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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?

我不太買流行曲CD，在記憶之中看到第一隻粵語流行曲HDCD應該是謝霆鋒的 (後來發現王菲應該是第一個)，當時只查探了一下，知道HDCD應該比CD優勝，但沒有能夠解碼HDCD的器材，也就沒有探究下去…

幾年前發現 Windows Media Player 10 是電腦上唯一能夠解碼HDCD的播放器，但只憑聽覺去測試並不太可靠 (placebo…)，所以又不了了之…

幾個月前發現有個插件可以截取並儲存 Windows Media Player 的輸出，我用王菲、謝霆鋒、容祖兒的 HDCD 做了些測試，發現這些所謂 HDCD 只是 re-dither 到 16-bit CD 的過程中用了HDCD器材，但並沒有 HDCD 的額外資料，即用普通CD機播放或HDCD機播放都沒有分別…

今天，我發現了第一隻真正有額外資料的 HDCD — 王菲的《唱遊》！！！ 趁我還有聽力時應該盡力去研究一下，遲些會 post 測試結果。

Sennheiser MX500 雖然係舊款，但作為 Sennheiser earbuds 以前的 flagship model，點都一定有過人之處，所以我一路都心思思想買來用… 最近因為我媽需要多個耳塞，我個 MX300 條線都開始甩，而MX500因被新系列 MX50/70/90 取代而大降價，所以一口氣買了兩對… 結果，真係冇令我失望，未聽過非隔音式o既 earbuds 會做到咁唔似 earbuds、咁 open、 咁 full 的效果，解析度亦比普通耳塞好。 當然 high frequencies、resolution 比唔上隔音式的，但以後當我唔係要認真地聽歌的時候可以有多個選擇喇。

新系列聽講比MX500水準超出好多，看來我遲早都會一試…