High quality sound albums

[j_garcia]

Much of Hoffman's stuff is well regarded, so that likely has as much to do with him as the recording process.

I have a CD copy of Jazz at the Pawnshop that was burned from an analog master (don't ask ) It is the only CD that I have that really does sound as good as my better SACDs. I do also however have the SACD of Jazz at the Pawnshop and I have to say, I do hear slight improvements on the SACD. There is just a tiny bit more detail and depth, but overall, I can't say that I could pick one out over the other in a blind test.

I have Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue and Companion on CD as well as SACD and in those cases, the SACDs definitely have more clarity, but it isn't like I go back to listening to the CDs and think to myself "Wow, this sounds bad.", because it doesn't. If the music is good and the recording/mastering is good, what more could you ask for? It is about the music after all. That extra detail is a sublime yet subtle addition that I enjoy but can't say makes me enjoy the music that much more.

I have to agree about Porcupine Tree's Anesthetize BD also (and if you haven't heard it, Grace for Drowning BD). Anesthetize actually surprised me on both the audio and video portions. The video is crystal clear and the audio is pretty stellar as I've come to expect from Wilson these days. I've been watching this one more frequently lately.

 

[cpp]

Keb 'Mo' sounds pretty darn good as SACD
Music Direct - KEB' MO' - KEB' MO' (NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION HYBRID SACD)

 

[Geno]

Do yourself a favor and take a look at the recordings from AIX. The guy who is the proprietor, Mark Waldrep is a genuine SQ junkie, I'd say in the same league as TLS Guy, and has been putting out stunning recordings for many years. One of my favorites is "Guitar Noir" by Laurence Juber (on DVD-Audio), but AIX has now branched out into Blu-Ray, of course. If you've got the system for it, you won't be disappointed.

 

[j_garcia]

The AIX Sampler and calibration Blu-ray disc that Oppo sent out with some of its players is excellent. I was going to mention AIX also, but that's the only disc I have from them. The SQ is amazing on it though. Going to have to pick up some more stuff from them.

 

[PENG]

We now have the following recommended list of nice sounding disc.

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.Fashion Nugget (CD)
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) funny I have 3 of hers, but don’t have the Cafe Blue, yet..
10.Grace for Drowning BR
11.KEB' MO' - KEB' MO' (NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION HYBRID SACD)
12.Guitar Noir by Laurence Juber (on DVD-Audio)

I hope by the end of the week this will increase to 20. For sure I will be ordering some if not all of them, over time.

 

[3db]

We now have the following recommended list of nice sounding disc.

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.Fashion Nugget (CD)
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) funny I have 3 of hers, but don’t have the Cafe Blue, yet..
10.Grace for Drowning BR
11.KEB' MO' - KEB' MO' (NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION HYBRID SACD)
12.Guitar Noir by Laurence Juber (on DVD-Audio)

I hope by the end of the week this will increase to 20. For sure I will be ordering some if not all of them, over time.

Just to make sure....

Since you own a turntable.. Tom Petty's MOJO is extremely well recorded on vinyl. Buying it on vinyl will give you download coupons for the MP3 and FLAC formats.

I use this recording on vinyl as well to showcase the sound of vinyl.

 

[GO-NAD!]

I forgot to list some of my own favourite albums for testing sound quality purposes, the following are a few examples.

CD (All sound as good or better than some of my SACDs)

Carmina Burana, Telarc CD-80056
Symphonie Fantastique, Reference Recordings RR-11CD1812, Telarc CD-80041 (I bought the SACD version last year for much less)

SACD

Silk Road Journeys, Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble, Sony SS89782
Tchaikovsky: Korngold, Deutsche Grammophon
Dancing in the Dark, Telarc SACD-63592 or any of the Tierney Sutton SACD you can find on Amazon.com

Hey, I have that one! I had been looking for a recording of that symphony and found that one at a used record store. I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination, but I figured it was the best recording of any music that I own - and I have about 600 CDs.

My setup isn't in the price range that you mentioned, but the quality of that recording was pretty obvious to me.

I picked this up last year and I think it was very well-recorded also:

Miserere/Vox Patris Caelestis: P-Tallis Scholars Phillips: Amazon.ca: Music

 

[j_garcia]

We now have the following recommended list of nice sounding disc.

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.Fashion Nugget (CD)
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) funny I have 3 of hers, but don’t have the Cafe Blue, yet..
10.Grace for Drowning BR
11.KEB' MO' - KEB' MO' (NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION HYBRID SACD)
12.Guitar Noir by Laurence Juber (on DVD-Audio)

I hope by the end of the week this will increase to 20. For sure I will be ordering some if not all of them, over time.

Jazz at the Pawnshop CD/SACD
For Steely Dan I'd also add Gaucho DVD-A/SACD Another excellent sounding disc.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Peter Aczel, over at "The Audio Critic" was very impressed with recordings from iso mike.

Based on his reviews, I bought the Beethoven and Haydn discs. The regular prices are fairly steep, but you can sign up for e-mail notification of sale prices. I actually bought mine on sale when I saw an ad on the Audioholics website. I would never have bought them at regular prices, but I believe I got mine for 1/2 price.

As for the quality of the recordings, it's been a while since I listened to either. I'd have to do a direct comparison with the Berlioz CD to say whether the isomike recordings are better. A piece such Symphonie Fantastique is a pretty different animal from chamber music, so I'll have to do a pretty critical comparison. I'll get back to you on that....

 

[zildjian]

This is a high quality sound album, but the music is funky jazz electric fusion. The first track is exciting and fun though. It's an SACD hybrid for $9 on Amazon now.

