Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 2381 times.

Mag

Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« on: 4 May 2023, 03:52 pm »
  In this thread I want audiophiles to recommend an Audiophile album. Post only 1 album at a time, although you can make another post if you have another recommendation.

  I'll starte 'er off with Pierre Moerlen's Gong- Time is the Key



GeorgeAb

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 391
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #1 on: 4 May 2023, 08:09 pm »
Doug MacLean's Till Tomorrow on Linn Records. Its on Qobuz. You will be hard pressed to find a bad Linn Records release. Going to cheat and add Maeve O'Boyle's All My Sins also from Linn. 







GeorgeAb

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 391
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #2 on: 4 May 2023, 08:14 pm »
Joe Henry's recording are always stellar with super production quality. This new release "All The Eye Can See" is no exception. 




GeorgeAb

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 391
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #3 on: 4 May 2023, 08:19 pm »
Stockfisch Studios puts out great recordings. This is my favorite from Stockfish Steve Strauss Just Like Love, excellent production. Second favorite is The Paperboys.






GeorgeAb

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 391
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #4 on: 4 May 2023, 08:28 pm »
Last one for today. Not a big classical guy, but this is stellar off of Wilson Audiophile Recordings. Charles West, Susan Grace's Treasures for Clarinet and Piano. Its on Qobuz and I have the disc.

Thanks for the thread Mag. Going to listen to Pierre Moerlen's Gong- Time is the Key now. 




GeorgeAb

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 391
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #5 on: 5 May 2023, 11:53 pm »
Steven Wilson Mix and Master of Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick




decal

Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #6 on: 6 May 2023, 12:29 am »
Try to find an original 1974 Asylum recording of Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell.

FullRangeMan

  • Volunteer
  • Posts: 20386
  • To whom more was given more will be required.
    • Never go to a psychiatrist, adopt a straycat or dog. On the street they live only two years average.

FullRangeMan

  • Volunteer
  • Posts: 20386
  • To whom more was given more will be required.
    • Never go to a psychiatrist, adopt a straycat or dog. On the street they live only two years average.
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #8 on: 6 May 2023, 06:33 am »
Iam was surprised how good is the sound in this SACD (better than TimeOut/D.Brubeck and Kind of Blue/Davis) there is no a small bit of tape hiss, even close to the speakers.
For me it is the best album of the late Isaac Hayes, great soundstrack and an of the best of the Soul Music. I note various SACDs of this Riverside/Fantasy series have always very good sound. Certainly deserve all the huge success this album had in the 70's.
https://www.sa-cd.net/showreviews/1645

bkatbamna

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 87
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #9 on: 6 May 2023, 03:03 pm »

S Clark

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 7414
  • a riot is the language of the unheard- Dr. King
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #10 on: 6 May 2023, 09:16 pm »
There are so many. Are you asking as an intellectual exercise or looking for listening recommendation? I know in my case it doesn't matter how good the recording, I'll never listen to certain genres.   

Pop-  "The Hunter"  Jennifer Warnes.  Spatial imaging is excellent. 


Mitsuman

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 759
  • Diamond Tone Junkie
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #11 on: 7 May 2023, 01:51 pm »

Jazzman53

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 754
  • Jazzman's DIY Electrostatic Loudspeaker Page
    • Jazzman's Electrostatic Loudspeaker Page
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #12 on: 7 May 2023, 10:53 pm »



Tyson

Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #13 on: 8 May 2023, 12:26 am »

FullRangeMan

  • Volunteer
  • Posts: 20386
  • To whom more was given more will be required.
    • Never go to a psychiatrist, adopt a straycat or dog. On the street they live only two years average.
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #14 on: 11 May 2023, 06:28 am »
Great analog recordings from Pat Moran with little compression even on the CD release:
https://www.sa-cd.net/search/Van+Der+Graaf+Generator
« Last Edit: 11 May 2023, 08:14 am by FullRangeMan »

simoon

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 941
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #15 on: 11 May 2023, 04:41 pm »
I have a pretty narrow view on what constitutes audiophile recordings. And no, a recording does not have to on an audiophile label to quality as an audiophile recording. In fact, there are a couple of budget labels, with some audiophile level recordings.

For me, not only does a recording have to have: great dynamics, full frequency spectrum, very low distortion, detail, timbral accuracy, but, it also has to have a naturally recorded soundstage and image.

What I mean by a naturally recorded soundstage and image, is: where all the musicians are playing at the same time, in the same acoustic space, where the recording engineer takes great effort to capture the spatial cues, the natural ambience, and the musicians locations within the acoustic space. Usually this entails using a Decca Tree, Blumlein Pair, AB, or similar microphone setup.

As opposed to the vast majority of studio recordings, where each musician is recorded separately from the other musicians with a mono mic, and their position within whatever soundstage exists, is created by: panning, using delays, phasing, etc, etc.

The end results of the former are, for example, when a musician sounds like they are coming from the far left, 10 feet back in the soundstage, it is because that is actually where they were playing when the recording was made. Not because some engineer panned them to the far left, and added the right amount of delay to make it sound as if that is where they were.

Of course, the vast majority of these types of recordings are classical and acoustic jazz. 

So, even though I listen to a lot of studio recorded rock and jazz-fusion albums, and even though many have: great dynamics, full frequency spectrum, very low distortion, detail, timbral accuracy, without that naturally recorded soundstage and image, they don't qualify, for me, as audiophile recordings. Great recordings yes, audiophile no.

I am a big Pierre Moerlen fan, but, by my criteria, the album in the OP, although it is a great sounding recording for sure, does not qualify as an audiophile recording for me. Same with the Steve Wilson mix of Thick as a Brick.

The following album, for me, qualifies as an audiophile recording. It is on the budget label, Varèse International.

This recording, has a soundstage that extends past the outside edges of the speakers, and loads of depth. And each musician is well defined within the soundstage, and I can 'hear the walls' of the acoustic space. It is quite easy to hear, that the soundstage is a reproduction of the actual music event, and not one created in the studio.

Musically, it is late 20th century classical music, and pretty angular and thorny sounding, so YMMV.


VinceT

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 636
Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #16 on: 11 May 2023, 05:17 pm »


Great live jazz album
For a live show this is mixed exceptionally well.

Zuman

Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #17 on: 11 May 2023, 06:11 pm »


Brilliant recordings, extreme fidelity

WGH

Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #18 on: 11 May 2023, 06:54 pm »
Yello - Toy


Mag

Re: Recommend an Album Audiophile Quality
« Reply #19 on: 11 May 2023, 08:53 pm »
Yello - Toy



An interesting album, I found it to be creative. Not sure where to classify it, definitely Electronic, reminds me of Kraftwerk, but it's not Krautrock. :?