View source for Extended Resolution Compact Disc

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[[File:Extended Resolution Compact Disc (logo).jpg|thumb|Logo]]
'''Extended Resolution Compact Disc''' ('''XRCD''') is a [[Mastering (audio)|mastering]] and [[Compact disc manufacturing|manufacture]] process patented by [[JVC]] (Victor Company of Japan, Ltd) for producing [[Red Book (audio CD standard)|Red Book]] [[compact disc]]s. It was first introduced in 1995.

An XRCD is priced about twice as high as a regular full-priced CD. JVC attributes this to the higher cost of quality mastering and manufacturing.

==Technical overview==
The XRCD definition refers to the mastering and manufacture process; the resulting CD and the contained data conform to the [[Red Book standard|redbook standard]] and are encoded at 16 [[Audio bit depth|bits]], 44.1 [[kHz]]. Hence, XRCDs are playable on any [[CD player|compact disc player]].

JVC uses advanced [[dither]] [[algorithm]]s (though without [[noise shaping]]) in their K2 technology to transfer the analog or digital source to physical disc. The company claims to have studied how inferior CD-remastering techniques degrade the [[master tape]] sound and strives to minimize this loss.

Unlike [[HDCD]], the extra four bits cannot be recovered, as this method of mastering only aims to improve [[Dither|dithering]] to 16-bit, rather than to store extra data.

==Mastering process==
If [[analog recording|analog]], the source material is first converted to digital via JVC's K2 20-bit or 24-bit [[analog-to-digital converter]].

The musical information is next encoded on a [[magneto-optical]] disk for transport to JVC's [[Yokohama]] manufacturing plant, where [[jitter]] reduction is applied. The musical signal on the disk is down-converted to 16-bit through a K2 "super-coding" process. This 16-bit signal is [[eight-to-fourteen modulation]]-encoded (EFM-encoded) before going through a proprietary "Extended Pit Cut" DVD K2 laser technology to produce a glass master. JVC claims this optimizes the [[linear velocity]] of the glass master, giving precise pit lengths to eliminate time jitters, controlled by an extremely precise [[rubidium]] clock. All CDs are finally stamped directly from this glass master.

'''XRCD2''' and '''XRCD24''' are improved versions of the original XRCD process. XRCD2 is the first to record to a magneto-optical disk via the digital K2 regenerator, while XRCD24 upgrades the original music signal's [[audio bit depth|bit depth]] signal from 20 to 24 bits.

==See also==
* [[Dither]]
* [[High Definition Compatible Digital]] (HDCD)
* [[Super Bit Mapping]] (SBM)
* [[Triangular distribution|TPDF]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051030012145/http://www.xrcd.com/ XRCD.com]
* [http://www.xrcd.net/ XRCD by JVC]
* [http://www.elusivedisc.com/xrcdprocess.pdf Elusive Disc's Explanation of K2 Encoding Process] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184015/http://www.elusivedisc.com/xrcdprocess.pdf |date=2016-03-03 }}

{{Audio format}}

[[Category:Compact disc]]
[[Category:Digital audio storage]]