JVC XRCD's What's the Rumpus

[petermwilson]

Hi,
I read about them in a recent mag, (not sure if it was a bonifide review or an advertisement). Are they 44/16, are they similar to hdcd where you need special equipment? Are they just high quality cd's?

Peter m.

 

[Scottmoose]

Hi,
I read about them in a recent mag, (not sure if it was a bonifide review or an advertisement). Are they 44/16, are they similar to hdcd where you need special equipment? Are they just high quality cd's?

Peter m.

Well, like HDCD, they're certainly a high quality CD, whatever you play them on, but as a rule yep; you'd need an optimised player to get the maximum out of them (as with so much in this life...). Not too sure about the exact technicalities -in my area, they're rarer than the great lesser-spotted king gibbon of Xandu.
I've a lot of time for HDCD et al as a rule, as I still firmly believe that good old CD has a great deal to offer, and that these updates can give it a new lease of life.
Whilst we're skating around the topic, has anyone else found that a good (CD) player of around 10 years ago sounds better than a 'good' player on the market now? Those early 14x4 and 16x4 oversampling chipsets and Sony's bitstream were designed and optimised for CD, and not only were better built and sound more powerful, but in my experience retrieve more information off the disks than a modern player with 24/96 upsampling. That'll be chipsets not designed for CD, but DVD then. Now that's depressing.
Try it -get an old high end player from the late '80's - a Marantz, Phillips or Sony would be ideal, (and quite cheap) and have it reclocked by someone like Trichord -you'll be amazed. I was when I heard the Meridian I bought, then modified.
Have fun -Scott

 

[Cai Campbell]

Well, I don't own any XRCD's but I know a number of people who adore them. XRCD's are standard redbook CD's and do not use algorithmic processing like HDCD uses.

XRCD's take the approach that the very best manufacturing techniques available for redbook CD will lead to the best end result. In particular, the manufacture of XRCD's pays special attention to jitter and the virtual elimination of it.

Jitter occurs when the digital clock signal gets out of synch with the data. Jitter can occur at any step in the process, from mastering, to manufacture, to playback. XRCD, as a mastering/production approach, addresses these concerns.

Other factors come into play (such as 24-bit mastering or whatever) but I'm not familiar with all of them. However, XRCD provides the best that redbook has to offer, given the technology currently available. Regular CD's CAN be as technically sound as XRCD's, but XRCD offers a very high level of guarantee.

 

[Scottmoose]

Well, I don't own any XRCD's but I know a number of people who adore them. XRCD's are standard redbook CD's and do not use algorithmic processing like HDCD uses.

XRCD's take the approach that the very best manufacturing techniques available for redbook CD will lead to the best end result. In particular, the manufacture of XRCD's pays special attention to jitter and the virtual elimination of it.

Jitter occurs when the digital clock signal gets out of synch with the data. Jitter can occur at any step in the process, from mastering, to manufacture, to playback. XRCD, as a mastering/production approach, addresses these concerns.

Other factors come into play (such as 24-bit mastering or whatever) but I'm not familiar with all of them. However, XRCD provides the best that redbook has to offer, given the technology currently available. Regular CD's CAN be as technically sound as XRCD's, but XRCD offers a very high level of guarantee.

There you have it. Thanks Cai -learned something myself there!
'Not too sure how good old JVC work out that the CD itself can eliminate jitter -that's mostly down to the clock (and the reason I reclock every machine I buy), not the inofrmation that it recieves, but anything that optimises the source can only be a good thing!
Scott @:

 

[ssully]

Well, like HDCD, they're certainly a high quality CD, whatever you play them on, but as a rule yep; you'd need an optimised player to get the maximum out of them (as with so much in this life...).

XRCDs are bitmapped 16/44 CDs...no special optimization should be necessary. Bitmapping means that they used algorithmic tricks to cram a transfer that was done at >16 bits, into a final 16 bit playback mode.
Bitmapping is common nowadays, in the age of 20- and 24-bit recordings ; Sony's 'Super Bitmapped' CDs are another example. HDCD are too, but they use a proprietary process that requires a decoder.

XRCDs use lots of TLC in the selection of master tapes and of mastering gear, and like most CDS that get lots of thoughful care at the mastering stage, they tend to sound pretty good for it.

 

[Cai Campbell]

There you have it. Thanks Cai -learned something myself there!
'Not too sure how good old JVC work out that the CD itself can eliminate jitter -that's mostly down to the clock (and the reason I reclock every machine I buy), not the inofrmation that it recieves, but anything that optimises the source can only be a good thing!
Scott @:

Well, of course they cannot control jitter at the final stage, that being playback. But then, if you're buying XRCD's you probably have a fine enough rig that jitter is being addressed correctly. Or so one would hope!

 

[Scottmoose]

Well, of course they cannot control jitter at the final stage, that being playback. But then, if you're buying XRCD's you probably have a fine enough rig that jitter is being addressed correctly. Or so one would hope!

True. Very true. Do you ever get the feeling we're not always told everything though? Let me give you an example. I own a nice little budget Sony CDP-XE310 CD spinner. It's about 4-5 years old. I can't remember exactly. Anyway, I bought it, because it was cheap (£100!), quite clean and has amazing detail for the price. That'll be a 16 bit chipset then, not a bastardized DVD player's internals.
So, a while ago, I decided to reward it's reliable and faithful service by treating it to a reclock (about £60). It's a strange thing really. And no, I'm not joking. My little Sony now has less measured jitter than a Rega Jupiter. My Rega Jupiter. Guess what that'll be getting in the very near future. It's like having a new player in my spare system. Not high end, but it'll see off a current £250 - £300 player easily.
Scott :sun