HDCD not detected

[VinylDunc]

Hi, I am at last getting to grips with the software and have worked out how to set the DSP to detect HDCD's and rip them to flac which shows up as 24bit in the Tag, great,

but ...

I have several HDCD's which the software is not detecting as such, eg :

Neil Young - Silver & Gold
Neil Young - Greendale
Neil Young - Filmore East.

I know for certain Silver & Gold and Greendale are as I used to have an Arcam alpha8SE CDplayer which showed them as such with the red light. My current CD is the Arcam CD192, which will decode HDCD but does not have an indicator so I can not longer confirm for certain about others that should be.

any suggestions welcome... or a possible software update?

cheers

[mville]

Re: HDCD not detected

I am running dBpoweramp Music Converter R15.3 and in CDRipper my Neil Young - Greendale CD is showing as HDCD for all tracks.

HDCDs is a bit misleading, as in reality it is more track dependant than CD dependant i.e. you can have a CD where not all the tracks are HDCD encoded.

Also, depending on how you listen to your audio library, ripping using the HDCD DSP might not be the best way forward.

For more information, read here: Ripping HDCDs: Best practices?

[VinylDunc]

Re: HDCD not detected

cheers, i'll have a read of that. Ripping audio files to my network drive is really for convenience listening with either Sonos or my Cambridge Audio network player, however I am soon to invest in an Astell n Kern DAP and am just trying to get the best out of my collection where possible.

I suppose it could rely on the PC i'm using to rip the CD's...

[mville]

Re: HDCD not detected

I suppose it could rely on the PC i'm using to rip the CD's...

I don't think so. What version of dBpoweramp Music Converter are you using?

[mville]

Re: HDCD not detected

Ripping audio files to my network drive is really for convenience listening with either Sonos or my Cambridge Audio network player, however I am soon to invest in an Astell n Kern DAP and am just trying to get the best out of my collection where possible.

How do you intend to play files from the network drive, on the Astell n Kern DAP?

[VinylDunc]

Re: HDCD not detected

the lastest one 16.1.

I find it odd that some HDCD's are detected and some are not thats all. I was just viewing another thread on actual Optical Disc Drives and rates of accuracy

[VinylDunc]

Re: HDCD not detected

How do you intend to play files from the network drive, on the Astell n Kern DAP?

I will be transferring files to a 128Gb micro sd card :-)

[mville]

Re: HDCD not detected

I will be transferring files to a 128Gb micro sd card :-)

If the Astell n Kern DAP supports HDCD playback, there is a possibility that it will decode the ripped HDCD files from the 128Gb micro sd card.

If this is the case, then there is NO need to rip CDs with the HDCD DSP. I would check this with Astell n Kern.

[mville]

Re: HDCD not detected

the lastest one 16.1.

I find it odd that some HDCD's are detected and some are not thats all. I was just viewing another thread on actual Optical Disc Drives and rates of accuracy

Perhaps there is a bug in R16.1.

[VinylDunc]

Re: HDCD not detected

If the Astell n Kern DAP supports HDCD playback, there is a possibility that it will decode the ripped HDCD files from the 128Gb micro sd card.

If this is the case, then there is NO need to rip CDs with the HDCD DSP. I would check this with Astell n Kern.

... so just rip to flac in normal 16bit mode? I thought that would just create a 16bit audio file without any additional info?

[mville]

Re: HDCD not detected

... so just rip to flac in normal 16bit mode? I thought that would just create a 16bit audio file without any additional info?

Yes. The 16-bit flac file will still contain the HDCD information, just as the 16-bit audio on the CD contains the HDCD information.

This is how I rip my HDCDs, i.e. to flac without the HDCD DSP and I use foobar2000 with the HDCD decoder to play my flac library.

The HDCD DSP can be used if you have no HDCD compatible software/hardware.

[VinylDunc]

Re: HDCD not detected

thanks for your help, I'll see how I get on. Will contact A&K and Cambridge too see what they say, post replies if usefull

[VinylDunc]

Re: HDCD not detected

Yes. The 16-bit flac file will still contain the HDCD information, just as the 16-bit audio on the CD contains the HDCD information.

This is how I rip my HDCDs, i.e. to flac without the HDCD DSP and I use foobar2000 with the HDCD decoder to play my flac library.

The HDCD DSP can be used if you have no HDCD compatible software/hardware.

... however, back to my initial problem, If dbpoweramp is not detecting that it is a HDCD then there will not be a Tag on the flac file

to be honest I only have about 20 HDCD's, but my OCD won't let it lie

[VinylDunc]

Re: HDCD not detected

OK, so just to end my own thread :

- I've loaded dbPoweramp (registered) on a newer PC and that is detecting the HDCD's better. "Silver & Gold"s first track still does not get a HDCD tag but the Bit Depth dsp does take it to a 24 bit file. *HappierNow

- Astell & Kern suggested that their DAPs would read the 16 & 24 bit files as is...

cheers

[mville]

Re: HDCD not detected

Astell & Kern suggested that their DAPs would read the 16 & 24 bit files as is...

Yes, but are they saying whether the DAP will recognise that the 16-bit audio file is HDCD encoded. and decode it?