It comes as a surprise even to myself that I will write something about the sound of a type of classical music recording format, as I've always considered myself to be far from a hi-fi aficionado. My listening gears can at most be considered entry-level hi-fi, but "mid-fi" should be a better description, I reckon. I believe the law of diminishing marginal returns is especially valid in the world of hi-fi gears. These days the price of speakers, amplifiers, frontends and cables is relatively lower than that during the "golden age" of 2-channel hi-fi, i.e. the 1970s to 1990s. The difference between a HK$10k and a HK$50k system will be far more noticeable or obvious than that between a HK$200k and a HK$1 million system, or even between that of a $100k and a HK$500k system, although in each group the price difference is still 5X. I'm fortunate to know a number of hi-fi experts, and most of them agree that the sonic difference between "upper-end" or high-end systems boils down to differences in the listener's taste only, rather than to "fidelity" which even a HK$30k to 50k system can be more than able to reproduce. As I have only limited resources, my system was priced around HK$30k.
Listening to SACDs i can hear the sonic superiority to ordinary CDs. On the other hand, from my limited experience with XRCDs, I think they aren't worth the premium price for a somewhat "richer" sound, and my attitude to SHM-CDs is similar.
I didn't have high hopes on HQ-SACDs initially, thinking that they might just be another marketing gimmick. After listening to them (two of which are pictured above) I was blown away. What gorgeous sound! Exton Asahina Bruckner CDs have very well-recorded sound already, but these HQ-SACDs are miles ahead in sonic supremacy. They are even better than "ordinary" multi-channel SACDs when played in 2-channel. The age of 2-channel hi-fi is back.
P.S. For more information on HQCD, here is the link.
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