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No Charles, it is you who is off base

Really Charles, before you accuse someone of being wrong, it would help if you actually knew what you were talking about. Perhaps if you actually read the HDCD technical literature you wouldn't be making posts like this (I tried to search for the link to the PDF document, but it's disappeared so you'll have to get this yourself).

*** Both claims are incorrect. The HDCD playback filter does not have dynamic filter switching -- only the encode side does. Also, there is nothing in an HDCD playback filter that "compensates" for dithering on the encode side. ***

No, it is you who is incorrect. As I've stated before, HDCD encodes command packets in the LSB of the sample stream. There are commands for filter selection, all this is fully documented.

And there is also compensation of the loss of resolution created by the command packets taking up 1 bit. The filter implementation also needs to be sensitive to the dithering algorithm. All this is fully documented.

Rather than accusing me of being incorrect, how about if you actually read the documentation? All I am doing is paraphrasing the technical documentation.

*** You claim that I am anti-HDCD because the Ayre players do not have HDCD filters. ***

No, I never claimed that. But your anti-HDCD bias is fairly obvious, and given you don't manufacture HDCD players, I was simply asking the question.

*** In the first place this is a pretty meaningless claim ***

You need to understand the context. I said the effects of Peak Extend were clearly audible on half the discs in my collection. He said this was mere "opinion", but it's not - I *do* know that at least half the discs in my collection have Peak Extend enabled.

*** I'd also be curious as to how you know for a "fact" which HDCD discs have the Peak Extend enabled and which ones don't. ***

Microsoft Windows Media Player *will* recognise and decode HDCD - including Peak Extend (they bought the technology, remember?). By comparing the output of WMP on HDCD discs against the raw digital samples prior to decoding, the effect of Peak Extend is then visible.

*** There is one place where I agree with you -- if all else is equal, playback of an HDCD disc *that was encoded with the dynamic range compression features enabled* will sound better if the dynamic range is restored via an HDCD decoder. ***

That was ALL I was trying to say in my original post. Remember? So when you accused me of "missing the point", perhaps it was you that missed *my* point?

*** "If all else is equal" -- When we designed our DVD player, the only HDCD decoder available was the PMD-100. A fine filter for CD, but it offered no support of higher sample rates. Given the choice between supporting HDCD or the then-new 96/24 discs, we chose the latter. ***

TI and Cirrus Logic have DSPs that support HDCD decoding, along with higher sample rates for normal PCM. Maybe you should have done more research. Rotel, Cary, Sherwood, Denon, Harman Kardon all have no problems offering HDCD support along with high sample rates.

*** I (and I would assert you, as well) have no way of knowing what percentage of HDCD discs are actually encoded with the compression features turned on. ***

Your assertion would be wrong. I've even posted the exact process for decoding HDCD using WMP a few months ago on this very forum.

*** So one has to weigh the costs and benefits when deciding to include an expensive feature such as HDCD. I would assert that the percentage of HDCD discs is relatively small, and further that the percentage of those that also use the compression features is even smaller. Given an unlimited budget, it would make sense to include HDCD decoding, even if it only benefits a very small fraction of the available discs. But in the real world we have to decide whether to use that money in other places (such as improved parts quality) that benefits the sonic performance of *all* discs. We've made our decision with our existing products, and I am not dissatisfied with that decision. ***

No one is questioning your decision, but I am calling out your pathetic attempts at rationalising the value of doing HDCD decoding, which borders on unethical behaviour since you are misleading consumers from making informed decisions.

And by the way, other manufacturers obviously do not see any problems offering HDCD implementations. They obviously see the value doing so.

Your assertions about the percentage of HDCD discs with or without Peak Extend is completely unfounded. Now that I've taught you how to find out for yourself, why don't you gather some facts before making such assertions.

It's similar to your assertion that the additional compression does not matter since the recordings may be already compressed. If you have any experience doing digital recordings, you would realise how silly your assertion is. Compression material that is already compressed is a big NO NO. It creates even worse artefacts.

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