I've found that some older recordings sound bad on "good" speakers. It doesn't really matter if it is HDCD or SACD--if it wasn't recorded well to begin with nothing can improve it much. My brother-in-law brought over one of his Billy Joel SACDs and it really sounded thin and anemic on my speakers. What you may end up getting with some CDs is a "high definition" reproduction of a poorly mastered recording. It's like putting turtle wax on an old rusty VW (I used to own one ). I know, not the greatest analogy, but I'm in a hurry. Gotta go to work. . .

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"Nothin' up my sleeve. . ." --Bullwinkle J. Moose