, the HDCD enabled player, and you have to first try this with non-HDCD discs so you can tell how the two units compare when playing the same recording, then compare then with an HDCD recording. All I can say is that in my system, the non-HDCD chain of Toshiba -> DTI Pro -> Adcom GDA600 -> Musical Fidelity X10-D -> integrated amp sounds a *LOT* better than the HDCD chain of Thoshiba -> amp whether playing HDCD CDs or nonHDCD CDs.

Why do simple questions generate such long answers...

[2Bsmooth]

I've got 2 hcdc players (rotel rcd 951, toshiba dvd 3205), IMHO hcdc discs do sound better, but the hcdc discs may not always be available in your favorite artists, although there is alot of selection. For playing regular cd's some people say hcdc players they sound better sound better than non-hcdc plyers, I haven't proven this to myself yet.

[Randy Bey]

In My Humble Opinion,

HDCD disks sound better than conventional disks even on conventional CD players.

I have heard it (well, read it (From "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum": Zero Mostel, reading a mute person's sign language -- "Did you see what she just said?")) that HDCD disks, had they been introduced a decade ago, would have prevented anyone from pursuing other Hi-Rez formats, such as DVD-A or SACD.

Having heard SACD (but not DVDA) I can say that it's darn good, but I've also got Redbook CD that is "as" good.

So, I would snarf all the HDCD discs I could find, were I you, and not even worry so much about whether you have an HDCD decoder chip or not.