I'm going to buy a universal player==probably the Denon 2900. However, for about the same money I can buy the 2910, which has HDCD. I think the 2900 may be better overall, but was wandering if HDCD might be a good reason to go with the 2910.
In my experience HDCD buys little or no improvement, particularly in view of the newer high res formats. However, I thought that the 2910 had other new features which you might want.
I bought my Lindemann to play sacds, but most enjoyed the HDCD reproduction. I look forward to my Exemplar/Denon 3910 and its ability to play HDCDs. I find HDCDs a very great improvement over cds. I expect it will often rival XRCD24s and both to be superior to many sacds and certainly better than nearly all dvdas. I know nothing about the Denon 2910, but the 3910 is clearly superior to the 2900.
I would definitely opt for the HDCD-enabled model. Well done HDCDs sound *great* and can be found much cheaper than XRCDs, SACDs, and other hi-res formats.
I would have to agree with the 2 positive posts. Nearly all the HDCD's that I've owned or heard sound great. Reference Recordings, in particular, produces some astounding CD's. Just to name a few: Rachmaminoff's Symphonic Dances, Copland 100, Respighi's Pines of Rome...
I wouldn't put HDCD very high on the list of priorities when selecting a player. I have a Cary 306/200 and it's nice to have but (a) there are so few HDCD titles out there, (b) XRCD sounds as good or better to my ears and (c) good upsampling sounds as good or better to my ears. There are probably more SACD titles than HDCD title already as well.
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