Reference Music on digital discs: CD or SACD or DVD-Audio

I've seen all too many music disc threads on AVS, on so called "quality" digital music discs.

It's a son of a gun to figure out what/why the poster liked the disc that they are recommending!

And when I finally do do enough homework on a recommended disc, and buy a copy of it, it too often is a total piece of crud for one or more reasons.

So, I plan to edit/add discs to this 1st post as we go along; and here's what I want in this thread:

If you think that I've ID'd one of my recommendations incorrectly, post and let me know and if it makes sense I'll correct my 1st post assessment of it.

1. 1st and foremost, this is NOT the place to post any music BD disc recommendations! If you do, I will complain to the moderators about your out of line post!

<4/27/'09 edit: too bad I didn't think to add this to the title. If it proves to be an issue, I'll PM the moderators and ask for a title chanbe.>

2. Meaning that CD discs and SACD discs (2 channel or MultiChannel (MC, 3.0 to 5.0 to 5.1)) are the most reasonably priced and popular digital music discs.

While DVD-A MC disc quality is either similar or even "superior" to that of SACD, there are a lot fewer DVD-A discs out there (than SACD), but they are generally not too bad on price and I welcome any and all recommendations on them so long as they meet the other (following) requirements.

3. The overall Sound Quality (SQ) is good.

I mean if it's a popular Beatles piece but the SQ and/or disc mastering is/are questionable, kindly do not post it.

<4/27/'09 edit: I've currently got roughly 8 DVD-A discs, vs close to something like 200+ SACD discs. Best Beatles disc (mastering-wise is the dual disc "Love" offering. (CD and DVD-A discs, by Capitol?)>

4. Any genre is OK; pop, rock, jazz, classical, new age, folk, blues, etc.; just be *sure* that you put an ID of what you think it is.

5. The disc mastering is at a minimum decent; not this compressed crud that is all too often the case with popular big selling CD discs.

6. If only a few tracks on the disc are worthy, kindly say so and identify those tracks that you think are worthy.

7. <4/27/'09 edit>: In general, the best label for "inexpensive" MC 5.1 music has so far been Linn hybrid SACD discs.


OK, with that said, 1st a few examples (also included in the following main list), and then the main list (alphabetically by main performer, within a genre group).

Soft (?) Pop/Rock
Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms; entire disc; 20th anniversary SACD

Paul Simon, Hearts and Bones; entire disc; Japanese import CD

Jazz
Dave Brubeck Quartet; entire disc; SACD (5.0? For sure no LFE)

Classical
Beethoven 9th Symphony; SACD (mono?/Tahra); 1954 Furtwangler conducted live performance; a great performance and not for background listening; surprisingly good SQ from '54; final movement has top vocalists at the top of their form; of my two 9th symphonies the faster is 68 minutes, but Furtwangler nails it at 75 minutes.




Complete list:

CLASSICAL

6-22-'09: Bach, The complete Goldberg Variations '55/'81; 3 disc set; Sony Classical, Glenn Dould playing ('55/'81/comments) of the Bach Goldberg Variations.

Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier I; CD; Glenn Gould on piano; Gould plays the notes in this striking individual way; worth buying even if you hate Sony; good mastering which minimizes Gould's humming in the background; excellent for background listening

Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier I; CD; If you really hate Gould's playing of this, then try Richter on RCA Red Seal; excellent for background listening

Beethoven, 6th Symphony; hybrid SACD (L/R only); Munch/Boston Symphony/RCA Living Stereo; OK for background listening so long as you can repeat the 6th without going through the 5th which is also included on this disc; great L/R SQ from '55

Beethoven, 9th Symphony; hybrid SACD (mono?/Tahra); 1954 Furtwangler conducted live performance; a great performance; and not for background listening; surprisingly good SQ from '54; final movement has top vocalists at the top of their form; of my two 9th symphonies the faster is 68 minutes, but Furtwangler nails it at 75 minutes.

Haydn, 11 Piano Sonatas (opus 4,6,9,20,37,40,42,48,49,50,51,52, but of course that makes 12 (LOL, you have to keep a sense of humor )), Brendel; CD; excellent for background; AFAIK this is available by either Philips or Decca, I own the Decca and it is much less expensive, AFAIK the recording is the same for both, adding only that the Decca mastering is as good as it gets with CD so why pay the extra money for Philips?


