A week ago I managed to find ONE cantopop HDCD that actually contains extra resolution bits. I didn’t have time to analyze the waveform graphs yet, but I’ve listened to a few tracks.
I find the HDCD version to be softer and less “plastic”, which in proper terms should be “better dynamic range”. Also when the music is more complex (and louder), a 16-bit CD would sound compressed, as if the instruments are fighting for bandwidth and none of them gets enough of it. I am so used to this unpleasant feeling that I was surprised when that didn’t occur with the HDCD version. Upon further listening, it does happen with HDCD, but limited to the most complex passages.
I gotta find some time to compare the waveforms. (It will be funny as hell if the comparison proves that it’s only a placebo effect.) (But I’m confident it isn’t.) I guess the writeup will be done in Chinese instead… afterall it’s CANTOpop. And… man, will my favourite singers release HDCD albums?
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