[Early B.]

I'm looking for companies that still make "audiophile quality" CDs. There's the usual suspects like Chesky, Mapleshade, Telarc, Mobile Fidelity, Sheffield Lab, Groove Note, etc.

Please list those you know about, especially the boutique or obscure companies that specialize in creating exceptional recordings. Links to their websites would also be helpful.

Thanks. 

[S Clark]

I have a couple of King and Paddlewheel label cd's that are excellent.  They are both recordings of the Manhattan Jazz Quintet- all Japanese produced and manufactured. 
King also produced the excellent Alan Parsons'  Tales of Mystery and Imagination, according to Discogs.

And to keep adding:  Proprius, Water Lily

[Saturn94]

BIS and 2L are good ones.

[FullRangeMan]

BIS have a amount of his catalogue recorded in 24/44 what is not audiophile.

As audiophile I would menti on Áudioquest and Wilson Áudio.

[S Clark]

BIS have a amount of his catalogue recorded in 24/44 what is not audiophile.

As audiophile I would menti on Áudioquest and Wilson Áudio.

Gustavo, I see your point, but I have to disagree.  Hi Res can be stunning, but so can Redbook when done well.  In my opinion, mastering superceeds number of bits. But your recommendation of BIS is absolutely correct.

[thunderbrick]

Gustavo, I see your point, but I have to disagree.  Hi Res can be stunning, but so can Redbook when done well.  In my opinion, mastering superceeds number of bits. But your recommendation of BIS is absolutely correct.

[FullRangeMan]

As we know there is no miracle in áudio, after this dark age BIS changed to 24/96 sign that 24/44 was no só good.

[Mike B.]

Sound Liaison

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Stockfisch records, Blue Coast, ECM

 https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/products?term.media=CDA%2CCDS&term.shop=music%2Fimports

Eastwind import below sells high quality records including XRCD's, SACD, Hybrid SACD's and a few other audio formats from Japan like blue spec CD2, etc..  I have not had a bad recording from them

http://www.eastwindimport.com/default.asp?categoryname=XRCD

[Saturn94]

As we know there is no miracle in áudio, after this dark age BIS changed to 24/96 sign that 24/44 was no só good.

The OP asked for labels that create “exceptional recordings”, not recordings that just hit certain numbers.  BIS fits the bill.

The idea that “CD quality” can’t sound exceptional is nonsense.  It’s not just the tools, but how you use them.

[dpatters]

Lots of well mastered 44.1/16 available. It’s the production that counts. I’ll take a dedicated transport, NOS DAC, and a well mastered CD every time.

Don P

[FullRangeMan]

I also want add DMP, FIM, Hugo Masters, Hyperion, Harmonia Mundi, Channel Records, Pentatone etc in varying degree of audiophile sound.

[Early B.]

Related question -- with regard to hybrid SACDs -- are the tracks recorded in higher resolution for standard CD playback?

[richidoo]

Related question -- with regard to hybrid SACDs -- are the tracks recorded in higher resolution for standard CD playback?

Hybrid CD has two different layers of data on one disk. One layer is the "redbook" files for 44.1/16 bit CD, and the other layer has the 1 bit content for a DSD player. I think one of the lasers shoots right through the other layer and ignores it. BIS makes classical hybrid SACD/CD disks and the sound is definitely audiophile quality, even on the CD layer.

In addition to BIS, Pentatone, Naxos, Cedille have consistently excellent audio quality through their whole catalogs, but they're all classical.

Reference Recordings is a traditional "audiophile approved" publisher with high res digital, vinyl, etc.
Some records are truly great sound and music recordings.

[Mike B.]

Linn

[simoon]

Yarlung Records!

https://www.yarlungrecords.com/

Not only are their recordings of the best audio quality, but they also have more than enough to find musically interesting. In other words, they would hold up musically, whether they are an audiophile recording or not.

One more major positive aspect to their business model, is the go out of their way to find extremely gifted young musicians, who have not had recording experience. And, they also donate to music schools and programs. For example, they give to the Colburn School here in LA.

[PA]

Carmen Gomes is selling redbook CD's of her critically acclaimed Audiophile DXD recordings from the  Sound Liaison label via her https://carmengomes.bandcamp.com/. site.
Highly recommended albums.
The latest, Up Jumped the Devil, opens with a sound scape featuring a drop tuned bowed double bass playing a low 27.5 hz A. before Carmen herself enters with Hellhound on My Trail.

[Early B.]

Carmen Gomes is selling redbook CD's of her critically acclaimed Audiophile DXD recordings from the  Sound Liaison label via her https://carmengomes.bandcamp.com/. site.
Highly recommended albums.

Thanks. Just placed an order for a CD copy of "Don't You Cry."

[simoon]

Reference Recordings

Best of class orchestral recordings. Super reproduction of space, soundstage, ambience, etc.


https://referencerecordings.com/

[DigIndig]

Terashima Records out of Japan does not have a website, but they produce some very high quality jazz CDs. The label is run by Yasukuni Terashima, a long-time jazz critic and audiophile. I read somewhere once that he created the label after being disappointed with the quality of recordings being released by other labels. I have found many of the recordings on his label to be highly detailed.

You can hear a few samples courtesy of Apple Music from the Yoko Teramura Trio: https://music.apple.com/us/album/teramura-yoko-moods/490562805

He has produced the Jazz Bar series since 2003 - an annual disc that highlights a number of exceptional recordings by diverse artists, some on Terashima's label, some not. In recent years (the last decade or so), they have also branched into other various artist series (For Jazz Audio Fans Only, For Jazz Vocal Fans Only, For Jazz Drums Fans Only). Several are also released on vinyl; I snap them up every time a new one is released, even though I have to pay the international express shipping costs.