High quality sound albums

[avliner]

This is the best one on my small hi-rez collection though, specially the BD version:

 

[PENG]

I bought the disk based on the quoted post. I agreee that it's a recording masterpiece. It has restored my faith in the belief that recording excellence is not dead. I'm off to order the rest of Abbado Mahler symphonies.

I forgot that one, thanks for reminding me. I am going to order it if it is available on Amazon.com or .ca.

 

[PENG]

Baby, It's Cold Outside, Holly Cole, KOCH Records

Of all my purchases from HDtracks.com, this title is arguable the most impressive one in terms of sound quality. It makes me doubt why we need anything better than 44.1kHz/16bit if this album sounds superior to more than a few of my 96kHz/24bit and 192kHz/24 bit HD albums that costs twice as much. I am not tabling this because Christmas is coming soon, but it is the right time of the year for this album. The truth is, when I started listening to my flac collections with my new speakers I suddenly realized this lowly 44.1/16 has such incredible sound quality.

 

[caper26]

I listen to everything FLAC now as well. What a difference...

 

[josko]

I just got Mahler's 8th, (Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, MDR Rundfunkchor, Chor der Oper Leipzig, GewandhausChor, Thomanerchor Leipzig, and GewandhausKinderchor with soloists Erika Sunnegardh, Ricarda Merbeth, Christiane Oelze, Lioba Braun, Gerhild Romb ) and it is an impressive recording of an impressive symphony. The opening phrase alone is worth the price of the BD. Here's the link:http://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Symphony-8-Blu-ray-Sunnegardh/dp/B005HK8L1I/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1349354988&sr=1-1&keywords=mahler+8th+symphony

Equipment:
Fronts: B&W 802D powered by Levinson 334
Center: B&W HTM1D powred by Emotva XPA-5
Rears: B&W 803D powered by Emotiva XPA-5
Sub: SVS PB12-plus

 

[moves]

I really hope that the Mylo Xyloto mention was a joke. That is one of the worst recorded albums in a long time. It's absolutely awful. Totally compressed, and clips everywhere.

Now, good stuff!
Cat Power - The Greatest. Specifically the vinyl pressings, but even the digital copies are beautifully recorded. The vinyl is fantastic though.

really? I didn't notice any of that... the Cd sounds beautiful on my system.

 

[sterling shoote]

Joan Armatrading, Hearts and Flowers, Can't Let Go

 

[wlmmn]

Rachel Podger on SACD is something to behold: her violin just rings out like no other.

 

[PENG]

Rachel Podger on SACD is something to behold: her violin just rings out like no other.

What's the name of the album, or you meant any Rachel Podger on SACD recordings? I prefer concertos as I can enjoy both the orchestra and solo. To me, it is a challenge to find recordings that present a smooth sound (vs grating/grainy) of the violin even at the high notes.

 

[PENG]

We have about 115 on the list, way too long. This is about high quality recording, not whether we like the music or not. Should be shorten it to make it useful, and how?

 

[TLS Guy]

What's the name of the album, or you meant any Rachel Podger on SACD recordings? I prefer concertos as I can enjoy both the orchestra and solo. To me, it is a challenge to find recordings that present a smooth sound (vs grating/grainy) of the violin even at the high notes.

The album is this one, and called La Stravaganza.

The two CD/SACD set features Rachael Podger, violin with Ate Dei Suonatori.

It is in the Dutch Channel Classics label. They have deservedly won awards for engineering excellence.

Rachael Padger is certainly in contention as the greatest Baroque violinist currently before the public.

These are really fine spirited performances and as previously stated superbly engineered.

I had not mentioned this before, as music of the Baroque is not everyone's "cup of tea." However I love music of the Baroque and have a big collection of it.

The other thing is PENG, I have a large enough collection of really fine performances and recordings to send you into bankruptcy!

 

[wlmmn]

TLS Guy took the words right outta my mouth, that's the album I was speaking of (sorry, I was tired at the time).

By the way, *points finger* you guys! This thread just cost me over $100 in SACD and CDs on Amazon after checking out a lot of recommendations on this list! shame, shame, shame...

 

[Bexiesbruv]

We have about 115 on the list, way too long. This is about high quality recording, not whether we like the music or not. Should be shorten it to make it useful, and how?

Couldn't agree more.
For example (in my opinion) huge fan as I am of Led Zeppelin, I recall seeing a few of their albums offered up as candidates but really, the quality is very poor. I remember an interview with Jimmi Page and him saying how they recorded and rerecorded stuff over the same tracks to save tape! Whether thats true or not I don't know, but this is an example of some albums that could come off the list.

 

[PENG]

TLS Guy took the words right outta my mouth, that's the album I was speaking of (sorry, I was tired at the time).

