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[qiking]

I have quite a few HDCD files. I have used the dbpoweramp HDCD dsp to convert these files and they show as 24 bit 44.1 khz when they are hdcd encoded and if they are not they remain 16 bit. Using the audio analyzer when analyzing the non decoded 16 bit flac files JRiver does not recognize them as hdcd yet when I use the dbpoweramp hdcd dsp they still convert to 24 bit. I am puzzled. Some of these cd's are no longer in my possession. Has anyone encountered this with already ripped cd's? I am only talking about the 16 bit flac files directly ripped from an hdcd encoded cd not the 24 bit converted with the dbpoweramp hdcd dsp. I am using JRiver (build 71) and have I have analyze for hdcd in the Library & Folders section & Play hdcd if possible checked in option/audio/advanced section.

[JimH]

If they're converted to 24 bit, they're not HDCD.  HDCD is a 16 bit file that can carry 20 bits of information.  This may be explained somewhere at DBPowerAmp's site.

[Awesome Donkey]

The 24-bit/44.1 kHz HDCD files dBpoweramp can produce are tracks where the HDCD has already been decoded by dbPoweramp, if you have that option enabled.

MC25's HDCD feature requires the original, lossless 16-bit/44.1 kHz files where the HDCD part hasn't been decoded yet and thus MC25 has an option to decode the HDCD.

[JimH]

Well, MC should play them, but I don't think they're HDCD files.

[Awesome Donkey]

Yes, MC will play them but it won't attempt to decode any sort of HDCD because they're *not* HDCD anymore, as they've been decoded by dBpoweramp already and encoded to a padded 24-bit file. So there's nothing for MC to do but to play the file.

[JimH]

There's no harm in doing that, unless disk space is a concern.  They would take about 50% more space.

[dtc]

Using the audio analyzer when analyzing the non decoded 16 bit flac files JRiver does not recognize them as hdcd yet when I use the dbpoweramp hdcd dsp they still convert to 24 bit. I am puzzled.

I am only talking about the 16 bit flac files directly ripped from an hdcd encoded cd not the 24 bit converted with the dbpoweramp hdcd dsp.

So, he is using the 16 bit HDCD file and dBpoweramp recognizes it as HDCD and decodes it but MC does not recognize it as HDCD.

dBpoweramp only decodes a file to 24 bits if it finds HDCD markers/code. If it does not find any HDCD markers/code it outputs a 16 bit file.

If the 16 bit flac file decodes to 24 bits with dBpoweramp but MC does not recognize it as HDCD it means that dBpoweramp is detecting HDCD but MC is not. One explanation could be that there are HDCD markers in the file but no actualy HDCD code for the HDCD options. I believe Matt modified the code so it would not could such files as HDCD.  In doing so, he eliminated at least some false positives.

The other possibility is that there is a problem with the MC HDCD code, although it is basically the same code that foobar uses which has been around for a while.

There have been a couple of other reports of this. It may be user error or it could be the false positive discussed above or it could be a MC error. Maybe Matt should take a look at one of these tracks and see what he can find.

If you go back to a version of MC with HDCD decoding before Matt made his false positive change  it might tell you if his change is what is causing the difference.  I believe .59 was before the change.  dBpoweramp may still have the issue Matt corrected.

[wedgeworld1701]

I'm replying to this thread because of a similar situation.
I'm using MC25, it is the only version I've ever used. I'm on a Mac running OS X 10.11.6
I have CDs that I have ripped to ALAC (my entire collection). Some of them are from HDCD discs.
Years ago I used DBpoweramp to convert the HDCD files to 24bit but used their +6db feature. I wanted to convert them again not using the +6db feature.

So I started with my original ALAC files (not the ones converted by DBpoweramp). As I did years ago I analyzed my collection in MC25. (original 16bit ALAC files) Oddly MC25 now only recognized about half of my HDCD ALAC files. But if I opened the same file in DBpoweramp it recognized it and converted it. So for some reason MC25 is not recognizing about 50% of my originally ripped HDCD ALAC files.

I keep all my files separate. These are the original 16bit rips I'm talking about. I did find one set of files (Yes-Magnification) that neither program saw the HDCD yet I have the files that DBpoweramp converted years ago, that it recognized and converted to 24bit. I plan to go to the original CD to start from scratch to test that one.

So if there is any reason MC25 would stop recognizing HDCD files that are the same files it recognized a few years ago (same computer, same MC25) I'd love to hear any thoughts.

Thank you