CAL (California Audio Labs) CL-10 CD Changer 20-Bit + HDCD Capable

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Super convenient yet great sounding vintage player from CAL. Tested thoroughly and working as it should all around.

It's able to reproduce 20-bit HDCD discs if you're lucky enough to have some! This is the highest level possible in a Redbook CD. Last we checked there were still some excellent HDCD encoded albums for reasonable prices on eBay and the like.

Features a solid assortment of connections for just about any setup, including balanced XLR.

Click here for a list of HDCD-encoded Compact Discs

More on HDCD from Wikipedia:

"High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) is a proprietary audio encode-decode process that claims to provide increased dynamic range over that of standard Red Book audio CDs, while retaining backward compatibility with existing compact disc players.

Originally developed by Pacific Microsonics, the first HDCD-enabled CD was released in 1995. In 2000, the technology was purchased by Microsoft, and the following year, there were over 5,000 HDCD titles available. Microsoft's HDCD official website was discontinued in 2005; by 2008, the number of available titles had declined to around 4,000.

A number of CD and DVD players include HDCD decoding, and versions 9 and above of Microsoft's Windows Media Player on personal computers are capable of decoding HDCD.

HDCD was a favorite for several artists such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and the Beach Boys, all of whom have had many titles in their catalogs reissued in this format.

Technical overview
HDCD encodes the equivalent of 20 bits worth of data in a 16-bit digital audio signal by using custom dithering, audio filters, and some reversible amplitude and gain encoding: Peak Extend, which is a reversible soft limiter; and Low Level Range Extend, which is a reversible gain on low-level signals. There is thus a benefit at the expense of a very minor increase in noise.

The claim that the encoding process is compatible with ordinary CD players (without audible distortion) is disputed: not being able to decode the peak soft limiting, a normal CD player will output distorted peaks."

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