The Madonna HDCD Project: Help discover which CDs are HDCD encoded - 1995 to about 2009-ish

[DanceWithMe 79]

Hello!

I recently got into ripping CDs with DBpoweramp. It's a program that you can use to rip CDs, and was championed by What.CD before it got shut down (if anyone has an invite to red or orpheus, please message me). Well anyway, the Free Trial and the Beta (Testing) versions use Exact Audio Copy, which is good for ripping bit-perfect CDs to lossless files. Because I use iTunes for my music library, I prefer Apple Lossless (ALAC) instead of FLAC or the giant file sized WAV which is so common here on the forums. DBpoweramp is very convenient because you can get perfect rips from a CD, and I use it even for Apple Lossless since I've had issues ripping ALAC with iTunes before where the audio was distorted.

One cool feature on DBpoweramp - which is what brings me here asking for help - is that it is able to detect HDCD encoding on discs. HDCD was a technology that was released in 1995 and was eventually purchased by Microsoft and just kind of left to be discontinued a few years after. The website was shut down in 2005, but many CDs kept being manufactured with HDCD encoding until at least 2009, possibly longer. And the thing is, many releases weren't even promoted or "marked" as being HDCD in their packaging, including pretty much all Madonna releases with HDCD that I've seen so far.

HDCD is a technology on discs that allowed HDCD supporting music players to play music in a higher resolution than a normal CD, at 20bits (CDs are only 16bit). Many of the players that supported CD and HDCD (and in some cases SACD) were kind of expensive, so the HDCD techonology wasn't really promoted heavily and didn't take off. Nowadays we have Hi-Fi audio files thanks to places like ProStudioMasters and Quobuz (Tidal's MQA is controversial, and it's not *really* considered Hi-Fi). And if a CD has only a few songs in HDCD, DBpoweramp encodes the non-HDCD files as normal CD files (16bit) and keeps the HDCD files in 24bit to preserve their 20bit quality.

 

I wanted to start a project with Madonna's discography from 1995 until about 2009 (or longer, not sure when they officially stopped using HDCD). I noticed that her Remixed & Revisited album is completely encoded with HDCD. Now this is kind of silly for "Your Honesty" as that track is infamously lossy-sourced, but it is otherwise HDCD. And other albums/singles like the U.S. GHV2 and the remix U.S. CD Singles for 4 Minutes and Give It 2 Me feature some HDCD tracks, but not others.

I'm requesting help in identifying Madonna's Albums or Singles (including Promo Singles) that feature HDCD. As I mentioned, many discs didn't feature an HDCD logo or stamp, so the only way to find out if it's HDCD encoded is to copy/rip the discs on dbpoweramp with the HDCD DSP setting on (I recommend not using the +6 amplify). I was a bit stupid and tested about 20 albums/singles by only choosing one or two tracks. For the most part, I did choose normal and bonus tracks if a CD was a special release (like Music Australia, Hard Candy Limited Edition, MDNA Deluxe). I didn't get anything from Music or MDNA, but Hard Candy detected the remix bonus tracks as HDCD and "She's Not Me" as normal. At this point, I realized it was possible some of the CDs I tested might have had a mix of normal and HDCD tracks, so I ripped 4 Minutes and Give It 2 Me completely, which confirmed that some releases only had some tracks in the format.

 

So far, here are some CDs that feature it, and others I have checked that don't. Just because one single is on the NOT list, doesn't mean another release of it doesn't have HDCD, as the Die Another Day U.S. promo CD I have doesn't have HDCD, yet a UK Single release does. There is also an official promo CD for American Pie that features the song in HDCD, but the song isn't HDCD in an Australian CD that I checked. So there are instances were certain promo singles, or even albums/singles from other countries have HDCD while others don't.

 

WITH HDCD:

• 1999 - Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Original Soundtrack (U.S. Release 9 47348-2 - and presumably all releases) - All tracks HDCD encoded
• 2001 - GHV2 (U.S. 9 48000-2 and Limited Edition 9 48257-2) - Only "Beautiful Stranger" and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina Edit" HDCD encoded in the U.S. Version.
• 2003 - Remixed & Revisited (U.S. Release 48624-2 - and presumably all releases) - All tracks HDCD encoded (Tracks 2, 3, and 7 are lossy)
• 2008 - Hard Candy (U.S. Limited Edition - 440444-2) - Only Tracks 13 & 14 HDCD encoded - Tracy Young House Edit and Rebirth Remix Edit
• 2008 - 4 Minutes (U.S. Official CD Maxi Single / Remixes - 463036-2) - Only tracks 3, 4, and 5 encoded - Tracy Young House Mix, Peter Saves Paris Mix, Rebirth Remix
• 2008 - Give It 2 Me (U.S. Official CD Maxi Single / Remixes - 511333-2) - All tracks encoded EXCEPT 4 and 5 - Eddie Amador Club and Eddie Amador House Lovers Mix

 

NO HDCD:

