OPPO and HDCD
- Thread starter rockitman
- Start date
Although this has been known and documented (notice the dates on some of those links) for many years (since 2009 at least)
And now separated again (hdcd.exe for use on Windows computers, the Mediatek board in Oppo's and others)
well, "HDCD" yes, although I'd hesitate to say it's being converted "properly". I'm still a little unclear on how the OPPO manages to change filter types on the fly at the decoding stage; which was traditionally done using specific "HDCD" based filters - pre DAC.
This is all good news. Next step it to hook a coax cable to my oppo spdif output into my outboard dacs coax input. As a test I can play the HDCD in my outboard dacs transport...since it won't be decoded, it should sound 6dB louder than playing the HDCD in the oppo and sending the decoded stream to the outboard DAC...do I have it correct ?
It will probably be more like 3-4 dB louder, but that is basically correct. Assuming you are playing an HDCD with Peak Extend, switching HDCD in and out on the Oppo will be associated with an obvious volume change. If it's an HDCD without Peak Extend, there will be no volume difference.
So the peak extend is a separate switch through the oppo software that must be turned on in addition to HDCD decoding ? I am not hearing much volume change if any, but the HDCD seems to sound better...more robust through the oppo to the DAC versus playing the disk in my dac's outboard transport.
No switching required, peak extend is but only 1 function of the HDCD coding/decoding process. The recording engineer either used PE and/or other functions - or he didn't.
Not a separate switch; most HDCD's do not utilize Peak Extend, but the decoder automatically recognizes it if it was used. Grateful Dead HDCD's from more than 2-3 years ago almost all use Peak Extend, so do all the Joni Mitchell HDCD's (and many others too, of course, but those come quickly to mind). The volume change isn't subtle; I don't use a separate DAC anymore, but when I did it was immediately noticeable. In fact, you should notice it if you just use your Oppo as the whole player; switch HDCD in and out.
>>most HDCD's do not utilize Peak Extend<<
Well, matter of perspective ... nearly every boutique label HDCD I own, such as Reference Recordings and FIM, used PE exclusively. Major labels, much more of a toss up ... like I said prior, some are even track dependent. Since I own far more of the small label recordings, my HDCD collection is therefore mostly PE enabled.
Well, matter of perspective ... nearly every boutique label HDCD I own, such as Reference Recordings and FIM, used PE exclusively. Major labels, much more of a toss up ... like I said prior, some are even track dependent. Since I own far more of the small label recordings, my HDCD collection is therefore mostly PE enabled.
That is the whole purpose of this exercise....playing GD HDCD live shows of which I have a ton of. Playing them back in the oppo standalone didn't get the best out of them and in particular, the bass performance is not great on the oppo...sounds muddy in comparison to my DAC. Previously, I would rip all the files and decode them 24/44.1 on my computer via dB poweramp, then burn them to DVD to playback on my PSAudio memory player/DAC. That was a time consuming pain.
I'm merely going by an older Web site which compiled a list of all HDCD's regardless of label. IIRC only about 30% utilized Peak and Low Level extension.
Documented, yes. Known I'd say hardly as replies show, usually knowledgeable owners, unfamiliar with the feature behavior. Even reviewers TMK have never mentioned it and I would certainly consider this ability to be a positive feature worth metioning. Hopefully they don't remove it from a future release or update.
I don't know how to transfer a text from another place, but anyway it's not important.
Christian, from your Oppo BR player, using the digital coaxial out, and going through your external DAC:
Set the HDCD switch from the Oppo's Audio setup menu to: ON
Your DAC does not have a HDCD decoder, so you will get the decoded HDCD encoded discs from the Oppo's directly from its digital output.
All good to go. And this is something I didn't even know myself, until now.
{I have several HDCD players and it is the digital output of them that I'm confused with; I'm not even sure on how they differ from each other.}
I asked specifically the question this morning to an expert*.
* Bob Pariseau - Anthem and Oppo expert.
I got the link but I don't want any trouble.
Christian, from your Oppo BR player, using the digital coaxial out, and going through your external DAC:
Set the HDCD switch from the Oppo's Audio setup menu to: ON
Your DAC does not have a HDCD decoder, so you will get the decoded HDCD encoded discs from the Oppo's directly from its digital output.
All good to go. And this is something I didn't even know myself, until now.
{I have several HDCD players and it is the digital output of them that I'm confused with; I'm not even sure on how they differ from each other.}
I asked specifically the question this morning to an expert*.
* Bob Pariseau - Anthem and Oppo expert.
I got the link but I don't want any trouble.
Thanks Bob. I am all hooked up and can confirm by ear that the stream running into my DAC is HDCD decoded and can let my better sounding DAC do the D/A conversion. Thanks for your homework.
Just curious; how is this different from what was recommended 5 pages and 45 posts ago??
I appreciate Bob's reaffirmation that the oppo will send out HDCD decoded streams via its spdif output....I'm a happy camper.
You were right all along Robert. I was confused by several wrong information from the Internet highway (World Wide Web).
It has been an educative journey for the last twenty-four hours. ...For me.
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