Question for S. Hoffman- HDCD?

[TSmithPage]

I was wondering if Steve Hoffman had ever worked with recordings that are released HDCD encoded, and otherwise, what he thinks about the technology. Is it a gimmick or something that should be applied to regular CDs to improve sonic quality (assuming the buyer has an HDCD player, which I do...)?

[Steve Hoffman]

I've never done anything in HDCD.

Different strokes.....

[Gary]

I have a HDCD player and a good selection of HDCD discs. I do hear an audible difference between HDCD and CD and it IS 20 bit technology as opposed to 16 bit. However the biggest difference seems to be in the quiet passages of the music.

Pacific Microsonics was bought out by Microsoft recently.

Others with non HDCD players have complained that the HDCD CDs are too bright. I don't know if its differences between stereo systems, the fact that there is burr-brown internal DACs in my machine or if HDCD somehow compensates for this during playback. Or maybe it's our musical preferences? *shrug*

I will say that I have briefly heard two SACD discs. HDCD is sad compared to SACD - and I'd think DVD-A, too!

Well until my favorite HDCD discs come out in another high res format, I can't see myself giving up HDCD anytime soon!