Audiophile Music Must Haves?

[Deleted member 28849]

Years ago I had my friend over for a listen to my stereo. So I asked him "What would you like to hear?" And he suggested Pink Floyd's- Dark Side of the Moon. I said to him "I don't have that one." And he said "you call yourself an audiophile!"

Since then I now have 3 versions of DSOTM- CD, DTS and sacd. I like the sacd version the best because it has the most Dynamic Range. I can crank the volume to as high as I can tolerate and there is no distortion and it sounds awesome.

Okay, so what other albums are 'Must Haves' in your collection, to be worthy of the title Audiophile?
1. Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon

 

[Bob-23]

With regards to Jazz (and Classical) I can very much recommend the independent Label ECM (Edition Contemporary Music) of Manfred Eicher. Soundquality is usually outstanding.

'ECM's motto is "the Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence", taken from a 1971 review of ECM releases in Coda, a Canadian jazz magazine.' [1]

In the discography you find Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, Ralph Towner, and many others [2].

Take dynamic range e.g., of Garbarek's recordings [3]:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECM_Records
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ECM_Records_albums
[3] https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=jan+garbarek&album=

 

[Midwest Blade]

Holly Cole - Temptation, one of the better female jazz vocalist recordings.

 

[Jim Matthews]

Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat"

 

[q3cpma]

Might seem strange, but at first glance, I'd propose:
* David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Black Sabbath's Master of Reality, incredibly clean releases.
* Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, with a one-of-a-kind, "hospital white" sterile clarity (that fits the content to a T) due to the strange recording techniques used. I cite Wikipedia:

Producer Martin Hannett "dedicated himself to capturing and intensifying Joy Division's eerie spatiality". Hannett believed punk rock was sonically conservative because of its refusal to use studio technology to create sonic space. The producer instead aimed to create a more expansive sound on the group's records. Hannett said, "[Joy Division] were a gift to a producer, because they didn't have a clue. They didn't argue". Hannett demanded clean and clear "sound separation" not only for individual instruments, but even for individual pieces of Morris's drumkit. Morris recalled, "Typically on tracks he considered to be potential singles, he'd get me to play each drum on its own to avoid any bleed-through of sound". Music journalist Richard Cook noted that Hannett's role was "crucial". There are "devices of distance" in his production and "the sound is an illusion of physicality".

* Very clean synth-pop/EBM/industrial like Alphaville's Forever Young, NIN's Pretty Hate Machine or Cocteau Twins' Garlands does wonders too.
* BIS' Eine Alpensinfonie, because this piece was the first work pressed on CD (due to its dynamic range, I've heard), and because BIS is known for its incredible sound engineering. The performance is also very good, of course. The whole is transcendental.
* Kraftwerk's Die Mensch-Maschine and Computerwelt remasters are stunning, and I find clean electronic music quite flattering for good speakers.
* Swans' early stuff (Filth, Cop, Young God, Greed, Holy Money and Children of God) along with Godflesh's Streetcleaner, because overwhelming violence and a capable full-range system are complementary.

 

[Steve356]

Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat"

Exactly this! Superb album.

 

[LTig]

Joe Jackson Body and Soul
Roger Waters Amused to Death
Janis Ian Breaking Silence

 

[Steve356]

One I would add is Aja by Steely Dan.

 

[Phorize]

Santana abraxas, they followed a great first album with an even better one, and second time round had the money to have it properly recorded. The original master is great, I quite like the MOFi cd master too.

 

[polmuaddib]

SACD version with stereo and surround mix

 

[fredoamigo]

one of the best sounds I know

 

[fieldcar]

Take dynamic range e.g., of Garbarek's recordings [3]:

I wouldn't put much blind trust in the loudness war .info website. It has been shown that the identical master on vinyl tricks the DR meter plugin pretty easily, and I wouldn't be surprised if anomalies in the recording and mastering could inflate the scores unnaturally. Some of the Garbarek recordings are certainly dynamic, but they have a ~50dB noise floor in some of the recordings.

I have no clue about the dynamic range of the following album, but I enjoy it. It usually gets a few plays when I get some new IEM's, cans, or speakers.

 

[Deleted member 31747]

One I would add is Aja by Steely Dan.

+1 Aja Steely Dan

 

[fredoamigo]

Here a very good audiophile version of the Dark Side of the Moon

 

[Taddpole]

Okay, so what other albums are 'Must Haves' in your collection, to be worthy of the title Audiophile?
1. Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon

I think your friend is inherently wrong. Though guess they found a piece you presumably now like. So that was piece of luck.

In general no sense in owning music you don't like just because someone else says it's a must have.

For a bit of a change of pace from those so far, and not my normal listening, The Planets Suite by Holst.

 

[Midwest Blade]

I have been using the "Loudness War" website as a guide but agree with the above post that it is not an end all. I still have bought a few cd's that were below average because they were albums that I wanted to have, I still try and search for well produced and engineered albums when ever possible. We are still at the mercy of the labels, some which arw better than others.

 

[Kegemusha]

+1 to Joy Division's Unknown Pleasure

 

[JeffS7444]

With regards to Jazz (and Classical) I can very much recommend the independent Label ECM (Edition Contemporary Music) of Manfred Eicher. Soundquality is usually outstanding.

Yes and I'd add "My Foolish Heart" by Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette to the list: Both in terms of performance and sonics, a real gem.

 

[Descartes]

Must have all multichannel music 5.1

- Bob Marley, Legend 30th Deluxe Anniversary Edition BluRay 5.1
- Pink Floyd, Wish you were here, SACD DSD 5.1
- Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair, Blu-ray Pure Audio 5.1
- The Beatles, Love 5.1 DTS
- Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms SACD DSD 5.1
- Roxy Music, Avalon SACD DSD 5.1
- Genesis, Invisible Touch SACD DSD 5.1
- The Beatles, Abbey Road Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Audio 5.1
- John Lennon, Gimme Some Truth, Blu-ray Audio 5.1
- Norah Jones, Come Away with Me, SACD, DSD 5.1
-

 

[Robin L]

A recording of Mahler's Second Symphony. I like this specific performance, sound is more than good enough. Mahler's "Resurrection" symphony is written on a massive dynamic scale, is dramatically engaging, displays a wide range of tonal colors and combinations. It tests the limits of playback gear. The link is to the first movement, the entire work runs to about an hour and twenty minutes, some versions fit [barely] onto a single CD: