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HDCD discs

HDCD discs

Submitted by irvrobinson on Mon, 2012-01-09 11:09

Can the Benchmark DACs, I happen to have the HDR, properly decode HDCD discs?  Obviously they are playable through the HDR, but what is the actual level of HDCD support?  (Ignoring for the time being whether or not HDCD is just a gimmick.)

Irv

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HDCD Decoding

Submitted by JohnSiau on Tue, 2012-01-10 16:18.

DAC1 converters do not include HDCD decoders. Fortunately most HDCD disks are mastered to maintain full compatibility with non-HDCD playback devices.

There are some incompatible HDCD features that can be enabled, but these are rarely used in commercial CD pressings. For example, HDCD has a gain-ranging option that can adjust the playback gain on-the-fly in an attempt to obtain maximum signal to noise ratios. This feature is completely unnecessary with high-quality A/D and D/A converters, and is completely incompatible with non-HDCD playback devices. I have never seen a disk that uses this gain-ranging feature, but there may be a few obscure examples.

It is possible to decode and play HDCD disks through a DAC1 USB using a Windows computer and Windows Media Player. Windows media player will apply HDCD decoding when playing directly from an HDCD disk in a CD or DVD drive. However, Windows Media Player will NOT decode HDCD when playing a lossless rip of an HDCD disk from the hard drive. But, the lossless rip will preserve all of the HDCD subcodes, and a subsequent CDR burn will still decode properly when played in an HDCD equipped player (or when played directly from a CD drive in a Windows machine using Windows Media Player).  

For reasons unknown to us, Microsoft has refused to enable HDCD decoding when playing from the hard disk.

HDCD Decoding Using Computer Playback

Submitted by JohnSiau on Tue, 2012-01-10 17:12.

There are several options for decoding HDCD recordings when using a computer as a music server connected to a DAC1 converter.

There is a plug-in available for the Foobar player that will decode the HDCD data in any 16-bit PCM signal passed through it.  The plug-in passes 20-bit audio to the output section of the Foobar player.  Foobar can send audio directly to a DAC1 converter using USB.

A member of the Doom9 forum has written a command-line program that will convert HDCD data in 16-bit WAV files.  The output files are 24-bit WAV files.  These 24-bit files can be played by any of a number of media players, and sent to a DAC1 via USB.

The third option is to use Windows Media Player to play directly from a CD to a USB-connected DAC1 (see previous post).

 

John, thank you for the

Submitted by irvrobinson on Tue, 2012-01-10 19:21.

John, thank you for the detailed response.  Much appreciated.

You might be interested to

Submitted by Chippy on Mon, 2012-03-12 12:37.

You might be interested to know that dbpoweramp has a CD ripper that includes HDCD decode option as well. If enabled, it decodes the full 20 bits and outputs files as 24/44.1 (flacs, wma lossless, wavs or whatever).

Works a treat! It's also the best ripping tool after (and maybe including) EAC. Well worth buying, imho.