Great audiophile recordings/albums

[Pano]

Originally Posted by KenCalgary

With reference to the European Union "Sound Quality Assessment Material recordings for subjective tests",

Wow. Verdi, ABBA & Eddie Rabbitt all on the same disc.
It is nice to have a reference level, tho. All test CDs should. The tuba track showed up some strange resonances in my headphones - or in my ears.

[omnispere]

Man, what a great thread. I'm still only getting through it slowly but had to throw my 2c in right now.

I'm SO happy to see Squarepusher's GO PLASTIC album is getting several mentions. The day I decided to put several thousand quid into a HiFi system I brought that album into Cloney Audio ...they made me coffee and left me alone for 30 minutes while I lashed on "The Exploding Psychology" at around 105dB. Aside from the fact that that music completely blows my analytic mind to pieces, It really pushes the envelope bass wise. It has loads of lush spacey reverbs, lots of thumping mid and plenty of sizzle. That album constitutes production of the highest order in a certain electronic context. For the 'band in the room' vibes I brought some really good Wagner and some acoustic guitar stuff so I could here what 'a good recording' sounded like.

I asked a mate of mine recently what he thought was the best sounding/recorded album of all time was, straight off he said "THRILLER, Michael Jackson". I stuck it on my new system and holy Sh1* was he right. It's beyond lush. Check it out again if you haven't for a while.

Anything by SIGUR ROS will impress. Their production is huge and very creative.

Steve Reich.... check out recordings of his work. Classical music in general if it's recorded well will sound great on a good system.

Time for a pint

[kec]

Edward Gerhard's Luna album is some of the best recorded acoustic guitar I've ever heard. A must have for acoustic guitar fans.

[lduarte1973]

" Neal Schon - Beyond the Thunder " is also a great record for acoustic guitar fans

Neal Schon - Beyond the Thunder CD. Heavy Harmonies Discography

[kec]

I've had this in my collection for many years, but never really listened to it that much. On my new system it sounds excellent. Very well recorded. If you like Ottmar Liebert or Paco De Lucia, you'll like this.

[velocitymj]

You want to buy audiophile quality music...?
There is a lot of well recorded music, but personal music taste really has something to do with whether you will enjoy it.
I found that Sheffield Labs has a lot of albums that are nothing more than well recorded bland performances and music.. something akin to audible milk toast.. (for my taste).
Part of being of being an audiophile is finding the music that you like that is a well recorded, great performance.
If you want to look for those albums and more, here are some links to audiophile record sites.

(I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Pink Floyd's "The Wall".... an amazing recording).

Acoustic Sounds
AudioPhile USA
Blue Note Records
Chesky Records: The Premiere Audiophile Record Label
.:. Dynamic .:.
Home Of XRCD!!! - elusivedisc
FIM
Fine Audio
fonè records
MA Recordings
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | Audiophile LP, Gold CD, SACD Re-Issues - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Inc.
Music Direct
Home |:. Opus 3 Artists
Reference Recordings Complete Audiophile Classical, Music Orchestra and Jazz HDCD Catalog
Spinning Dog Records: High quality CDs, SACDs, HDCDs from Hi-Fi Record Labels The Sheffield Catalog // Sheffield Lab Audiophile Recordings | The reference standard for musical and sonic excellence
TACET-Website - english
Telarc International: Home of Classical, Jazz, Blues, and Pop/Rock
Vinyl Records by Yamamoto, Tsuyoshi
Eastwind Import Home US

Notes:
Chesky records has some of the best recordings.. but they have gotten really flaky with their shipping and the last couple of years I've had to mark in my calendar to call them after a couple of weeks to get my order.. You can buy their recordings on Amazon.

fonè recordings can be bought on Elusivedisc. I'm not a fan of computer music, but I've found fonè recordings to be so good, that even their downloads are amazingly life like.. It's hard to tell that the music isn't live.. (on my system)

Personally, I have found fone

High Res. Download links:

Audiophile Downloads | Computer Audiophile
HDtracks high resolution audiophile music downloads
Linn Records - The best recordings in Studio Master Download, Vinyl and SACD
High Resolution Music DOWNLOAD services .:. FLAC in free TEST BENCH
MusicStack

Free High Res. audiophile downloads:

LESSLOSS

Amazon also has an audiophile recording section....

Links for audiophile reviews:

BEST SOUNDING RECORDINGS

Records to test HiFi with

[Smoke]

Rare Earth - Get Ready. Great sound

[velocitymj]

This is a great album.. LP or DVD only though... but awesome choice!

[lduarte1973]

anyone´s familiar with this cd ?

Neal Schon Home Page

Neal Schon says it was recorded mostly on one take and not overproduced like most cd´s on the market , maybe a good cd for system testing ?

[lduarte1973]

i listen mostly to rock music , this hardline is a good test cd , only when guitar bass drums sound right the system is well balanced , if not it sounds muddy and dark.

http://www.heavyharmonies.com/cgi-bi...Double+Eclipse