The best sounding (produced/mastered) tracks/albums

[toasty]

Thanks all for the recommendations. As I've now moved into the garden office along with my hifi, I can now listen to them all without being told to turn them down.

[Harry Flashman]

NDA said:

I know there are such lists on the high resolution sites such as Qobuz and Tidal, not sure about Spotify.

Mind pointing me to a Tidal one please chum?

[robbiekhan]

Recently changed my PC audio amp from a NAD D 3045 to a Topping MX3S and have been reading the suggestions for new music tracks to add to the audiophile playlist and this thread is decent

Playlist for ref: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/011AWzHUvvht4cWk...

Edited by robbiekhan on Tuesday 19th September 00:13

[NDA]

Harry Flashman said:

NDA said:

I know there are such lists on the high resolution sites such as Qobuz and Tidal, not sure about Spotify.

Mind pointing me to a Tidal one please chum?

I don't have a Tidal account - but an example on Qobuz might be:

https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/13470221

[Harry Flashman]

Thanks!

[WindyCommon]

AdamV12V said:

The very talented Hania Rani....

I challenge anyone to watch the first 2 mins of this and not end up watching the whole hour of her performance and then looking for more...

She is mesmerizing!

That has probably cost me any productivity today. Thank you!

[NDA]

Harry Flashman said:

Thanks!

There's an iPhone (only) app called Songshift that I use quite a bit to transfer Spotify playlists onto Qobuz. Qobuz always swaps out to the high res versions on a playlist too. I imagine Tidal would do the same.

Songshift works with Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer, Discogs, Napster, Tidal etc etc. I've used it as I gradually transition from Spotify to Qobuz.

[AdamV12V]

More from Hania Rani, her new album launch...

[NDA]

Aja is now available in 192/24.

I can’t hear much of a difference if I’m honest- cymbals emerge with a little more clarity and perhaps rhythm guitars sound snappier.

[Funk]

NDA said:

Aja is now available in 192/24.

I can’t hear much of a difference if I’m honest- cymbals emerge with a little more clarity and perhaps rhythm guitars sound snappier.

I gave up bothering with anything over 44.1/16 - for 99.5% of the population it's irrelevant anyway and even for those with 'golden ears' production will play more of a role than adding frequencies only bats can hear...

I run my DAC at 32bit but only because it means it doesn't truncate bits when controlling the volume in Windows.

Edited by Funk on Monday 16th October 09:58

[legzr1]

Funk said:

I gave up bothering with anything over 44.1/16 - for 99.5% of the population it's irrelevant anyway and even for those with 'golden ears' production will play more of a role than adding frequencies only bats can hear...

I run my DAC at 32bit but only because it means it doesn't truncate bits when controlling the volume in Windows.

Edited by Funk on Monday 16th October 09:58

I’m in general agreement that, in my experience, excellent production > ever increasing word length/bit depth.
The slight caveat being that most ‘modern’ releases intended for high bitrate tend to have more time spent in production and editing in the first place.

That takes nothing away from the fact there are some spellbinding albums in 16/44 or even on those limited bandwidth and dynamically limited plastic discs

Worth noting too that higher resolution isn’t just about increasing frequency response - it gives increased dynamic range too. Whether the average user needs or wants another 15db dynamic range is another argument…

[NDA]

Funk said:

NDA said:

Aja is now available in 192/24.

I can’t hear much of a difference if I’m honest- cymbals emerge with a little more clarity and perhaps rhythm guitars sound snappier.

I gave up bothering with anything over 44.1/16 - for 99.5% of the population it's irrelevant anyway and even for those with 'golden ears' production will play more of a role than adding frequencies only bats can hear...

I run my DAC at 32bit but only because it means it doesn't truncate bits when controlling the volume in Windows.

Mastering undoubtedly makes the most difference - but there’s noticeably more weight and dynamic range when comparing the most albums at 44/16 Vs 192/24.

[MC Bodge]

"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins sounds much better than I remembered it

[toasty]

NDA said:

Funk said:

NDA said:

Aja is now available in 192/24.

I can’t hear much of a difference if I’m honest- cymbals emerge with a little more clarity and perhaps rhythm guitars sound snappier.

I gave up bothering with anything over 44.1/16 - for 99.5% of the population it's irrelevant anyway and even for those with 'golden ears' production will play more of a role than adding frequencies only bats can hear...

I run my DAC at 32bit but only because it means it doesn't truncate bits when controlling the volume in Windows.

Mastering undoubtedly makes the most difference - but there’s noticeably more weight and dynamic range when comparing the most albums at 44/16 Vs 192/24.

Great quality production doesn’t make up for the terrible music.

It’s like watching an episode of Rentaghost in 8K HDR.

[NDA]

MC Bodge said:

"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins sounds much better than I remembered it

Yes, I thought the same recently too.

I have some fairly sizeable new speakers - which, with a sub, means I have 14 drive units belting out 1400 watts. A bit excessive!

I was listening to some Phil Collins recently on the new system and was very impressed - immaculately recorded and a huge sound.

[loughran]

Bug Power Dust by Bomb the Base remixed by Kruder and Dorfmeister is a bit extraordinary, the sound often sitting well away from my speakers.

Also Frankie, Pleasuredome is nicely produced and needs listening to every now and then.

[Somebody]

loughran said:

Also Frankie, Pleasuredome is nicely produced and needs listening to every now and then.

Any record produced by Trevor Horn generally sounds good.

[MC Bodge]

NDA said:

MC Bodge said:

"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins sounds much better than I remembered it

Yes, I thought the same recently too.

I have some fairly sizeable new speakers - which, with a sub, means I have 14 drive units belting out 1400 watts. A bit excessive!

I was listening to some Phil Collins recently on the new system and was very impressed - immaculately recorded and a huge sound.

Phil Collins was 80s Dad pop, so it hadn't really made a good impression on me. I can now re-evaluate it more objectively...

How far away from your speakers do you stand?! (Or can you only turn it up to 0.11?)

[NDA]

MC Bodge said:

Phil Collins was 80s Dad pop, so it hadn't really made a good impression on me. I can now re-evaluate it more objectively...

How far away from your speakers do you stand?! (Or can you only turn it up to 0.11?)

I sit about 12 feet away.... it's a punchy sound when turned up.

[MC Bodge]

NDA said:

MC Bodge said:

"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins sounds much better than I remembered it

Yes, I thought the same recently too.

I have some fairly sizeable new speakers - which, with a sub, means I have 14 drive units belting out 1400 watts. A bit excessive!

I was listening to some Phil Collins recently on the new system and was very impressed - immaculately recorded and a huge sound.

I hadn't realised that it was from 1981. It sounds more recent than that. They made good use of the available toechnology.