Originally Posted by
garym
Another option (which is in the long thread about options here). If your DAC and player handle HDCD themselves, then you don't need to use the HDCD DSP option when ripping. You could use foobar2000 player, which has plugin components that will recognize and play HDCD files directly.
If you choose to use the HDCD DSP when ripping, I'd probably rip twice (once with HDCD DSP and once without), because, as noted in the long thread, ripping with the HDCD DSP does not produce bit perfect copies of the CDs. Obviously, the need to do this depends on how obsessive you are about this. I have a lot of HDCD CDs (grateful dead and a few other artists). My main setup doesn't deal with HDCD and I don't rip to FLAC with the HDCD DSP. So I'm not taking advantage of the HDCD aspect.** I've played a few of these CDs at a friend's house side-by-side on a good system with one player that handles HDCD and another than doesn't (all else the same). I heard no difference at all. Of course this was not a double blind test.
**However, note that the FLAC rips do contain the full HDCD information as was on the CD and if I ever in the future played these on an HDCD capable player/DAC, the HDCD info would be utilized.