What music/artist sounds great on a high quality stereo

You don't mention what type of music you prefer, but for starters, just about any recording of Steely Dan is mixed beautifully and sounds outstanding. A big plus is that all their albums are terrific musically, so you can almost pick one at random and not miss. Personally, I think Aja is their masterpiece, but Gaucho and The Royal Scam are very close seconds.

Also, nearly anything legendary recording engineer Alan Parsons mixed (Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, any of the several albums by The Alan Parsons Project) is outstanding. Zero 7's recordings are mixed and engineered well too, if you like their music.

There are some recording engineers on this board. I'm sure some of them could tell you. I've seen this topic discussed on AVS before, so you might want to give the search function a try too.

Well, if you're also looking to expand your music collection and are a music lover, in my opinion this album is a must-have in any music lover's collection:



It is to me the perfect jazz album and is simply sublime, especially the 3rd cut/track, Blue in Green. The album is from 1959, when Miles Davis was at the top of his game, and his sextet on this album features legends Bill Evans on piano, Jimmy Cobb on drums, Paul Chambers on bass, and both John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley on sax. A lineup doesn't get any better than that, and the music they made together doesn't either, in my opinion.

If you don't already have it, I highly recommend it. If you appreciate jazz at all, I don't see how you could be disappointed in this one. On a good system, you'll hear Miles' every nuance on that muted trumpet, including his breathing.

This lineup might beg to differ:



Not necessarily disagreeing with you, but there's clearly a discussion.

Of course, you can't go wrong either way.

Any thing produced by Quincy Jones has great quality,Tommy Emanuel,Ewan Dobson,Jeff Beck

- agree with Steely Dan - especially Aja & add Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
- Pink Floyd - DSOTM, agree almost any Alan Parson's Project
- Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms , Love over Gold
- the Beatles - Abbey Road
- Blue Man Group
- of course Kind of Blue

Agree that Steely Dan's Aja and Gaucho are definitely material to "show off" your system. Fagen's Nightfly is excellent too.

Just about every Alan Parsons record ever produced can be used as reference material also. Try and find one of his later albums though, Vulture Culture. Simply a spectacular recording. Finally no rock/pop library of reference quality recordings would be complete without Supertramps Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America.

For sheer dynamics,also include Mike Olfields Tubular Bells and Telarc's recordings of Holst the Planets (Andre Previn & Royal Philharmonic) and 1812 Overture (Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Symphony). The latter is legendary for its digital recording of actual cannons used during the symphony. Respect the warning label on the jacket the first time you play it and turn your volume down until you are familar with the dynamics of the cannons. You don't want to damage any equipment during the cannonade.
Edited by Paraneer - 2/25/13 at 3:48am

Agree with all those (and I have all of those recordings, except for Vulture Culture). The Planets, especially "Mars" is outstanding, as is Nightfly.

One artist whom I love and might help expand your collection (and who seems to be unappreciated in the US) is Canadian jazz singer Holly Cole. She sings mostly jazz and standards, but she's diverse enough to do things like release a Tom Waits tribute album (Temptation from 1995, which is a delight and my personal favorite). I'm also partial to her 2003 album Shade (especially the cuts "Heatwave," "Something Cool," and Brian Wilson's "God Only Knows," one of the most beautiful songs ever written -- and she covers it beautifully). Her albums sound great, she has a gorgeous voice, and Temptation especially captures that smoky jazz bar feel. I almost forgot to mention her wonderful live album from 1995, It Happened One Night. It's spectacular.

Do you listen to CD's?

the band brand new has a album called deja entendu it sounds awesome, there are 2 or 3 tracks from that album that i burn on a CD to take when i am listening to speakers at the store, their other albums are not as enjoyable to listen to

i also like blue Octobers album that is called foiled

allison krause has some killer sounding albums, everything i have by here has amazing sound quality.

social distortions album somewhere between heaven and hell is something else i really like to listen to, nothing special but its some good rock music that is recorded well, the groovie ghoulies album fun in the dark, hag fish album rocks your lame ass are also have some albums that i enjoy listening to, again nothing special but i think those recordings sound pretty good,

jimmy eat world and owl city are a few artist i also really like to listen to

most country CD's are recorded pretty well and sound very good.

one bluegrass song i really like to listen to is Sadie's got her new dress on by Doyle Lawson

I've been getting into more folk type music lately.

You should try artists like Julie Fowlis ... ( http://youtu.be/gqgQKQWGS78 )

Or Joe Pug ... ( http://youtu.be/K30JTm1quCE )

Or the Bahamas ( http://youtu.be/k1fri5XiGrE )

Or The Lumineers ... ( http://youtu.be/zvCBSSwgtg4 )

Even these clips at their highest settings don't do justice to the quality that is on the CDs.

+1 big time agree

try Shelby Lynne's "Just a Little Lovin" - it's a great recording.

Pretty much anything with Jennifer Charles...her voice is sublime through my speakers. Incredibly sexy voice. My favorite project of hers is definitely La Mar Enfortuna, where she mostly interprets traditional Spanish/Ladino/Sephardi songs. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdFB094yaL4