[HPiper]

I just got a new cd today. It is a Telarc cd and on the case and liner notes it says 20bit Digital Recording, which I thought meant hdcd, but when I play it the hdcd light doesn't come on and it doesn't say hdcd anywhere on the cd. Can they make a 20bit encoded cd that is NOT hdcd that will play just fine on a normal cd player. Just a bit confused about this cd format. I won't even get into why they would make a 20bit cd that isn't an hdcd.

 

[Greenears]

That would be a "no".  It's 16 bit.  Maybe they mean it was a 20-bit equivalent recording chopped to 16 bit.  Or it is just a slip of the marketing tongue
 
Doesn't mean it can't sound phenomenal.

 

[limpidglitch]

If it is a somewhat older digital recording (late eighties-early nineties) it was likely recorded in 20 bit.
See if it's specified any closer in the liner notes.

 

[RRod]

  I just got a new cd today. It is a Telarc cd and on the case and liner notes it says 20bit Digital Recording, which I thought meant hdcd, but when I play it the hdcd light doesn't come on and it doesn't say hdcd anywhere on the cd. Can they make a 20bit encoded cd that is NOT hdcd that will play just fine on a normal cd player. Just a bit confused about this cd format. I won't even get into why they would make a 20bit cd that isn't an hdcd.

 
You get similar notes from other companies who recorded at 20bit then truncated/dithered down to 16. Which Telarc CD?

 

[bigshot]

Numbers have very little relation to sound quality.

 

[HPiper]

It is Schubert Symphony No. 9 "The Great" and No. 8 "Unfinished" by Sir Charles Mackerras and The Scottish Chamber Orchestra. I did find a little blurb on the back corner of the case and it says, "This compact disk was produced from 20bit digital masters made during the recording sessions." So it sounds like what some have said, only the masters were 20bit, then they truncated those down to 16 for the cd. I don't see how that would be beneficial at all but that is okay too. The sound is excellent and that is all I am interested in.

 

[RRod]

  It is Schubert Symphony No. 9 "The Great" and No. 8 "Unfinished" by Sir Charles Mackerras and The Scottish Chamber Orchestra. I did find a little blurb on the back corner of the case and it says, "This compact disk was produced from 20bit digital masters made during the recording sessions." So it sounds like what some have said, only the masters were 20bit, then they truncated those down to 16 for the cd. I don't see how that would be beneficial at all but that is okay too. The sound is excellent and that is all I am interested in.

 
I have that disc too; good stuff. The extra 4 bits just gives the engineers a bit of wiggle room for setting levels and for doing editing; you don't lose anything in the reduction in bits that's audible.