My best demo albums

[miguelito]

On 8/9/2018 at 4:15 AM, Blackmorec said:

You’re probably like me and love discovering great new music.....this is what this post is all about. 

 

Imagine that next week you are getting a visit from a couple of Hi-Fi News editors who have asked to listen to your system playing 3 of your favourite albums. Great Music and sound quality are the criteria.  Which 3 albums would you select to demonstrate your system at its finest?

 

Here are my choices:

 

Rodrigo y Gabriela (the lizard eye album)

Deep Forest - Music detected.  (Recently discovered from CA ‘best recordings for system evaluation’ thread)

Malia - Convergence

 

Bonus album

Leonard Cohen - 10 new songs 

 

So which albums do you love listening to that do a great job demonstrating your system’s abilities?

 

A few albums:

 

Amber Rubarth - Sessions from the 17th Ward (DSD128 from HDTracks)

Great vocal capture and space.

 

Milcho Leviev - Man From Plovdiv (CD rip)

Amazing jazz, and one of the most amazing recordings I own in terms of piano tonality, it will show very clearly whether your system can reproduce piano properly

 

Dick Hyman - From The Age of Swing (CD rip)

Fun swing music, great recording

 

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (88/24 from HDTracks)

Great electronica

 

Arnesen - Magnificat (2L download, highest PCM rate, around 352 or so)

Amazingly beautiful piece, great choral recording, space and depth

 

A few tracks:

 

Moby - Flying Foxes (CD rip)

Incredible analog synths

 

Nina Simone - Mood Indigo (DSD64 ripped from latest Analog Productions SACD)

 

Sara Bareilles - Gravity (live) (HDTracks)

 

Buika - Mienteme Bien (CD rip)

 

But I have to say there are so so so many great recordings, I’m just posting what I remember right now. There’s a great Carmina Burana recording I cannot recall right now (not home) which in my system will just take the air out of your lungs...

[miguelito]

On 8/9/2018 at 2:10 PM, mjb said:

I thought this is the gold standard....

 

I have this in DSD64 ripped from the SACD. I also listened to high res versions. I find this album very good but I would say her voice is ever so slightly “enclosed” if that makes sense, as if it was miked very very closely, which is probably the case actually, and I don’t quite love that. 

[miguelito]

40 minutes ago, chrisc said:

The Cape Town Hi-Fi Club need a selection of well-recorded music for 10 out of 12 meetings and this is what we have compiled, through many trials and errors

 

There are other compliations, used for comparing DACs, etc

 

01 Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
02 Zbigniew Preisner - Milsoc Od Pierwszego Wejrzenia
03 Andre Rieu - The Godfather; Godfather Waltz
04 Karen Souza - Tainted Love    
05 Madeleine Peyroux - La Vie en Rose
09 Bourbon Street Stompers, The - Doghouse Blues
10 Joseph Hasty - When Swing Was King
10 Vittorio Monti- - Vittorio Monti-Csardas
11 Dave Grusin - Suite from the Milagro Beanfield War; Coyote Angel
12 Dave Grusin - Suite from the Milagro Beanfield War; Pistolero
13 Dave Grusin - Suite from the Milagro Beanfield War; Milagro
14 Dave Grusin - Suite from the Milagro Beanfield War; Fiesta
15 Giorgio Conte - Cannelloni
16 Ain't No Sunshine
17 Chris Jones  -  No Sanctuary here
18 Eli Yamin Blues Band – I Feel So Glad - 01-HoundDog
19 Gyuto Monks - Praising Chakrasamvara
20 Holly Cole - Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
21 McKinley Black_My Diamond Mine
 

 

 

Make a TIDAL playlist and share it!

[miguelito]

19 hours ago, Mayfair said:

 

Could that breathtaking recording be Eugen Jochum's 1967 DG ?  

It was this one below - Thielemann’s. I will listen to your recommendation.

[miguelito]

2 hours ago, mevdinc said:

https://tidal.com/album/4921966

Doesn’t look to be available in the US!

[miguelito]

18 hours ago, WAM said:

But the real test for my is Roberta Flack: The first time ever I saw your face. When I close my eyes, and I see a beautiful woman singing beautiful music, its good.

Yes, outstanding. The high res version from HDTracks is better than the MQA version on TIDAL.

 

Also of note: Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue (available as DSD download, and in a new “unmastered” SACD version which I have ripped to DSF). Amazing recording, and really like the music.

[miguelito]

2 hours ago, mevdinc said:

I agree, Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue is a great album with fantastic music and sonics.
I particularly love Nardis, I listen to it quite a lot.

One more fantastic album which has been carefully remastered:

 

Jean-Michel Jarre - Essentials and Rarities

[miguelito]

29 minutes ago, chrisc said:

We already do this

TIDAL link please?