High quality sound albums

[PENG]

Affordable SACD

Gents, if you have not the tried those cheap RCA Living Stereo SACD you might want to try at least this one:

Dvorak New World Symphony

I have several of the Living Stereo SACD albums but seldom/never played them perhaps because subconsciously I didn't expect them to sound good due to their low price point of <$10 (a big mistaker and misconception).

Well, recently I listened to the symphony 'live', as usual and as soon as I came home I looked for this title and I realized the only New World I had on the shelves was the Living Stereo one. To my surprise, it sounded pretty close to my fresh in mind/memory 'live' experience. The Brass certainly did not come as close, missing the warmth and 'air' but the rest of it came really closed. Now, for those with better equipment, such as TLSG, ADTG, IRVR they may even be able to capture that 'air' from the brass. On top of that, the Chicago symphony orchestra obviously did a better job than the 'live' one I just listened to. What an amazing value for $11 (current price)!!

 

[PENG]

Adele BD

this is the ****

I have only one Adele and it is vinyl (Adele 19). It is one of my worst vinyl album at least in terms of sound quality. Thanks for mentioning the BD though, otherwise I would not known Amazon.com now has it on sale. You meant the Live at The Royal Albert Hall right?

 

[Adam]

Gents, if you have not the tried those cheap RCA Living Stereo SACD you might want to try at least this one:

Dvorak New World Symphony

Just ordered it!

 

[PENG]

Any vinyl albums to add, before I update the list?

 

[audiofox]

Gents, if you have not the tried those cheap RCA Living Stereo SACD you might want to try at least this one:

Dvorak New World Symphony

I have several of the Living Stereo SACD albums but seldom/never played them perhaps because subconsciously I didn't expect them to sound good due to their low price point of <$10 (a big mistaker and misconception).

Well, recently I listened to the symphony 'live', as usual and as soon as I came home I looked for this title and I realized the only New World I had on the shelves was the Living Stereo one. To my surprise, it sounded pretty close to my fresh in mind/memory 'live' experience. The Brass certainly did not come as close, missing the warmth and 'air' but the rest of it came really closed. Now, for those with better equipment, such as TLSG, ADTG, IRVR they may even be able to capture that 'air' from the brass. On top of that, the Chicago symphony orchestra obviously did a better job than the 'live' one I just listened to. What an amazing value for $11 (current price)!!

Yep, that's a good one, as are all the Fritz Reiner/Chicago Symphony RCA SACDs, and they are a LOT cheaper than the original vinyl (if you can even find them) or the Classic Records reissues. 3dB, many of these are recorded in 3 channel sound (L-C-R), which was the original miking and tape recording format for some of the Living Stereo recordings (surround sound way back in the mid to late 50s!), so don't automatically discount multichannel, especially if the source material was recorded that way-these particular SACDs might change your mind. BTW, you can almost pick one of the RCA LS SACDs at random and have a great listening experience-I had forgotten about these, so thanks for the posting to remind me.

PENG, one more for the list from this evening's listening: Leonard Cohen-Songs of (his debut album, Columbia CS 9533, 1968)-features the classic 60s folk love song "Suzanne"-just Lenny, a guitar and his famous gravelly voice. I'm still looking for the elusive monaural version, which seems to be as rare as hen's teeth, but this copy will keep me happy for awhile (still has the original lyrics insert so I can sing along).

 

[djreef]

Gents, if you have not the tried those cheap RCA Living Stereo SACD you might want to try at least this one:

Dvorak New World Symphony

I have several of the Living Stereo SACD albums but seldom/never played them perhaps because subconsciously I didn't expect them to sound good due to their low price point of <$10 (a big mistaker and misconception).

Well, recently I listened to the symphony 'live', as usual and as soon as I came home I looked for this title and I realized the only New World I had on the shelves was the Living Stereo one. To my surprise, it sounded pretty close to my fresh in mind/memory 'live' experience. The Brass certainly did not come as close, missing the warmth and 'air' but the rest of it came really closed. Now, for those with better equipment, such as TLSG, ADTG, IRVR they may even be able to capture that 'air' from the brass. On top of that, the Chicago symphony orchestra obviously did a better job than the 'live' one I just listened to. What an amazing value for $11 (current price)!!

Not only have I tried them, but I have gone to great lengths to collect every single one of them. Yes, I own every damn last one of them even paying $40+ for the last 3 or so. I have a disease. It's called Completism. Once i start, I can't stop. Somebody please help me.

DJ

 

[PENG]

The list is getting long. Thanks to DS-21 who added at least 15 in one single post.

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
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)

Or, sorted alphabetically:

1 6 and 12 String Guitar by Leo Kottke
2 A night at the opera, Queen, DVD-A
3 Aja by Steely Dan CD with the MCA label, Catalog # MCAD-37214
4 Anesthetize by Porcupine Tree (BR)
5 Automatic For The People, R.E.M. DVD-A
6 Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, "Live Art", CD
7 Brain (Hybr) [Hybrid SACD – DSD
8 Breaking Silence (Gold CD, Limited Edition)
9 Cake Fashion Nugget (CD/Vinyl)
10 Carmina Burana, Telarc CD-80056
11 Concord Jazz SACD Sampler Volume 2
12 Concord On A Summer Night Dave Brubeck Quartet, CAT # SACD-1025-6
13 Dancing in the Dark, Telarc SACD-63592 or any of the Tierney Sutton SACD
14 David Benoit, Waiting for Spring, GRP, CD
15 Depeche Mode – Violator (CD/SACD)
16 Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (CD/SACD/Vinyl)
17 Donald Fagen-The Nightfly (vinyl, DVD-audio)
18 DSOTM, SACD
19 Dvorak New World Symphony, SACD, RCA Living Stereo
20 Everything But the Girl, "Acoustic"
21 Fry Street Quartet Beethoven, ISO Mike
22 Fry Street Quartet Haydn, ISO Mike
23 Gaucho DVD-A/SACD
24 Grace for Drowning BR
25 Green, R.E.M., DVD-A
26 Guitar Noir by Laurence Juber (on DVD-Audio)
27 Houston Person, The Art and Soul of, 3 CD set, HighNote
28 Jazz at the Pawnshop CD/SACD
29 John Coltrane-Blue Train (vinyl, SACD)
30 John Elliot Gardiner conducting the Philharmonia through Holst's "The Planets" and Percy Grainger's "The Warriors", CD
31 KEB' MO' - KEB' MO' (NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION HYBRID SACD)
32 Larry Goldings, Awareness, Warner Brothers, CD
33 Live at Royal Albert Hall, Adele, BR
34 Mahler: Symphony No 5 / Abbado, Lucerne Festival Overture (BR)
35 Michel Camino, Solo, Telarc, CD
36 Miserere/Vox Patris Caelestis
37 Natalie Merchant, "Tigerlily" (Mo-Fi)
38 Out of Time, R.E.M. DVD-A
39 Patricia Barber nightclub UDSACD 2004
40 Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue and Companion (CD/SACD)
41 Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here (Nimbus vinyl, Analogue Productions SACD)
42 Radiohead, all, CD
43 Ry Cooder-Jazz (vinyl) (actually, any Ry Cooder recording is pretty high quality)
44 Saint-Saens Violin Concerto, Vieustemps Violin Concerto London Symphony Orchestra, Kyung-Wha Chung, The Super Analogue Disc (Vinyl)
45 Sea Change, Beck, DVD-A
46 Silk Road Journeys, Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble, Sony SS89782 (SACD)
47 Sonny Rollins-Way Out West (vinyl, MoFi CD)
48 Symphonie Fantastique, Reference Recordings RR-11CD1812, Telarc CD-80041
49 Tchaikovsky, Korngold: Violin Concertos, Deutsche Grammophon (SACD)
50 The Harper Brothers, Remembrance, Live at the Village Vanguard. Polygram, CD
51 The Most Happy Fella, KOC-CD-8507
52 The Who, "Quadrophenia" (Mo-Fi), CD
53 Third Eye Blind (CD)
54 Tokyo Kosei wind orchestra, "Year of the Dragon", CD
55 Yo-Yo Ma & Friends songs of Joy & Peace, CD
56 Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone (Hybr) (Snys) (Hybrid SACD – DSD)
57 Yuri Temirkanov conducting the St. Petersburg Philharmonic through Shostakovich 7, CD

 

[djreef]

Man Peng,

That's one sweet list. I own, I think , a third of them.

