Is the 9500 an HDCD decoding pre-amplifier?
Need to know since I am looking at buying a new DVD/CD player if it is not to send the decoded signal to the per-amp..

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Revelman

I have never seen HDCD decoding listed as a feature of the 950. But who knows- I could have missed it, or it could be included. in the final specs as a "surprise" addition.

What is it?

TRY www.HDCD.com

HDCD is decoded at the CD/DVD player level. It is processed indepently of a reciever or pre-amp/processor unit. HDCD is just a higher resolution format of CD. If you new CD/DVD player is HDCD compatible your set.

There are a few receivers and prosessors (like the TAG AVR32) with on-board HDCD decoding available. I see that as an advantage in that the signal is sent via digital connection for processing. IMO HDCD seems to have been overshadowed by SACD and DVD-A.

Thanks for your input. WWW.HDCD.com says that the decoding can be handled at the player level or receiver level if a digital signal is sent from the player. If the 950 has decoding I won't have to upgrade my players.

Exactly! Instead of a format that tries to give the impression of slightly higher resolution using standard CDs, we now have formats that genuinely have much higher resolution. Unless HDCD decoding is already on the DACs that a manufacturer is using, I don't think most of them are going to go out of their way to include it as a feature on their processors or receivers.

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Sanjay

[This message has been edited by sdurani (edited February 10, 2002).]

Looks to me like it's still 44.1 kHz but 20 bits instead of 16 per sample. Is that slight increase in resolution noticeable?

20/44.1? - yes and no. Don't forget that CD is a mandatory 16/44.1 format. HDCD is not a true 20/44.1 format, but I forget exactly how it works.



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Nigel Pond
SMR Home Theatre
SMR Forums
SMR Group
HighFidelityReview

What do you mean by mandantory 16/44.1? I thought 16/44.1 was 16/44.1. That's the format of the samples on the disk. What other variables could there be?

I'm rather curious about this.