FEMALE VOCAL
Not always sure what ID to put these under, any suggestions appreciated.
Holly Cole; I Can See Clearly Now; a very short CD (11-to-12 min. total); expensive; unbelievably good

<4/27/'09 edit>: Eileen Farrell; Torch Songs; CD (57 min. total); RR 34CD


MIXED/SAMPLER DISCS
I was more than a little surprised to discover that I like many sampler discs, and they are in general well mastered.

Concord Jazz CD Sampler Volume 2; excellent for background: despite the "CD" in the title, this is in fact a 5.1 SACD (hybrid/with CD) with decent LFE

<5/02/'09 and 6/22/'09 edit>: Groove Note True Audiophile The Best of Groove Note; hybrid SACD sampler; odd title mix so search for either Best of Groove Note or GRV1036-3; odd mix on each layer choice: the CD and stereo SACD have 17 tracks totaling 77 min. 30 sec. which is one good reason to have this disc (i.e. commercial CD pressing that totals more than 74 minutes), whereas the 5.1 SACD music only has 7 tracks (36m/46s); both 2 channel and 5.1 can be used ok for background listening; roughly 50/50 mix of vocals and jazz/pop intrumentals.

<6/22/'09 edit >: Groove Note sampler #2 only has 2 MC tracks and is not further considered, given the high price that I paid for it).

<4/27/'09 edit>: Heads Up, Jazzin' Surround; hybrid SACD sampler

<4/27/'09 edit>: Heads Up, Sound & Vision SACD Sampler (hybrid); with/via Telarc

Linn Selektions; SACD 5.1; excellent for background; has LFE

Reference Jazz, Etc., First Sampling, CD; works as background; RR-S2CD (one CD), jazz and vocals

Windham Hill CD; excellent for background
1. The First Ten Years
2. Sanctuary/20 years of Windham Hill
3. A Quiet Revolution/30 years of Windham Hill


JAZZ
Dave Brubeck Quartet; Take Five; entire disc; SACD (5.0? For sure no LFE, and not hybrid meaning no CD layer); a classic; excellent SQ

Miles Davis; Kind of Blue; entire disc; SACD (5.0? Doesn't seem to have LFE, and not hybrid meaning no CD layer); a classic; excellent SQ


SOFT (?) POP/ROCK
Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms; entire disc; 20th anniversary hybrid SACD

<4/27/'09 edit>: Joni Mitchell; Both Side Now; Reprise (domestic USA?/Reprise) CD; primarily for track 12: "Both Sides Now" but the whole disc is decent and worth having (meaning that the rest of the disc, IMO, is nowhere up to the quality of track 12); most (but not all) of the tracks are HDCD encoded

Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon; hybrid SACD 5.1; a real ping pong MC fest, but still worth having

Paul Simon, Hearts and Bones; entire disc; Japanese import CD

<6/24/'09 edit>: Steely Dan, Gaucho (per ematcion in post#7), I have the DVD-Audio (and not the SACD) as well as a standard redbook CD; only listened to the stereo option that the DVD-Audio menu gives, so may add comments about the MC and/or CD sound when the weather cools off.

<4/27/'09 edit>: James Taylor, JT; hybrid SACD

Addendum:

1. 6-22-'09: 5.1 optimizer disc: Chesky, The Ultimate DVD Surround Sampler & 5.1 Set-Up Disc CHDVD221 (reasonable as a used disc at Amazon as most of these people don't know the diff between DVD-Video and DVD-Audio (hence the very mixed Amazon reviews))

Also happens to have the finest 8 tracks of 5.1 DVD-Audio *music* that I've yet come across in my admittedly limited experience with DVD-Audio discs.

2. 6-22-'09: THX optimizer disc (included free with many DVD movies). Convenient and fast. My suggestion is to buy the 1951 black and white American TV movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still"

3. 6-22-'09: added the Sony 3 CD set of Glenn Gould playing ('55/'81/comments) of the Bach Goldberg Variations.

