On Thu, 18 May 2006 14:27:28 +0100, Jim Lesurf
wrote:

In article , Glenn Richards
wrote:


According to the manual SBM uses "a form of noise shaping to encode an
effective resolution of 24 bits into the 16-bit medium". Whatever the
jargon, it works - analogue recordings made from HDCD do sound more
detailed.

Again, if so, this is 'bad news' for the people at 'HDCD Inc'. It is
quite
easy for people making professional recordings to employ noise shaping.
Indeed, I'd expect this to be quite common. The Sony SBM is essentially
just one proprietary version of this. Hence it indicates that there is no
need for anyone making professional CD recordings to use HDCD - and by
doing so have to pay fees, and degrade the results on most (non-HDCD)
players.

I have had my doubts about HDCD being worthwhile. What you say leads me
to
feel I should avoid any HDCD discs like the plague. :-) Certainly, if I
were a professional CD producer I would do so, given what you say...

One thing to remember is that HDCD isn't particularly new and, at the time
it came out, noise shaping was in its infancy as far a s CD mastering was
concerned. To use HDCD you had to use Pacific Microsonic's own analogue to
digital convertor and, as I understand it, this convertor sounded much
better than just about any other convertor available at the time. That's
one of the reasons why it caught on. Even on a non HDCD player, the discs
sounded better than a disc recorded through an alternative convertor.

Nowadays there are other alternative ADC's that match or exceed Pacific
Microsonic's convertor but some engineers still like its sound.

Cheers

James.