Can HDCD discs be ripped by iTunes?

Question

Can HDCD discs be ripped by iTunes?

I've read the forum topics on this issue via the "Search" function of the Apple Support Communities. The consensus has been that HDCD was absolutely not supported by Mac products or by iTunes. I did notice, however, that the bulk of the questions and replies were specific to earlier versions of iTunes and older Macs.

I now run iTunes 11 on a Macbook (albeit an older one). My entire iTunes library is in AIFF format. For those who claim that Apple Lossless Encoding (ALE) "sounds the same as AIFF with a 2.5x reduction in size," may I say that you are wrong, IMHO. I find the AIFF to sound cleaner than ALE, and significantly so. That, however, is another discussion.

I have just purchased some HDCDs. I would like to rip them to my iTunes library. On my older Macbook, the discs are not even recognized by the drive and are ejected after initialization fails. I also, however, own a much newer iMac. Assuming that the iMac drive can recognize and play the discs (a theory I have not yet tested), a variety of questions arise:

Can iTunes 11 recognize and use the 20-bit HDCD format?
Assuming that it can, can the AIFF endoder in iTunes 11 save the HDCD in native format?
Assuming that it can, can the older Macbook then decode the higher-bit AIFF files?
I am bypassing the Macbook's internal DAC with an Audioquest Dragonfly. Assuming that the older Macbook can decode the higher bit AIFF file, can it output that information to the Dragonfly via USB?

If the above are all possible, my game plan is to rip the HDCDs via the iMac, import the files to the Macbook, and play the files from the Macbook. If nobody knows the answers to my questions, then I guess I'll be the "test lab" for this process.

Cheers - CathodeCathay

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Feb 1, 2013 3:32 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 1, 2013 4:58 AM in response to CathodeCathay

Hi,

I have just bought a new USB superdrive for my imac.

Technical Details

Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive (DVDA±R DL/DVDA±RW/CD-RW)

Writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs at up to 6x speed
Writes DVD-R and DVD+R discs at up to 8x speed
Writes DVD-RW discs at up to 6x speed and DVD+RW discs at up to 8x speed
Reads DVDs at up to 8x speed
Writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed
Writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed
Reads CDs at up to 24x speed

This I believe is similar to previous built in drive.

I was going to say that I believe that your drive will not be compatible BUT I'm sure I have some such discs and have succesfuly.imported them into itunes albeit at 256 kbps.

I think that you should try a disc in your newer mac. If you can import them as AIFF you will be limited to 16-Bit.

Jim

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Answer 2

grrbach

Level 1

4 points

Aug 29, 2014 12:15 PM in response to CathodeCathay

If you import an HDCD encoded CD into iTunes (using the AIFF encoder), the HDCD encoding will be preserved, but to hear the benefits of HDCD in playback, an HDCD decoder is required.

As of this posting, I know of no HDCD decoder for Mac OS.

However, output your Mac's audio through its digital out to a standalone Digital-to-Analog converter that does decode HDCD, and Voila!, you'll hear all the added detail and "air" that HDCD imparts.

One note: I had to set my Mac's digital out to a sampling rate of 44,100 in order for my venerable Musical Fidelity X-DAC to "see" the HDCD encoding. This may not be necessary for newer DAC's.

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Answer 3

May 6, 2016 9:03 AM in response to grrbach

I have many CDs in HDCD format that I would like to be able to decode, rip, and have iTunes take full advantage of the extra bit depth. As of this writing, my Mac will import the CDs as if they are standard 16-bit / 44.1kHz audio CDs, but I have not found any software decoder for Mac that will extract the extra 4-bits of the HDCD encoded content ... by any chance has that changed since the previous post ... any way to decode HDCD format on a Mac and rip to iTunes?

Since Microsoft owns the rights to HDCD, does the Windows version of iTunes support decoding and import of the HDCD format or does that require a 3rd party software solution within Windows?

Assuming that I am able to decode HDCD on Windows, since the decoded HDCD format is 20-bit, I suppose that it must be up-converted to 24-bit to be put into a standard format usable by multiple devices. What is the recommended software to create a 24-bit file from the decoded 20-bit HDCD source?

Finally, which of the 24-bit sound formats (lossless) is recommended for best compatibility across Windows, Mac, iTunes, iPods, and 3rd party devices? AIFF? WAV?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this topic.

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