No disrespect to anyone, but my impression of the 5.1 movie crowd is that they mainly focus on MC ping pong effect and not on top quality sound.

Meaning that I'll wait awhile to see comments from others.

Anyhow, CD discs (which are strictly 2 channel of course) are the overwhelming digital disc and clearly belong here. Given that SACD are music only (and usually hybrid with either/or all of 2 layers and 3 formats (CD/SACD 2 channel/SACD MC) and tend to have excellent mastering they also belong here.

Cheers

Agreed.



Agreed.



FWIW, I dug out 3 RR discs that I could find. I'll add a jazz sampler to my post#1.



That's good input as used CD discs can in general be gotten for a lot less than SACD discs. On the other hand, I already have the 20th anniversary SACD remastering of Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms in my post#1 list. Do you have that disc?



Thanks for the above input; I'll get one or more of the above.

Cheers

I went to Amazon and searched Music for XRCD. Wow, these are expensive discs! I'll pass.

Did you mean for the 3 refs on the second sentence (above) to be CD or XRCD?

Anyhow, I did a couple of inexpensive CD orders (used, $4 total to $7 total) with Amazon based on your recommendations from your original post (most of which I snipped).

Cheers

Try "Blu Ray for Audio - anyone taking this seriously?" in the Surround Music Formats forum. See: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1090681

Cheers

AFAIK, there are "original" CD and SACD discs of Brothers In Arms as well as the 20th Anniversary Edition, which is re-mixed in 5.1

Odds are that there is also a new CD mastering, but I did not check Amazon for that. My SACD has a 2005 date on it.

I don't have any other copy of Brothers In Arms, so all I can say is that in my experience with top quality CD and SACD, the hybrid disc (CD and SACD layers) of the 20th Anniversary is very very good.



Well that's a statement.

Anyhow, I assumed that XRCD is a specific mastering process, with a standard redbook CD as the result.

While I have a slight preference for SACD discs (over CD), I'll look through Amazon's list of XRCD and get one that I already have and like a lot. Nothing ventured, nothing gained/lost... other than the 20 or 30 bucks its going to set me back.

FWIW, there is also the HDCD format, which is an enhanced CD that will usually default to standard rebook if the disc player doesn't have the ability to recognize HDCD. I've RR-905CD titled "HDCD Sampler Volume 2" which is an interesting disc but which I've not added to my post#1 because it's more of an oddball disc than music for listening.

It has 6 classical tracks, then 3 jazz tracks, ending with 6 back to back tracks of CD/HDCD comparisons (3 pieces of music).

Cheers

You and/or others might find the www.wikipedia.org writeups on HDCD, XRCD and redbook of interest.

FWIW, I tend to agree with your 2nd sentence (above); plus it is very likely that digital mastering for redbook CDs has in general improved this past 20 years. What I've been truly surprised at is how well 50+ year old stuff like original reel to reel tape masters have held up, and benefit from a modern remastering.



OK, I'll give it a try; just did a long preorder with Amazon (something like 2 months before they ship); $23 for a hybrid SACD -- a bit pricier than I generally do.

When I started buying SACD, I liked the price of the RCA SACD Living Stereo classical remasterings (generally $10/new disc, many of them 3 channel). I then went to Amazon and looks up SACD and cherry picked the lower priced 5.1 offerings that got good reviews from Amazon's customers, being pleasantly surprised with the value of what I got.

Still undecided about whether or not 5.1 music really means anything much to me.

By the way to shift the subject to a related topic: what do people running music servers, yet interested in high quality sound, start with? i.e. CD discs that they can easily rip to the hard disk?

I mean, I'm not aware of any software that permits ripping 5.1 SACD to hard disk.

Cheers

I made a number of changes today to post#1.

Cheers

I got volume one today and added it to my post #1.

i.e. Groove Note True Audiophile The Best of Groove Note; hybrid SACD sampler; odd title mix so search for either Best of Groove Note or GRV1036-3; odd mix on each layer choice: the CD and stereo SACD have 17 tracks totaling 77 min. 30 sec. which is one good reason to have this disc (i.e. commercial CD pressing that totals more than 74 minutes), whereas the 5.1 SACD only has 7 tracks.

