Topic: HDCD

[Cobra951]

HDCD--where have I been?  MP3 land, I guess.  I had no idea about this until I noticed "HDCD" light up in Windows Media Player 9 yesterday.  That prompted a search, leading me to a Wikipedia page and that link above.  I figured out how to enable the feature in WMP (24-bit playback), and I have a 24-bit Audigy 2, so all parts seem to be in place.  I wish I could say more certainly that it makes a big difference, but without A-B'ing on good audio equipment, the placebo effect can't be ignored.  I do think it makes a significant difference.  It certainly does to my CPU, which seems to be twice as busy now playing that content.

So, an honest 20 bits of sample resolution from a format designed for 16.  Available since '95?  It really makes this old audiophile feel dumb.  But the implications go beyond that:  Nobody cares.  If this had any mindshare out there at all, I would have spotted it years ago.  Everyone is complacent with the compressed little audio files they listen to with their cheap earbuds and laptop speakers.  If the mass market doesn't care, it hardly makes an impact.  What a shame.

[Quemaqua]

Never even heard of it.

[W7RE]

People are complacent with compressed audio because they can't tell the difference. It's like people with an HDTV and an HD gaming console, who have it all hooked up with the analog cables that came with the system. It's like my mother, who has been watching an analog signal on an HDTV for a year now and doesn't understand why I think that's bad, or why I complain when she stretches the image to fit the TV to get rid of the black bars on the sides.

[Quemaqua]

It's not really like that at all because the difference isn't nearly so huge.  I can listen to an MP3 and then some lossless codec and barely tell the difference at all.  There's a difference, sure, but absolutely nothing like the difference between using standard cables with your PS3 versus plugging it in via HDMI.

[W7RE]

Well yea, larger difference with video, but still a difference. BTW I listen to lossy stuff all the time. When I ripped my own music I did 100% VBR mp3's (mp3 for max compatibility), but I haven't bought music in so long that I sort of accepted that if I'm gonna steal it, I can't bitch about the bitrate. (yea, I'm a horrible person)

[gpw11]

Interesting, I've never even seen it in stores although I have seen SACD and the Dual Disk implementation.  I take it this is better than SACD?

[Xessive]

To the audiophile the difference can be cosmic. A friend of mine actually felt that spending about $400 on headphones was a priority (Monster brand, "Beats" headphones).

I tried them, sure the sound is clear but not critical enough for me to justify a $400 expenditure.. I'd be perfectly content with $15-20 on a very basic Altec Lansing, Logitech, Creative, or Plantronics.