I've decided not to run my masterings through an HDCD converter..

Totally agree. I don't see it dying for quite a while.

 

Nonsense! MS has no influence on the technology, although they own the company.

 

Why did Microsoft buy it? Do they use it with a product of theirs?

 

This.

I'm fairly forced to keep an HDCD-capable DAC in the chain for some dozens of discs. Those discs generally sound good in and of themselves, but there is no easy/economical way to make comparisons. Or even discern whether peak extension is being employed. But it's not a problem to keep the DAC handy. Content trumps all other concerns; production is a distant second.

That said, Steve's evolutionary move makes sense. HDCD is long in the tooth, and it was always hard to quantify or qualify. An entire generation of higher-resolving gear has emerged since. I'm surprised HDCD has hung around this long.

 

Because they think they can make money on it.

It all comes down mostly to this guy, so let's all blame him.

 

I've only found noticable improvement (decoding HDCD) on the few discs that utilized peak extension. Those discs seem to be few and far between however.

The Cars HDCD's, nice improvement.

Neil Young HDCD's, very little improvement as they were mastered well to begin with.

Green Day-Nimrod, nice improvement (see below):


Of course, if the above had been mastered well in the first place.....

 

Howe many do you own? Any Reference Recordings?

 

You should install a pro meter in your playback chain. What you think of as 'wide dynamic range' has quite a small number. Think about half that 96dB as a useful point.

And I think the original comment means the final CD redbook 16 bit product, not any 'work copy' intermediate.

 

Steve's announcement has me looking forward to future AF releases even more. I have never heard HDCD decoded properly (low-budget equipment on my end) and if the future AFs sound even more like DCCs because of this, than that will be awesome.

Now I am really looking forward to that Younger Than Yesterday disc!

 

How can you tell if it was not decoded properly? Did you compare your system to another that had higher end HDCD equipment?

 

I am saying that my equipment does not decode HDCD. I have not compared, for I do not know anyone with high-end equipment.

 

dbPowerAmp can decode an HDCD CD to a 24-bit file - obviously it is not really 24-bit resolution but should sound correct.

Tim

 

I am getting the feeling that most respondents on this thread have never heard the HDCDs decoded. Too say good riddance to HDCD without comparing it adds no value to the thread. Sorry but I had to say it.

I just compared all of my versions of ITCOTCK. This one is my favorite even compared to the recent remixes. Let's hope HDCD will be around a lot longer.

 

That may be. I do not intend to do so myself.

All I am saying is that if there is an actual improvement(!) in the sound of future AF releases on my non-HDCD set-up, than I am looking forward to it. That should not be confused with saying "good riddance" to anything except maybe the thing Steve is saying "goodbye" to (like the dip-at-8k effect Marsh referred to).

I have no thoughts on HDCD vs. no-HDCD without the AF context.

In fact, my post in this thread was an attempt to veer it away from that argument because I think the thrust here should be what we're going to hear on future AF releases. The idea of possible improvement on an already-spectacular product is exciting, no matter what other implications some may erroneously find.

 

What does this mean for our HDCD discs that we already have? More specifically, if we decoded HDCD when ripping, should we re-rip and not decode HDCD? And if that's the ripping advice, should we also ignore decoding HDCD when playing? thanks!

 

Neil Young is not going to be happy about this!

 

I've got the Audio Fidelity version of Heartbeat City by The Cars which you mastered using the HDCD system, and that sounds fantastic! I feel there's more room and space in the recording compared to the old CD version, so you won't find me moaning about HDCD. I also own a few more CD's mastered using HDCD and they also sound very good.

 

In my humble it's not a deciding factor; the better mastering is the better mastering, HDCD or not. I even preferred the AF Heartbeat to my original LP.

 

The Lavrys are okay but not reference in my view. They themselves have gotten much better sounding over time. ADCs and DACs have certainly gotten better even withing the last two years. Certainly if there are issues with the HDCD box then any improving part of the playback would make those weaknesses heard more readily.

 

Except for the new REM album, Collapse into LOUD.

 

I've said this before, but -

Since none of Steve's discs ever used the "peak extension" feature of HDCD (essentially the only reason to encode/decode anything in that format...if you find the cd sounds normal/good without HDCD decoding, then it probably doesn't use "peak-extension" - discs that do use it often come across as loud and bright without decoding).

If you want to be 100% sure, there is simple/free software on the internet that can determine whether your HDCD encoded disc uses "peak-extension". The large majority of HDCD discs didn't bother to use the feature, so as to not degrade the playback experience of those who did not have a HDCD decoding player (the large majority of buyers/listeners). Without "peak-extension", using HDCD is pretty much meaningless. It's just a fancy logo to put on the product, and most just used it for its high quality (at the time) A/D converters.

But once Pacific Microtronics sold it to Microsoft 5-10 years ago, interest in the format was already waning. Microsoft didn't really know what to do with this thing they had bought, and pretty much stopped bothering/caring to make sure the A/D converters with HDCD were "cutting-edge".

It's the same old story.

Original developers create unique high-quality product and dedicate lives to it > they want to move on/make money for hard work/see little potential for future need or growth of product > product gets sold to division of big corporation for more than it's worth, because big corporation wants "prestige" factor > people in charge at big corporation don't understand the point of having bought it/see little profit in continuing to invest into product > product starts to get buried and slowly fades away...

 

is Neil an advocate for HDCD?

 

Many of Neil's remastered discs are HDCD.

 

I think Neil is an avid supporter of high-end audio formats in general

 

RRB, that's not a fair comparison, as the HDCD version is from the original master tape compared with any prior CDs. The remix is just that. C'mon guys - no-one has said that the HDCD Audio Fidelity CDs actually sound terrible - they still sound fantastic (except Bluesbreakers - should have been stereo IMHO). Time has marched on and there is more transparent A/D's available.
Regarding MS buyout of the HDCD technology - was Keith Johnson retained for ongoing research, or is he no longer involved. Given his history, I would be very surprised if it was the last word from him on A/D conversion.