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Author Topic: Audio gems....what have you found  (Read 4807 times)

a9ennis

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Audio gems....what have you found
« on: February 07, 2013, 05:14:04 pm »

We all love the audio quality of jriver, but well recorded and produced performances are so important. So what  have you found that you think are truly reference level CDs DVDs or rips.

Let's concentrate on sharing the hidden, less well know ones.

The absolute best recording I have in my collection, is.....

David Gilmore in concert....this DVD has a hidden gem, the DVD has a 2 channel 24bit 48khz LPCM audio of the concert which if ripped off the DVD to 24bit wav files sounds just amazing, better than any sacd I have heard. It's also an amazing performance by David.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Gilmour-Concert-DVD/dp/B00006FR4D

So what's you best.??
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kstuart

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2013, 08:44:59 pm »

I find (and I am not alone) that the best recordings are from the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Of course, this is contrary to what the average person probably thinks (that advanced technology means better sound quality).   The reasons are:

* That the expertise of the recording engineers is the most important factor.  Prior to the Rock age, recording music was not a glamor occupation, and so it was more often done by a trained and dedicated professional (rather than by the artist's cousin).

* That the quality of the equipment, rather than its technology, was the second most important factor. In that period, magnetic tape was in widespread use, and the upgrade from the shellac-based systems of the pre-war era was enough to make other factors more crucial to sound quality.  In those days, professional equipment was all hand made to precise standards, and machined from high quality materials.   As a result, equipment would perform closer to specifications.

* The lower complexity of early systems inadvertently led to better sound quality.   Recording stereo with two microphones leads to a more natural sounding stereo image.   Later miking with dozens of microphones resulted in smearing in time domain, or mismatched sound fields.

My favorite of those recordings is Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fritz Reiner in 1960, recorded with three microphones by Lewis Layton.   It is my favorite audio recording because it is also perhaps the best performance of that piece of music.  (For those who have not heard the piece, it is romantic classical music, perhaps what would now be called "movie music".)

The SACD is an essentially transparent transfer of the original master tape, and the recording sounds like you are sitting in Chicago's Orchestra Hall.

You can buy the Hybrid SACD for US$9 on Amazon:

www.amazon.com/Rimsky-Korsakov-Scheherazade-Stravinsky-Nightingale-Hybrid/dp/B0006PV5VC/

mykillk

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2013, 02:30:45 am »

kstuart what kind of setup do you have for listening to SACD?
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Tiago C

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2013, 03:02:36 am »

The legend of the black shawarma by infected mushroom is one of my favorites in therms of digital recordings.
The amazing number of details you can ear in the songs (even if you don't like the style) is amazing.

Give it a try.
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InflatableMouse

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2013, 03:44:06 am »

Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 "Organ" / Dukas: L'Apprenti Sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

I don't think it can get much better than that.

For lesser known work, Howard Levy & Paul Sprawl.
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kstuart

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2013, 12:52:34 pm »

kstuart what kind of setup do you have for listening to SACD?
When I first started to listen to SACDs, a Sony SACD player connected with six analog interconnects to my Onkyo A/V receiver (so I often listened to the multichannel mixes).

Now I also use MC18 to play ISO file rips of my SACDs.  For audiophile playback, I currently use a HRT Music Streamer Two Plus DAC which is stereo only and limited to 24/96, so I use MC18 to down-convert the SACD.  It should be a little better to use DSD direct (and hope to have a DSD-capable DAC when they become more affordable).

kstuart

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2013, 12:57:15 pm »

Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 "Organ" / Dukas: L'Apprenti Sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

I have not heard the DG disk you have linked.   I can recommend two other performances:

Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony in Boston Symphony Hall on SACD by RCA Living Stereo:

http://www.amazon.com/Saint-Saëns-Symphony-Organ-Debussy-Escales/dp/B000003FEG/

Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on Mercury Living Presence CD:

http://www.amazon.com/Saint-Saëns-Symphony-Paray-500th-Anniversary/dp/B0000057L4/


InflatableMouse

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2013, 01:29:00 pm »

I'll have a look at those but beware, I'm awefully biased towards "my" verson due to sentimental value  ;D.

Thanks for suggesting.

ps. whats DG mean?  ?
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kstuart

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2013, 02:27:32 pm »

I'll have a look at those but beware, I'm awefully biased towards "my" verson due to sentimental value  ;D.

Thanks for suggesting.

ps. whats DG mean?  ?
Deutsche Grammophon, the record label.

I'll see if I can listen to that one too - I have other things conducted by James Levine, and various organ performances by Simon Preston, they are both excellent artists.

John Gateley

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2013, 09:36:40 pm »

David Gilmour, Infected Mushroom, and Deutsche Grammaphon. Very nice taste y'all. Gilmour is my favorite guitarist/songwriter ever, and Infected Mushroom is very cool klezmer-pop, and classical on DG is the best.

glynor

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2013, 11:37:16 pm »

This is a totally different Genre than what you're talking about, and even different than "me" much of the time, but...

Grateful Dead - Barton Hall, Cornell University, 1977-05-08

There are some absolutely pristine board recordings of that show, and they were absolutely "on" that night.
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MrC

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #11 on: February 09, 2013, 03:40:42 am »

Pat Metheny, Imaginay Day DVD-A.
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RSleith

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #12 on: February 09, 2013, 10:01:33 am »

David Gilmore in concert....

Just ordered this based on your rec. My sweetie loves David Gilmore, so this'll be a great Valentine's Day gift!
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InflatableMouse

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #13 on: February 09, 2013, 10:37:02 am »

Pat Metheny, Imaginay Day DVD-A.

Is this mastered differently from the regular CD or is it 'just' higher resolution?

Pretty much everything from Pat Metheny sounds pretty darn good though.
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MrC

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InflatableMouse

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Re: Audio gems....what have you found
« Reply #15 on: February 09, 2013, 03:07:45 pm »

Cool. Thanks.

Another masterpiece I really like and not many know or have heard of is

Doudou Ndiaye Rose - Djabote.

50 African drummers and a choir of 80 singers. There's some amazing detail in the drums but it really needs a good system to bring it all out.

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