• 1996 - Evita - The Complete Soundtrack (U.S. 9 46346-2) - None are HDCD, confusing as GHV2 features "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" in HDCD
• 1996 - You Must Love Me (U.S. Single 9 17495-2)
• 1997 Don't Cry for Me Argentina (U.S. Official Single / Remixes - 9 43809-2)
• 1999 - Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me - More Music from the Motion Picture (9 47538-2) - Checked "Beautiful Stranger" Remix, not HDCD
• 2000 - The Next Best Thing Soundtrack (U.S. Release 9 47595-2)
• 2002 - Die Another Day (U.S. PRO-CD-100978 with Radio/Album Version)
• 2003 - American Life (Clean) U.S. 48476-2
• 2003 - American Life (Explicit) U.S. 48439-2
• 2006 - Sorry (U.S. PRO-CDR-101708 with Radio/Album Version)
• 2006 - Get Together (U.S. Official Maxi-Single / Remixes - 42935-2)
• 2006 - Get Together (U.S. PRO-CDR-101804 with Radio/Album Version)
• 2006 - The Devil Wears Prada U.S. PRO-CD-101925 Sampler
• 2007 - Live Earth (U.S. 245500-2) - Hey You isn't HDCD
• 2010 - Sticky & Sweet Tour (U.S. 521138-2) - None HDCD, although the Blu-ray features 24/48 Hi-Fi 2.0 Audio
• 2012 - MDNA (U.S. Deluxe B0016659-02) - Only 2 tracks tested, neither were HDCD

 

• 2001 - Victor Calderone e=VC2 (Madonna track checked, not HDCD)
• 2003 - Britney Spears - In the Zone U.S. (Madonna track and remix checked, and three others - none HDCD)
• 2004 - Britney Spears - My Prerogative U.S. (Madonna track and and the bonus tracks checked - none HDCD)
• 2005 - Peter Rauhofer Live @ Roxy 4 (Madonna track checked, not HDCD)

 

Need to re-check:

• Like a Virgin 2001 Remaster - Checked "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" and one remix bonus track, neither HDCD
• True Blue 2001 Remaster - Checked "Open Your Heart" and one remix bonus track, neither HDCD
• What It Feels Like for a Girl Singles + Promos - Only one track tested from each, need to test full discs.

 

I will be adding some more catalog / release information to the ones I checked (like I did for some, as you can see by the numbers), but if any of you can help check other CDs, I would appreciate it. I can then edit the master post. If you do not have DBpoweramp, they have a free trial you can use. If you uninstall it before the trial ends and re-install it, you can keep extending the trial. Otherwise, you can use the free Beta version on their website. I recommend the 17.3 version here: https://www.dbpoweramp.com/beta/DMC-R178b3.dmg

If you want to optimize DBpowramp to make sure you get the best rips, you can check out the What.CD recommended settings here: https://carltonbale.com/configure-dbpoweramp-bit-perfect-cd-ripping/  - The settings are a few years old at this point, but otherwise they still hold up.

TO DETECT HDCD, you must have the HDCD setting on in DSP settings. I recommend you turn off the +6 amplify setting, since at that point you may introduce audio clipping without knowing. Personally, I also recommend you turn on the Replay Gain setting in DSP if you will use DBpoweramp for your own personal use, but at that point it's a matter of personal preference (and has nothing to do with HDCD).

Edited October 18, 2022 by DanceWithMe (see edit history)

[Roland Barthes 5,819]

https://www.discogs.com/search?q=madonna+hdcd&type=all

[DanceWithMe 79]

29 minutes ago, Roland Barthes said:

https://www.discogs.com/search?q=madonna+hdcd&type=all

Thanks but I already knew about Discogs- more than half of those are bootlegs anyway. And it's still missing many more (like 4 Minutes and Give It 2 Me, Hard Candy Limited Edition, etc.). And albums like GHV2 U.S. are not noted as being partially HDCD.

Also, Discogs is like Wikipedia in that it can be edited by anyone.

 

So in the end, I thought I would make this post, especially considering that many fans have other releases I might not have, etc. And we are very resourceful when it comes to Madonna releases (both official or leaked).

[TakeYaSeat 420]

Remixed & Revisited is such an ironic case, it's HDCD encoded, but I believe it wouldn't sound any better by any means compared to its normal CD, because all the songs there are lossy sourced

[DanceWithMe 79]

39 minutes ago, TakeYaSeat said:

Remixed & Revisited is such an ironic case, it's HDCD encoded, but I believe it wouldn't sound any better by any means compared to its normal CD, because all the songs there are lossy sourced

I thought it was only Your Honesty that was lossy sourced.

Actually, I just checked and only the remixes for Love Profusion and Nobody Knows Me are lossy sourced, as is Your Honesty.

 

But yeah, it's ironic its the only non-single release of hers to be HDCD and yet it has lossy music.

 

 

If anyone can check their CDs from 1995 to 2008 or 2009 (Albums, Singles, Etc.) I would really appreciate it! Obviously the specific ones noted above can be skipped since I checked those (but would appreciate any international releases- I think Japan did a lot of HDCD).

[luis-rj 1,089]

Madame X from Japan is HDCD too.

[DanceWithMe 79]

Just now, luis-rj said:

Madame X from Japan is HDCD too.

Do you have a source so that I can add it to the main list?

I think I read that it was SHM-CD, but not exactly HDCD (which would decode as 24bit on DBpoweramp, or at least the proper tracks would). SHM-CD is a disc made of different material that is supposed to sound better, but in the end is the same quality as standard CDs (16 bit). I do not have an SHM-CD to test/rip though, so if someone here can do that, I'd appreciate it.

 

Even though in the end Hi-Fi files of the album exist, I would still appreciate clarification so that I can add it to the list for posterity.