Grateful Dead

there are still plenty of HDCD players available, well, used. but trust me it makes a huge difference! and if you don't want to go that route just pop them in your computer and play them through windows media player! like you said microsoft bought them out and now they have a monopoly on it but dang if they don't sound awesome! (as long as you have some good speakers!) Once you put windows media player in "now playing" mode you should see the little HDCD logo pop up in bottom left corner! CHECK IT OUT!!!! man... broke the vial out last may for the cornell release... just, wow... just make sure you have 24 bit capable sound card and 24 bit output set through control panel sound options! peace!~

OPPO BLU RAY PLAYERS PLAY HDCD FOR ONE. EMOTIVA, DENON,AND MARANTZ PROCESSORS ARE HDCD CAPABLE. IF YOUR AUDIO SYSTEM CAN DECODE AND PLAY HD TRACKS HI RES DOWNLOADS, THEN IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY HDCD.

Hi 123takeastepback, I really don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but here an article you should read. It's long, but you should read it in its entirely (link below). Then watch the video that does a good job of explaining SHOWING how digital audio works (the second link) http://xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html http://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml You should note that not only is the info in both of those links correct (you can learn more at MIT's OpenCourseware about digital audio), but there is another thing you haven't considered. The SOURCE of the LIVE music you are asking for was recorded almost exclusively to reel-reel analog tape. In absolutely ideal, pristine conditions, analog reel-to-reel tape, due to it's signal to noise ratio, is the equivalent of a 13-bit digital audio file. You can NEVER get what is not in the SOURCE to begin with. It's like taking an old television show recorded in standard definition of the time, and expecting to get more "resolution" from it in a high-definition format. Not going to happen. You will NEVER get better than 13-bits of dynamic range from a reel-to-reel analog source, whether you fill it up to 16, 20, or 24 bits - doesn't matter. As far as the sampling frequency is concerned, although the video DOES mention this, they go over it kind of quickly: In a band-limited analog audio source (say, limited with a hard cut-off at 22khz frequencies), as long as the sampling rate is at least double the highest sound frequency, then there is mathematically ONE AND ONLY ONE curve (the sound wave) that goes through every sample point. In other words the digital to analog converter can recreate the EXACT (literally EXACT) original sound wave of ANY complexity that was the source. This means that 44.1khz can PERFECTLY recreate sound waves of ANY complexity as long as the highest frequency is below 22.05 khz - higher than the ability of human adults to hear, and above the hard cut-off the band-limited input source. Adding more samples, in other words using a higher sampling rate, does NOTHING EXCEPT enable you to capture frequencies above 22.05 khz (already above the ability of your ears to hear. And, incidentally, most microphones used, especially in a live setting, don't even capture frequencies higher than that to begin with. But, yup, the 96khz file can recreate frequencies up to 48khz, and the 192khz file can recreate frequencies up to 96khz. That's great if you're a hummingbird. Oh, and using some microphone that no one uses - and most definitely not used back in the 70's! (But, does it matter - you're playing these for you, not your dog or your hummingbird.) Anyway, read the article and watch the video. If you still feel like "spending thousands" as you said, go ahead. The music industry as you know is in serious financial straights with the new business models, and can use whatever boost they can get.