24bit HDCD FLAC rips playing 16bit

[TheRyge]

Hi guys.

My first post so be kind :smile2:
I have been ripping my CD collection and have ripped my HDCD's using the HDCD dsp. The files are showing as 24bit in properties and MusicBee/Foobar2000 and are larger than my original 16bit non HDCD rips. However when played in MusicBee/Foobar2000 and output to my DAC they are coming up as 16bit/44.1 not 24bit/44.1 on my DACS display (audiolab M-DAC) I have some 24bit downloads from HDTracks and these appear correctly as 24/96. This is odd anyone have any ideas why this would be the case?

Regards Ryge

[dbfan]

Re: 24bit HDCD FLAC rips playing 16bit

If it shows as 24 bit in 2 players, it must be 24 bit, but why the dac is not displaying, you would-be to convert the 24/96 to 24/44 and test that.

[TheRyge]

Re: 24bit HDCD FLAC rips playing 16bit

I converted an HDTracks 24/192 to 24/44 and it shows as 24/44 on my DAC when played, strange, only a minor issue but its bugging me ha

[Porcus]

Re: 24bit HDCD FLAC rips playing 16bit

I have been ripping my CD collection and have ripped my HDCD's using the HDCD dsp. The files are showing as 24bit in properties and MusicBee/Foobar2000 and are larger than my original 16bit non HDCD rips. However when played in MusicBee/Foobar2000 and output to my DAC they are coming up as 16bit/44.1 not 24bit/44.1 on my DACS display (audiolab M-DAC) I have some 24bit downloads from HDTracks and these appear correctly as 24/96. This is odd anyone have any ideas why this would be the case?

I am using fb2k myself, but this was news to me. You should probably ask over at hydrogenaudio.org, where the fb2k forum is. My *guess* is that the explanation is that the file is 16 bits music + 8 bits of all zeroes, and that the DAC therefore displays it as 16. This could happen on files which do not using any HDCD features (they are just flagged as HDCDs, tricking you into thinking that the HDCD features are enabled, but in fact all are switched off. Annoying stuff.).

In my opinion, you should *not* use the HDCD dsp upon ripping, if you use lossless formats. (I made the same mistake myself, and have re-ripped a few discs.) You can apply HDCD upon playback, so you need not decode the signal; furthermore, it is only after you have ripped an entire CD you can check whether all tracks use the same HDCD features. If not, you risk applying a per-track volume adjustment, boosting some but not all tracks by 6dB. If I am right, the HDCD DSP does by default treat all HDCD tracks as if they were using the Peak Extension feature, which surprisingly few HDCDs employ.