High res content that sounds *great*

Music
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As my high-res collection (a mixture of DSD and PCM) grows, I’ve been frustrated by poorly recorded or mastered recordings. I can’t count the number of times, while working on\ Roon SQ, I’ve gone back over a segment of music to make sure that what I just heard was the recording’s fault (and not Roon’s!).

I’m sure part of this is because a large part of my listening rotation is comprised of Jazz, a genre that suffers from less sophisticated recording technology and inconsistent production quality.

Anyways, this post is about highlighting the very best audio content out there. Many of you guys have formidable high-res collections and thousands of listening hours living with them–lets hear it.

What’s the content that really makes your gear sound the best?

2 Likes
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Just some random examples:

Albums:

Mark Knopfler - Tracker - 24/192

Shelby Lynn - Just a Little Lovin’ - DSD64

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories - 24/88.2

Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow - DSD64

Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby and Sunday at the Village Vanguard - DSD64

Jim Hall - Concierto - DSD64

Pink Floyd - Wish you were here - DSD64

Steely Dan - Aja - DSD64

The Who - Live at Leeds - 24/96

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones - Rocket Science - Redbook

Hiromi Uehara - Spiral - DSD64

Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth - Spirit Chase - DSD64

Hank Jones - West of Fifth - DSD64

Hank Mobley - No Room for Squares - DSD64

Hugh Masekela - Hope - DSD64

Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue - sounds great on either 24/192 or DSD

Keith Jarret - The Koln Concert - 24/96

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder - DSD64

Ken Burrell - Midnight Blue - DSD64

Charlie Haden & Antonio Forcione - Heartplay - 24/192

The Wes Montgomery Trio - S/T - DSD64

Thomas Dolby - Aliens Ate my Buick - Redbook

Gang of Four - Entertainment - Redbook

George Benson - Bad Benson - Redbook

Roxy Music - Avalon - DSD64

Roxy Music - For your Pleasure - The Bogus Man - Redbook

Jeff Buckley - Grace - Hallelujah - Redbook

Kat Edmonson - Take to the Sky - Redbook

Keith Jarrett Trio - Inside Out - I think this is DSD. Can’t tell on Roon ( ouch - sorry I should not have said that - bad me)

Keith Jarrett / Charlie Haden - Last Dance - 24/96

Nora Jones - Most of the albums are well recorded in both PCM 24/192 and DSD64

Mad Season - Above - 24/44

Miles Davis - Much of his output is good on both DSD64 and when available high resolution PCM. One case in point is Kind of Blue which sounds great both on DSD and on high resolution PCM.

Phish - The Story of the Ghost - Ghost - Redbook

Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Russell Malone - DSD64

Rickie Lee Jones - It’s Like this/Pirates/Traffic From Paradise - DSD64

Ricky Lee Jones - S/T - Redbook

Rosanne Cash - The River and the Thread - 24/44

Santana - Supernatural - Smooth - 24/96

Sir Roland Hanna - Tributaries - Redbook

Bill Frisell - Live - Redbook

Bob Marley - Legend, Kaya, and Exodus - 24/96, 24/96, 24/192 respectively

Bozzio Levin Stevens - Black Light Syndrome - Duende - Redbook

Brian Eno - Small Craft on a Milk Sea - 24/44 - well recorded - some of the album I am not as fond of

Songs:

Thomas Dolby - I love you Goodbye - Redbook

Nora Jones - Sunrise - 24/192

Phish - Ghost - Redbook

Within - Daft Punk - 24/88.2

Trans Island Skyway - Donald Fagan - 24/96

The Long Run - Eagles - 24/192

Franklin’s Tower - Grateful Dead - 16/44 and 24/44

Parchman Farm - Hot Tuna - 24/44

Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers - Jeff Beck - DSD

Carnival - Natalie Merchant - 24/96

Overture/The Temples of Syrinx - Rush - 24/96

Hummer - Smashing Pumpkins - (Ok not always a crowd pleaser)

Elevation - Television - Redbook

Just Like Heavan - Kat Edmonson - Redbook

Paranoid Android - Radiohead - Redbook

Superstar - The Carpenters (!) - DSD64

Mustang Sally - The Commitments - Redbook

Water of Love- Dire Straits - DSD64

Smooth - Santana - 24/96

Come Dancing - Jeff Beck - DSD64

Phew! I am exhausted - that is all for now!

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Mr Blobby - Mr Blobby Album
Showaddywaddy - 20 Greatest Hits
Shabba Ranks - Extra Naked

:smiley:

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+1 for Showaddywaddy :sunglasses:

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With a name like that, how can I resist?

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This one is a real winner. Very, very clear recording (listening to the PCM version for obvious reasons :slight_smile: ). I can hear the spit gurgling in Hargrove’s trumpet. Good stuff.

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The 192k 2013 remaster of Kind of Blue is not far away from the MQA version that I heard. Suspect the two have a lot in common…

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Cannonball Adderley - Somethin’ Else (DSD or PCM) is superb.

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Just quickly:

Dire Straits-Dire Straits (24/192)

The Police-Synchronicity (24/192)

Muddy Waters-Folk Singer (24/192 and DSD 64)

Lee Morgan-The Sidewinder (24/192)

Kenny Burrell-Midnight Blue (24/192)

Junior Wells-Hoodoo Man Blues (24/192 and DSD64)

Joni Mitchell-Court and Spark (24/96)

Charlie Haden/Jim Hall (24/96)

Antonio Carlos Jobim-Stone Flowers (24/192)

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@digitalzed I agree with your list, I have all save the last item. Is the Haden/Hall one the Live set that recently was released? Live from Montreal International Jazz Festival?

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@bplexico yes, that’s the Haden/Hall album I was referring to. It’s incredible!

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The stuff that comes out from Bowers and Wilkins Music Society. And the membership price is very fair for such quality content. And being a member pays up a lot as their content is rotating.
http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/Society_of_Sound/Society_of_Sound

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www.soundliaison.com makes some GREAT sounding albums, mostly jazz

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I need to add The Animals Retrospective to this list in DSD64.

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This stuff sounds great. Thanks for the tip.

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Where did you find the police and dire straits in 24/192?

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@rugby, e-onkyo.com. It’s a Japanese only site that takes a bit of work to get it to go if you live outside of Japan. You’ll need Chrome so the site can be translated into English, but more importantly you’ll need a VPN so you can log in from a server with an ip address in Japan as they don’t allow sales out of the country. At the time I bought these they were allowing out of country sales but recently changed their policy. This is the only place I’ve even found the Dire Straits and Police album in 24/192.

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That’s too bad. I’ve been looking for both.

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You can still try on e-onkyo going the route I outlined.

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@rugby,@digitalzed, I just tried e-onkyo.com using Witopia with a VPN server in Tokyo but they still detected that I was not in Japan. I guess either Mac OS X or Chrome disclose my location (even if I thought I had disabled that already)

(Interesting with the music and movie industries complaining about low revenue and then there are a number of movies and albums I have been trying to buy as legal digital downloads for months to no avail. Sometimes I have to resort to iTunes AAC just in order to at least get the music I want to listen to…)