Cheers

I've so far gotten 6 JVC music discs (1 marked XRCD and 1 marked XRCD2). Generally expensive, but not always ("used" via Amazon, $6 to $30, average of roughly $15). All good CD sound.

Amazon seems to think that any JVC disc is automatically at least "XRCD" and seems to *mark* them all as at least XRCD! But most (4 of the 6) make no mention of any XRCD mastering/encoding. FWIW, I just went out to the www.jvc.com site and they don't have a list of which of their "JVC" labeled discs is/isn't XRCD or XRCD2 or not.

I've got a couple more JVC discs (expensive sampler discs, 1 XRCD and 1 XRCD2) still coming in, and I expect to add at least 2 of the 8 to my post#1. Thank you for that.



I got the CD (used ~$6) due to your comment, and have zero interest in spending any more on a MC version of it.



I also got a CD of this at reasonable cost, and it's pretty good. I may add it to my post#1.



Also got this and I don't care for it (continued immediately below).



Interesting comment. I'll listen to the CD again, but am unlikely to add it to my post#1 for this (above) reason.

Cheers

It's clear that I need to add a dated addendum(at the bottom) to the OP (Original Post #1).

The key thing that drives this at the moment, is On Topic but almost not.

1st: DVD movie discs with THX optimizer (*audio* as well as video).

2nd: extensive 5.1 audio optimizer disc (DVD-Video and DVD-Audio).

See end of post#1 for the new addendum.

FWIW, I've also been buying some JVC XRCD discs this past two months and will have more than a few comments about this within the next month, as well as a few recommendations.

Cheers

I also recently (finally) got vol#2. It only has 2 MC tracks(!), so I won't be adding it to my OP#1. Also, vol#1 only has 7 MC tracks (36m/46s) vs the 14 stereo tracks (CD or stereo SACD), so I'll leave it on my #1 post with that as a comment.

OT to your post, but I'm also adding Glenn Gould's "A State of Wonder" (3 discs (via Sony)) of his '55 and '81 playing of the Goldberg Variations, to my post #1.

Cheers

I've got 2 Gaucho discs (CD and other).

I've also got several (4 or 5?) DVD/DTS discs.

They all suck (DTS) and won't be going on to my post#1.

Just calling a stone a stone.

Cheers

edit: Just checked my "other" Gaucho. Surprise surprise, it's a DVD-Audio and is very very good (stereo which is how I'm listening to it right now due to hot weather in the midwest (wow it's hot). I'm adding it to my post#1 with a note that I'll add comments about the MC (included on the same disc), as the as the CD disc that I also have of it.

Thanks for the 2 refs. Lots of customer reviews on amazon on each, and amazon's used prices are very attractive.

Besides, who can refuse trying a disc with the word "antiphonal" in the title.

Cheers

Agreed on both.

FWIW, I wanted to do a small update on this old thread that I started.

1. Sheffield Lab CD-14/20, which is a combo CD that contains both "The Sheffield Track Record" and "The Sheffield Drum Record"

...the best modern bass/drum music I've yet heard.

2. Holy Cole "Don't Smoke in Bed"

Excellent female vocals.

It contains 2 of the 3 tracks that are on the above post #1 (O.P.) FEMALE VOCAL "I Can See Clearly Now" and is clearly a far better deal moneywise.

FWIW I've 3 of these "Smoke" CD's, 2 by Manhattan (USA) and one by Alert (Canada). From memory it's flip a coin, but I likely should do another careful listen.

For moderators, even thought this thread is old, please do not lock this thread!

Thank you!

I'll check it out and likely buy some. Thank you for the ref.

FWIW, a number of the posts in this thread have offered great ideas for finding great(true reference) CD and SACD discs. e.g. post #4 by Greg_R suggested "XRCD and XRCD2 encoded CDs by JVC" and I've bought about 20 of them so far, used, from www.amazon.com and found that amazon's user reviews generally give one a much better idea if you might find it to your liking.




Thank you very much for the above, and also to Garman, for your very recent followup posts to me.

FWIW, I've found that Linn is the one outfit that consistently does the best 5.1 SACD discs.

OTOH, I'm still in a very drawn out process of valuing whether 5.1 sound is worth the hassle.


Cheers