 

[audiofox]

My favorite example of the importance of the transfer and mastering is "6 and 12 String Guitar" by Leo Kottke. I bought a first generation CD right after they were released in the mid-80s and was amazed at how much worse it sounded as compared to the vinyl version-since I learned a few of the songs on that album, my wife, who is NOT an audiophile but is familiar with the album, also noticed the difference. That first comparison was done on a Thorens TD125 Mk II/SME 3009/Audio Technical ML150 vs a Sony CDP-102 CD player. That comparison still holds with my current setup (VPI HW-19 Mk IV/SME 309 tonearm/AT OC9 vs an Oppo BDP-83 player), so I can only conclude that it was the transfer process, not the original source material. The original vinyl (especially the first pressing on the Takoma label) is very good, probably one of the top acoustic guitar albums I own.

Regarding high quality music, here are a few more nominations (including a few jazz titles, which seem to be absent):

Donald Fagen-The Nightfly (vinyl, DVD-audio)
Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here (Nimbus vinyl, Analogue Productions SACD)
Sonny Rollins-Way Out West (vinyl, MoFi CD)
Ry Cooder-Jazz (vinyl) (actually, any Ry Cooder recording is pretty high quality)
John Coltrane-Blue Train (vinyl, SACD)

 

[PENG]

Looks like we have more than 20 already but I will update the master list this weekend.

 

[HexOmega]

Jazz at the Pawnshop CD/SACD
For Steely Dan I'd also add Gaucho DVD-A/SACD Another excellent sounding disc.

I second the Gaucho DVD-A and would like to remind you to add the Porcupine Tree "Anesthetize" Blu-ray

 

[PENG]

I second the Gaucho DVD-A and would like to remind you to add the Porcupine Tree "Anesthetize" Blu-ray

Yes, I captured that one in post 25 . I will be adding all new ones to that list.

 

[HexOmega]

Yes, I captured that one in post 25 . I will be adding all new ones to that list.

Whoops, my apologies for the oversight

 

[PENG]

Whoops, my apologies for the oversight

None needed, but now you have to list at least one more high quality sound album that you are familiar with even if you don't own it.

 

[PENG]

No one has listed any HDCD yet so I spent some time re-listening to some of mine. I am now comfortable recommending this one, a very old recording, originally released in 1958 as Atlantic LP-1280.

The Jazz Modes play excerpts from the Frank Loesser Musical, The Most Happy Fella, KOC-CD-8507

 

[Irvrobinson]

Some of my all-time favorite jazz CDs that happen to be well-recorded:

The Harper Brothers, Remembrance, Live at the Village Vanguard. Polygram. (BTW, I have been using this as a speaker shopping test CD since about 1992.)

David Benoit, Waiting for Spring, GRP. Recorded live to two-track.

Michel Camino, Solo, Telarc. (IMO, his best work so far.)

Larry Goldings, Awareness, Warner Brothers. Recorded live to two-track, and very nicely done.

Houston Person, The Art and Soul of, 3 CD set, HighNote. Incredibly well performed and recorded. One of the few recordings I've heard to get the drums right in the mix. If you only buy one...

 

[PENG]

The following list includes every album (vinyl, CD, SACD, DVD-A, BR, HDCD) mentioned in this thread so far except 30 through 37 are my own picks and 38 is probably ADTG's. I seem to remember (not 100% sure) he told me he used it for auditioning speakers. Regardless, I have faith in any Yo-Yo's SACDs. It is unlikely that all of us would enjoy all of the contents in the listed albums, but I hope any of them could be good choice for serious auditioning of audio equipment/system such that if the equipment/system does not sound good at least you know the source media is not the reason.

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. Tchaikovsky, Korngold: Violin Concertos, Deutsche Grammophon (SACD)
34. Dancing in the Dark, Telarc SACD-63592 or any of the Tierney Sutton SACD
35. Concord Jazz SACD Sampler Volume 2
36. The Most Happy Fella, KOC-CD-8507
37. Patricia Barber nightclub UDSACD 2004
38. Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone (Hybr) (Snys) (Hybrid SACD – DSD)

Many thanks to all of you again for your contribution.

 

[ChrisL9472]

I don't understand vinyl at all. I have some friends that think they "get to the soul of the music". Not me, I hear distortion, noise, and lack of deep bass. I have heard vinyl playback systems that sound "warmer" than I hear from digital, but that has to be a frequency response anomaly from the vinyl playback system, not a failing of digital.

I'm not convinced SACDs sound inherently better than CDs. I can't tell the difference the best CDs and the best SACDs. I don't even use an SACD player anymore. PENG lists a bunch of Telarc albums (my favorite label), and I can't hear a difference on the same Telarc recordings.

I can't hear the difference between SACDs and CDs on my other favorite label, Mobile Fidelity, either. The latest Linda Ronstadt releases on MF are amazing, and sound the same to me on the SACD layer or the CD layer, when I hook back up an SACD player. The funny thing is, they sound awesome and they were recorded on analog back when I was better looking and had a full head of hair.

HDCDs don't sound better on DACs that support HDCD (like the Levensons) than on those that don't (like the Benchmarks).

The funny thing is, I'm one of those weird people that have preferences about solid state amplifiers and CD players, but recordings do seem to vary more by the recording procedure than by the differences between CD and SACD process.

I hear obvious improvements on even 2 channel SACD over CD. Not as much with classical solo instrumental, chamber, vocals, etc., but recordings with a bigger bottom end. Especially some of the rock/pop SACD's, which are sadly few and far between nowadays. I imagine the differences even greater on mutil-channel, assuming they were produced/mixed correctly.

Your comments on SACD vs. CD leave me as perplexed as you are about Vinyl vs. CD.