The best sounding (produced/mastered) tracks/albums
Discussion
Oberheim said:
Agreed, nice track. Will give the whole album a listen too.A couple from me:
Celestial Echo - Malia: https://open.spotify.com/track/16Oq2VWBre4UEGMzrwR...
The Medallion Calls - Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/track/35gFlKdC4Pmo88Go1cV... (this has epic scale and a LOT going on - will test your system's dynamics and ability to resolve detail).
Edited by Funk on Sunday 11th January 23:34
Funk said:
I feel like my posts are all about bass but....I don't care. 
This track has some of the deepest I've heard - and a phenomenal vocal by Geoff Castelucci:
Sound of Silence: https://open.spotify.com/album/70Ey5Ivd0iqyeFRJKdf...
Lovely production, naturally.
Little late to the party on this one, but I heard "Big Bad John" on a youtube video [it is a bizarre world when people put youtube videos up of million dollar hifi systems being demo'd] so thought I'd give him a go. Let's just say it makes an impression!This track has some of the deepest I've heard - and a phenomenal vocal by Geoff Castelucci:
Sound of Silence: https://open.spotify.com/album/70Ey5Ivd0iqyeFRJKdf...
Lovely production, naturally.
One of my go to tracks is Mary Black and Columbus, more detailed than heavy on the base, but then thats more my thing.
My serious days of wanting to update all the time are over, it seems the lounge is to be used for entertaining others too so I'm told, and I've now settled on a Naim Uniti Atom and Naim Allae speakers. Other than being a little light on bass compared to the old days of a rack of Olive Naim gear and a Linn turntable, is a combo that just works for me, and the benefit of Tidal 24/96 streaming makes a lot of old favourites come alive again. Maybe its just me, but something like the finger clicking on Billy Jean was lost on CD but is back again.
A few more I like, all quite different. Second and third have good bass 
Pat Metheny
https://open.spotify.com/track/3UEu7wdJkq8pyEinqCc...
James Blake
https://open.spotify.com/track/33BnSMHgX0AsbKSIbku...
Ghost Rider
https://open.spotify.com/track/0hsiU01wuRJGFsouJM1...
Pat Metheny
https://open.spotify.com/track/3UEu7wdJkq8pyEinqCc...
James Blake
https://open.spotify.com/track/33BnSMHgX0AsbKSIbku...
Ghost Rider
https://open.spotify.com/track/0hsiU01wuRJGFsouJM1...
Focused said:
A few more I like, all quite different. Second and third have good bass
Pat Metheny
https://open.spotify.com/track/3UEu7wdJkq8pyEinqCc...
One of my favourites by an artist I've loved for many years. I saw him at Ronnie Scott's a few years ago.Pat Metheny
https://open.spotify.com/track/3UEu7wdJkq8pyEinqCc...
The album 'Offramp' has even higher production values and is worth checking out if you haven't listened to it.
NDA said:
Focused said:
A few more I like, all quite different. Second and third have good bass
Pat Metheny
https://open.spotify.com/track/3UEu7wdJkq8pyEinqCc...
One of my favourites by an artist I've loved for many years. I saw him at Ronnie Scott's a few years ago.Pat Metheny
https://open.spotify.com/track/3UEu7wdJkq8pyEinqCc...
The album 'Offramp' has even higher production values and is worth checking out if you haven't listened to it.
Offramp was the first vinyl album I bought of his, it's excellent. I have it on CD too.I do like Ronnie Scott's as a venue. I saw him live in London around 1990ish (can't remember the venue, wasn't Ronnie's, unfortunately). I recall he played that track towards the end of the gig, which is my fave of his.
M138 said:
I m not a live album fan tbh but Joni Mitchell s Shadows And Light is great recording with Pat Metheny, Jaco, Don Alias and Randy Brecker. Unfortunately only two left.
I think you'll find all of Joni Mitchell's albums are always well produced. Mobil Fidelity have extracted that little bit more from some over the years. Good taste by the way. InductionRoar said:
I think you'll find all of Joni Mitchell's albums are always well produced. Mobil Fidelity have extracted that little bit more from some over the years. Good taste by the way.
Yeah, great music My favourite is Court And Spark but just mentioned the live album has Pat Metheny on it.
NDA said:
Nico Adie said:
Listened to Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs over the weekend and they're both spectacularly good sounding albums. The percussion (and there's lots of it) absolutely slaps you in the face.
Recorded in 192/24 bit loveliness.I used to hunt down 24/192 recordings but come to the conclusion years ago that it's a complete waste of bandwidth in a home environment. Most hifi can't reproduce it and even if it could, you wouldn't hear it. For example my Hegel H390 can reproduce frequencies from 5 Hz-100kHz and the Concept 300s attached to it do 55Hz-30kHz. Even if the source is putting out 192kHz, the amp's ignoring half of it and the speakers ignoring more than half of that again.
Production and mastering are far more important - I think the reason some people get drawn into believing that 24/192 is a thing is because those albums perhaps get made with a higher level of attention to detail knowing they'll be pitched at people who might be bothered by bitrates.
On top of that my hearing's on the downward slope that affects all of us as we age; I doubt I could hear much above 15kHz anyway!
