Does the 990 support HDCD full resolution over the digital connections ?

I don't believe that the 990 supports HDCD over the digital input.

Thanks gonk, I am wondering if anyone has tried or if Outlaw support could say. Was just listening to HDCD on a Denon 3805 via optical connection.

I was surprised as I see a lot of discussion on SACD and HDMI and fingured the same DRM issues applied to HDCD.

Just out of curiousity how do you know the Denon was decoding the HDCD bits? Does the 3805 have an HDCD indicator?

Edit: Now that I think about it I believe the HDCD bit has to be decoded in the player unless you are sending a raw bitstream to the receiver. The question then becomes how do you know if the PCM stream from the player has had the HDCD bit applied?

I don't think I have a single HDCD title in my collection, so it's not something I think about much. None of my various CD players have included HDCD support, and none of my receivers or processors have either.

HDCD predates DRM issues associated with DVD-Audio and SACD, and since it is an extension of the Audio CD format (which dates back a long way now) it would be very difficult to allow any sort of DRM restrictions without creating a product that violated the audo CD format requirements.

Obie, there is a HDCD indicator that turns on when the 3805 decodes a bit stream that contains HDCD data.

Gonk, I figured HDCD might sound a little better then standard CD since there is an audible difference between DTS 96/24 material and the same material on CD. Maybe the same applied to HDCD.

Since it's easy enough to feed a HDCD signal I figured I'd give it a try since it's basically free. Any player can send the bitstream, the pre amp just needs to recognize and decode it.

Looks like the 990 doesn't support HDCD, not much of a loss considering there were only like 20 titles to pick from anyhow. Good choice to not have to pay extra for support of a non-available format. Still, would have been nice to try it out once.

Didn't know the 3805 did that. You are right AFAIK the 990 can't decode them. I have an Onix XCD-88 player that will though. Madeleine Peyroux's Dreamland is a very nice HDCD.

990 does NOT support HDCD.

990 doesn't support HDCD. And HDCD does, in some cases, sound a lot better, as it uses a higher bitrate (20-bit vs 16-bit). There are a lot of HDCD titles out there. You might be able to find a list on http://www.hdcd.com

Cheers,

I have probably over 20 CDs that are HDCD. I was hoping the technology would have caught on and expanded years ago but it seems to be dying out. Yes there is definately an audible difference when decoded. I purchased a H/K CD player six years ago that processes the signal before sending it to the preamp, (an indicator lamp comes on when it detects a HDCD program). Sound & Vision Magazine had an article on this about six or seven years ago and I thought it would be worth investing in, hey I used to own an 8-track player at one time also.