By the way, *points finger* you guys! This thread just cost me over $100 in SACD and CDs on Amazon after checking out a lot of recommendations on this list! shame, shame, shame...

That's isn't too bad, didn't you see TLSGuy Threatened to send me into bankruptcy? I guess I have to prepare for Chapter 11 now..

 

[PENG]

Couldn't agree more.
For example (in my opinion) huge fan as I am of Led Zeppelin, I recall seeing a few of their albums offered up as candidates but really, the quality is very poor. I remember an interview with Jimmi Page and him saying how they recorded and rerecorded stuff over the same tracks to save tape! Whether thats true or not I don't know, but this is an example of some albums that could come off the list.

I am going to post the updated list, with 115 titles on it this weekend. Then I would ask people to tell me to remove anything that they really didn't mean to be of high quality recording, meaning sound quality. I think it is very doable because we all can tell if the sound quality is good, meaning transparent, crisp yet smooth mids and highs, clear vocals, tight bass, nice transient attacks, no audible distortion, dynamic, no sign of compression, airy, wide sound stage, good separation sideway, vertically and depth/layers etc. etc. On the other hand, whether the music is good or not can be highly subjective.

 

[PENG]

1 Third Eye Blind (CD)
2 Mahler: Symphony No 5 / Abbado, Lucerne Festival Overture (BR)
3 Anesthetize by Porcupine Tree (BR)
4 Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (CD/SACD/Vinyl)
5 Depeche Mode – Violator (CD/SACD)
6 Cake Fashion Nugget (CD/Vinyl)
7 Breaking Silence (Gold CD, Limited Edition)
8 Aja by Steely Dan CD with the MCA label, Catalog # MCAD-37214
9 Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue and Companion (CD/SACD)
10 Grace for Drowning BR
11 KEB' MO' - KEB' MO' (NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION HYBRID SACD)
12 Guitar Noir by Laurence Juber (on DVD-Audio)
13 Miserere/Vox Patris Caelestis
14 Jazz at the Pawnshop CD/SACD
15 Gaucho DVD-A/SACD
16 Brain (Hybr) [Hybrid SACD – DSD
17 6 and 12 String Guitar by Leo Kottke
18 Donald Fagen-The Nightfly (vinyl, DVD-audio)
19 Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here (Nimbus vinyl, Analogue Productions SACD)
20 Sonny Rollins-Way Out West (vinyl, MoFi CD)
21 Ry Cooder-Jazz (vinyl) (actually, any Ry Cooder recording is pretty high quality)
22 John Coltrane-Blue Train (vinyl, SACD)
23 Fry Street Quartet Beethoven, ISO Mike
24 Fry Street Quartet Haydn, ISO Mike
25 The Harper Brothers, Remembrance, Live at the Village Vanguard. Polygram
26 David Benoit, Waiting for Spring, GRP
27 Michel Camino, Solo, Telarc.
28 Larry Goldings, Awareness, Warner Brothers.
29 Houston Person, The Art and Soul of, 3 CD set, HighNote
30 Carmina Burana, Telarc CD-80056
31 Symphonie Fantastique, Reference Recordings RR-11CD1812, Telarc CD-80041
32 Silk Road Journeys, Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble, Sony SS89782 (SACD)
33 Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone (Hybr) (Snys) (Hybrid SACD – DSD)
34 Tchaikovsky, Korngold: Violin Concertos, Deutsche Grammophon (SACD)
35 Dancing in the Dark, Telarc SACD-63592 or any of the Tierney Sutton SACD
36 Concord Jazz SACD Sampler Volume 2
37 The Most Happy Fella, KOC-CD-8507
38 Patricia Barber nightclub UDSACD 2004
39 Concord On A Summer Night Dave Brubeck Quartet, CAT # SACD-1025-6
40 Yo-Yo Ma & Friends songs of Joy & Peace, CD
41 Live at Royal Albert Hall, Adele, BR
42 Green, R.E.M., DVD-A
43 Out of Time, R.E.M. DVD-A
44 Automatic For The People, R.E.M. DVD-A
45 Sea Change, Beck, DVD-A
46 A night at the opera, Queen, DVD-A
47 DSOTM, SACD
48 Radiohead - all CD's
49 Natalie Merchant, "Tigerlily" (Mo-Fi), CD
50 Everything But the Girl, "Acoustic", CD
51 The Who, "Quadrophenia" (Mo-Fi), CD
52 Yuri Temirkanov conducting the St. Petersburg Philharmonic through Shostakovich 7, CD
53 John Elliot Gardiner conducting the Philharmonia through Holst's "The Planets" and Percy Grainger's "The Warriors", CD
54 Tokyo Kosei wind orchestra, "Year of the Dragon", CD
55 Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, "Live Art", CD
56 Dvorak New World Symphony, RCA Living Stereo, SACD
57 Saint-Saens Violin Concerto, Vieustemps Violin Concerto, London Symphony Orchestra, Kyung-Wha Chung, The Super Analogue Disc (Vinyl)
58 Fiona Apple - When The Pawn
59 Luis Miguel - Romance
60 Luis Miguel - Aries
61 Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
62 Karl Denson's Dance Lesson #2
63 Nickel - This side
64 B&W - A sound experience
65 Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions
66 Cantate-Domino by Oscar's Motet Choir SACD
67 Queen, A Kind Of Magic, vinly version
68 John Mayer - where the light is Live in LA, BD version
69 Led Zeppelin albums 1,2,3, and 4 (Vinyl version)
70 Tom Petty's MOJO (Vinyl version)
71 Pink Floyd's "The Wall" (Vinyl version)
72 CSO Brass Live - Hybrid SACD (CSO Resound)
73 Mylo Xyloto by coldplay
74 Tracy Chapman - Crossroads, vinyl version
75 Tom Petty's Hard Promise (Vinyl version)
76 Radiohead - The King of Limbs Live from the Basement (BR version)
77 Jack White - Blunderbuss
78 Russian Violin Concertos - Fischer/Kreizberg first "proper" SACD
79 Mozart: Quartet & Quintets - Kuijken String Quartet
80 The Doobie Brothers - What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits Ultradisc UHR™ SACD
81 Chris Jones - Roadhouses & Automobiles (CD : Stockfisch Records)
82 Johnny A - Get Inside
83 Johnny A - Sometime Tuesday Morning
84 Paper Airplane - Alison Krauss and Union Station, CD
85 Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg's Twin sons of different mothers (original vinyl)
86 Come Away With Me - Norah Jones, SACD
87 The Idler Wheel - Fiona Apple, CD
88 Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
89 The Sky Is Crying - Stevie Ray Vaughn , SACD
90 Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Music Hall [Blu-ray] (2007)
91 The Girl In The Other Room - Diana Krall, SACD, CD
92 The Planets, Op 32, Gustav Holst, SACD, CD
93 Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2, SACD hybrid
94 Holst: The Planets / Elgar: 'Enigma' Variations [Limited Edition, Original recording remastered]
95 The Dark Knight Rises: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, CD
96 Batman Begins: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, CD
97 Eagles Hell Freezes Over, The Eagles, CD, DTS 5.1
98 The Last Resort by Trentemoller, CD
99 Imogen Heap, any CDs
100 Live in GaDansk Ship Yard, CD, DVD
101 Song Up in Her Head - Sarah Jarosz, CD
102 Shed Your Skin - Ray Montford, CD
103 The Four Seasons - Vivaldi, Ann Sophie Mutter, CD, DVDA
104 Broken Soul Jamboree, CD
105 Puzzle Dust EP, CD
106 Bubble Control EP, CD
107 Surrounded, DVDA, DTS CD
108 Pergolesi: Stabat Mater - A tribute to Pergolesi, HD Flac 96/24
109 Mahler: Symphony No 5 / Abbado, Lucerne Festival Overture, BR
110 The Greatest - Cat Power, CD
111 Flute Mystery by Fred Jonny Berg [Blu-ray Audio] [Hybrid SACD - DSD]
112 Baby, It's Cold Outside - Holly Cole, KOCH Records, FLAC 44.1/16
113 Mahler: Symphony 8 [Blu-ray] (2011)
114 Hearts And Flowers - Joan Armatrading, CD
115 Borodin Symphony No.2 in B Minor - RCA Victor LSC-2298 Red Seal

I am listening to #115 again, definitely a high quality vinyl, strings are smooth, brass are airy, and golden warm. For $30 I thought it was a good deal. It does (could be just my copy/luck) have a couple of static pops but most of them do anyway.

Now we need to talk about how to shorten it to say 50. The goal would be that each of the 50 will be of truly high quality, high enough to take advantage of the best 2 channel home systems.

 

[PENG]

I did skip a couple this time as I had trouble identifying what they really were, i.e. couldn't google them for purchase info.

 

[dgkirkman]

anything of Michael Jackson especially the late 80s to early 90s. his production is very clear (nothing steps over each other) beat it, n billy jean, n just leave me alone, for example

 

[Gordonj]

I did skip a couple this time as I had trouble identifying what they really were, i.e. couldn't google them for purchase info.

Wow! What a great list and thank you for all of the effort compiling it all!

Gordon

 

[moves]

anything of Michael Jackson especially the late 80s to early 90s. his production is very clear (nothing steps over each other) beat it, n billy jean, n just leave me alone, for example

Word! His albums sounds crisp.

Has anyone heard the Roger Waters BD?

*edit* seen the BD...