Production and mastering are far more important - I think the reason some people get drawn into believing that 24/192 is a thing is because those albums perhaps get made with a higher level of attention to detail knowing they'll be pitched at people who might be bothered by bitrates.
On top of that my hearing's on the downward slope that affects all of us as we age; I doubt I could hear much above 15kHz anyway!
Funk said:
I used to hunt down 24/192 recordings but come to the conclusion years ago that it's a complete waste of bandwidth in a home environment. Most hifi can't reproduce it and even if it could, you wouldn't hear it. For example my Hegel H390 can reproduce frequencies from 5 Hz-100kHz and the Concept 300s attached to it do 55Hz-30kHz. Even if the source is putting out 192kHz, the amp's ignoring half of it and the speakers ignoring more than half of that again.
Production and mastering are far more important - I think the reason some people get drawn into believing that 24/192 is a thing is because those albums perhaps get made with a higher level of attention to detail knowing they'll be pitched at people who might be bothered by bitrates.
On top of that my hearing's on the downward slope that affects all of us as we age; I doubt I could hear much above 15kHz anyway!
The 192 kHz isn't an audio frequency, it's the sampling rate, but it does allow for higher frequencies to be reproduced from the source. Production and mastering are far more important - I think the reason some people get drawn into believing that 24/192 is a thing is because those albums perhaps get made with a higher level of attention to detail knowing they'll be pitched at people who might be bothered by bitrates.
On top of that my hearing's on the downward slope that affects all of us as we age; I doubt I could hear much above 15kHz anyway!
Either way, any differences between the 'hi res' and standard Redbook versions aren't down to the digital resolution.
If anyone's not convinced, look up the Dr Aix research, see the results and take the test yourself.
The reason hi res digital audio is used is in the mastering environment, where its use during manipulation makes a difference.
VSKeith said:
Funk said:
I used to hunt down 24/192 recordings but come to the conclusion years ago that it's a complete waste of bandwidth in a home environment. Most hifi can't reproduce it and even if it could, you wouldn't hear it. For example my Hegel H390 can reproduce frequencies from 5 Hz-100kHz and the Concept 300s attached to it do 55Hz-30kHz. Even if the source is putting out 192kHz, the amp's ignoring half of it and the speakers ignoring more than half of that again.
Production and mastering are far more important - I think the reason some people get drawn into believing that 24/192 is a thing is because those albums perhaps get made with a higher level of attention to detail knowing they'll be pitched at people who might be bothered by bitrates.
On top of that my hearing's on the downward slope that affects all of us as we age; I doubt I could hear much above 15kHz anyway!
The 192 kHz isn't an audio frequency, it's the sampling rate, but it does allow for higher frequencies to be reproduced from the source. Production and mastering are far more important - I think the reason some people get drawn into believing that 24/192 is a thing is because those albums perhaps get made with a higher level of attention to detail knowing they'll be pitched at people who might be bothered by bitrates.
On top of that my hearing's on the downward slope that affects all of us as we age; I doubt I could hear much above 15kHz anyway!
Either way, any differences between the 'hi res' and standard Redbook versions aren't down to the digital resolution.
If anyone's not convinced, look up the Dr Aix research, see the results and take the test yourself.
The reason hi res digital audio is used is in the mastering environment, where its use during manipulation makes a difference.
As you correctly say, 24/192 enables frequency response ranges up to 96kHz (half the sample rate). Even though the amp is capable of handling up to 100kHz, the speakers aren't and simply can't reproduce anything above 30kHz. As I mentioned, in my view it's still pretty much moot in a home environment - but there are good reasons why it's used in recording studios. And my point about hearing still stands - most people can't hear above 20kHz at their peak and it only gets worse with time. I do recall reading that women typically have better hearing than men though!
I also (for my sins) use volume control via Windows on my PC so I set the output to 32bit to avoid bit truncation when using lower volumes.
Edited by Funk on Tuesday 20th January 12:30
Funk said:
Apols, I was rushing and wasn't as clear as I should have been and mis-stated on the amp's capability.
As you correctly say, 24/192 enables frequency response ranges up to 96kHz (half the sample rate). Even though the amp is capable of handling up to 100kHz, the speakers aren't and simply can't reproduce anything above 30kHz. As I mentioned, in my view it's still pretty much moot in a home environment - but there are good reasons why it's used in recording studios. And my point about hearing still stands - most people can't hear above 20kHz at their peak and it only gets worse with time. I do recall reading that women typically have better hearing than men though!
I also (for my sins) use volume control via Windows on my PC so I set the output to 32bit to avoid bit truncation when using lower volumes.
Absolutely. As you correctly say, 24/192 enables frequency response ranges up to 96kHz (half the sample rate). Even though the amp is capable of handling up to 100kHz, the speakers aren't and simply can't reproduce anything above 30kHz. As I mentioned, in my view it's still pretty much moot in a home environment - but there are good reasons why it's used in recording studios. And my point about hearing still stands - most people can't hear above 20kHz at their peak and it only gets worse with time. I do recall reading that women typically have better hearing than men though!
I also (for my sins) use volume control via Windows on my PC so I set the output to 32bit to avoid bit truncation when using lower volumes.
Edited by Funk on Tuesday 20th January 12:30
No need to apologise
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