DJ

 

[PENG]

Well the first one from list I acquired is Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall. VQ is excellent. SQ is too but I am disappointed with the slightly and occasionally distorted vocal. I know nothing about recording, may be someone like TLSG could explain to me why such an otherwise flawless disc would have such issue. If I were to guess, may be she was a little too close to the mic and the mic does not have enough dynamic range capability? I am sure it isn't that simple though. Regardless, overall I do think it belong to this list. I think not eveyone will be bothered by the slightly/occasionally distorted vocal anyway.

 

[afterlife2]

Fiona Apple - When The Pawn. Wish it was SACD.

 

[djreef]

Fiona Apple - When The Pawn. Wish it was SACD.

Werd.

Wot's with this 10 characters crap?

DJ

 

[afterlife2]

werd.

Wot's with this 10 characters crap?

Dj

lol i don't know but it's a brilliant cd.

 

[afterlife2]

I got a couple of others: Luis Miguel - Romance and Aries. Beautiful productions.

 

[djreef]

lol i don't know but it's a brilliant cd.

No, I agree with the pick, it's just the thread demanded that I type out a complete sentence to respond. Most here that know me understand how difficult that is for me red cramp doctor party cod gondra scopic might sciatica sore.

DJ

 

[TLS Guy]

Well the first one from list I acquired is Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall. VQ is excellent. SQ is too but I am disappointed with the slightly and occasionally distorted vocal. I know nothing about recording, may be someone like TLSG could explain to me why such an otherwise flawless disc would have such issue. If I were to guess, may be she was a little too close to the mic and the mic does not have enough dynamic range capability? I am sure it isn't that simple though. Regardless, overall I do think it belong to this list. I think not eveyone will be bothered by the slightly/occasionally distorted vocal anyway.

A couple of likely reasons. First the radio mic, some singers just have too much dynamic range for some radio mics.

The other is the old sore of input stage headroom on the individual mix channels in the mixer.

There are still a lot of mixers in this day and age, that have the trim as a variable control after the first stage of amplification. This can and does run out of headroom. Turning down the trim then does not stop the distortion. So the only solution is an attenuator at the plug on of the offending mic on the mix board.

A better solution is to put the trim in the gain feedback of the first op amp voltage amplifier. This increases headroom as you reduce gain.

Digital mics are becoming more common, with fully digital mix decks, but these are very expensive and not usually found on the road.

 

[afterlife2]

No, I agree with the pick, it's just the thread demanded that I type out a complete sentence to respond. Most here that know me understand how difficult that is for me red cramp doctor party cod gondra scopic might sciatica sore.

DJ

lol that was funny. She has been in the business for 16 years and only has 3 CD's. There is suppose to be a NEW one this year.

 

[Craigslist Joe]

Great topic! The lists are already great but I have one humble submission:
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe - Dance Lesson #2

The quality of the recording is impeccible.

Check out the title track, especially: the scratching of DJ Logic adds some great texture

 

[caper26]

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
.

+1 on this one.

 

[adwilk]

I really like Nickel Creek "This Side"... Its in my audition case... CD
Bowers and Wilkins had a promo DVD you could get for free called "A Sound Experience". I've had it a couple years now and its top notch in terms of recording. It was sent to dealers I believe to show off the 800D. It has some Multi Channel Audio and some Video as well. You could probably email them and they would send you one.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Here's another one I forgot to mention: "The Trinity Sessions", by the Cowboy Junkies. It was recorded in a church with a single mic - the Calrec Soundfield. I don't know if that's a good one or not. But the album has an atmosphere that I would describe as ethereal.