Hardbopjazz Posted June 18, 2004 Report Posted June 18, 2004 How great does this make the music sound? Someone was telling me it makes it the music sound 10 times better then anything else out there today. Quote
jazzbo Posted June 18, 2004 Report Posted June 18, 2004 I don't think so. It's a matter of taste in a lot of cases, and who is the remastering engineer. XRCD can sound very good. Ten times better (that what?) . . . That sounds like exageration. Quote
Claude Posted June 18, 2004 Report Posted June 18, 2004 XRCDs are well-remastered CDs. To call them "extended resolution CDs" and suggest they are an advanced CD format is a rather ingenious marketing trick. I don't think XRCDs are still that interesting today, as many audiophiles who are willing to pay more than $25 for a disc will prefer SACDs, which really offer a higher resolution than CDs (but require a SACD player). However, many XRCDs of Fantasy material are currently the best digital version available, as the corresponding DCC gold CDs (which I generally prefer because of a warmer sound) are OOP and no SACD version in sight. Many of the Fantasy XRCD reissue titles are also available as OJC K2 reissues, which have been remastered at the JVC studios too and sound very good, at only half the price. Quote
robviti Posted June 18, 2004 Report Posted June 18, 2004 i've done extensive a/b comparisons, and i can say without hesitation that the xrcds are 7.6254 times better. honest! Quote
wolff Posted June 19, 2004 Report Posted June 19, 2004 Press release I read a few days ago: look for Microsoft(owner of XRCD technology...they get a cut) and Sony(owner of SACD technology...they get a cut) to join forces and create the most advanced audio format yet. Sony, still hurting from CD patent expiring and the slow movement of SACD into the mainstream has decided to try another avenue...the XRCDSACD. Due out this fall. Man, I'm soooooooooo glad I stuck with vinyl. Quote
Claude Posted June 19, 2004 Report Posted June 19, 2004 (edited) Microsoft(owner of XRCD technology...they get a cut) Microsoft does not own XRCD but HDCD (high definition compact disc). XRCD belongs to JVC. HDCD, which requires a CD player with a special HDCD decoder chip to benefit from the improvement, is dead now, because of SACD and DVD-A. http://www.hdcd.com (latest news release is from February 2001 !) Edited June 19, 2004 by Claude Quote
Matthew Posted June 19, 2004 Report Posted June 19, 2004 My personel opinion: HDCD is the equal of XRCD. I'm very happy with the quality of sound that you get with HDCD, plus the added bonus that you don't pay extra like the other formats. The Grateful Dead HDCDs are very nice, the Pernice Brothers sound great, and don't forget the Nessa Records put "Snurdy" on HDCD. So, this is one "improvement" I like, without it costing me more money. Quote
Brad Posted June 19, 2004 Report Posted June 19, 2004 I don't know about 10 times better but I have a few and the sound is damn good, compared to normal cds and certainly the Fantasy equivalent. Quote
JSngry Posted June 19, 2004 Report Posted June 19, 2004 What's all this fuss about X-Rated CD's sounding better? I've got this one and it sounds just like everything else! Love, Emily Quote
Brad Posted June 19, 2004 Report Posted June 19, 2004 Ahh, there's always one in every crowd :rsmile: Quote
take5 Posted June 21, 2004 Report Posted June 21, 2004 The few that I have sound very nice, but IMO, it's usually not worth the money. $30/disc is just too much to pay for a non-OOP CD, except for a few hybrid SACDs out there I've made exceptions for. Quote
take5 Posted June 21, 2004 Report Posted June 21, 2004 The few that I have sound very nice, but IMO, it's usually not worth the money. $30/disc is just too much to pay for a non-OOP CD, except for a few hybrid SACDs out there I've made exceptions for. Quote
DrJ Posted June 21, 2004 Report Posted June 21, 2004 (edited) I am starting to become a firm believer that it really doesn't matter too much what the enhanced CD format is, if you have a good transport and DAC combo and a nice amp and speakers. I have all these in place now in my new listening room except the amp (tube amp is on order - but my old Denon is a workmanlike piece, not bad at all). What I've noticed is that with a good combo like this, regular or CDs can sound really amazing, and the enhanced format discs not always substantially better. You do probably get a little more detail out of HDCD and XRCD but not a ton and it varies from recording to recording. So I agree with the general comment that a well-remastered CD is a well-remastered CD, regardless of whether it features these format tweaks or not. A corollary - with my new system, SACD no longer sounds like a huge improvement to me like it did before...redbook CD on a good system is remarkable and approaches SACD. Now I will admit that one issue could be my SACD player - it's not a high end one, nowhere near the level of the rest of my system. But regardless, I don't have any plans to buy a bunch of SACD format stuff in the near future, except maybe hybrids where the regular CD layer is an improvement over prior issues too. Not when redbook CD can sound this good. I'd highly encourage people to put some time in listening to a good transport/DAC pairing (or a good all-in-one player of comparable quality) before committing to a lower-end player and going for more expensive "higher resolution" CDs. You might pay more up front for such a system but over time who knows, if you are a recording junky (who here isn't?) you could even save yourself some money. Edited June 21, 2004 by DrJ Quote
Leeway Posted June 22, 2004 Report Posted June 22, 2004 Press release I read a few days ago: look for Microsoft(owner of XRCD technology...they get a cut) and Sony(owner of SACD technology...they get a cut) to join forces and create the most advanced audio format yet. Sony, still hurting from CD patent expiring and the slow movement of SACD into the mainstream has decided to try another avenue...the XRCDSACD. Due out this fall. Man, I'm soooooooooo glad I stuck with vinyl. Who knows, what with the convergence of audio formats, we might end up with an HDCDXRCDSACDCD What would Greg do then? Quote
wolff Posted June 22, 2004 Report Posted June 22, 2004 LOL Did you forget to add DAD-A? HDCDXRCDSACDCDDAD-A The front of digital products is a maze of Logos. The major companies have our upgrade path laid out for us. When will the general public learn that just because it's a new technology does not mean it is better. I do not try to keep up with it anymore. Quote
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