Well Recorded and Mastered

Media: Downloads

Genre: Varied

Title: NA

Artist / Composer: NA

Ref: NA

Notes:

http://www.computeraudiophile....las-reference-thread

A closed thread that discusses how to analyse downloads, and had analysies of many HDTracks offering, freq not good.

Lots of screenshots, and can take a while to fully download!

Media: CD

Genre: Rock/Pop

Title: Believe

Artist / Composer: Cher

Ref: WE833, 3984-25319-2

Notes:

Personally I am a sucker for Cher, think she has a great voice and has sung some really great numbers. Picked this up on my latest Charity Shop trawl - ripped, and sounds good to me!

Media: Download

Genre: Rock

Title: The Brussels Affair

Artist / Composer: Rolling Stones

Ref: NA

Notes:

http://www.stonesarchivestore.com/Default.aspx

$9

16bit / 44.1

Excellent.

Oh well, this thread appears to be sinking.

My thought was that I have read, and joined in, threads where correspondents note the importance of mastering. Rather than join in Simon's thread on CDs I thought I'd see whether anyone else would be prepared to post well recorded software.

This is obviously going to be subjective.

I bought a set of Tamla Motown discs last year packed full of some of my favourite tracks. The recordings are, generally, very poor; although my vinyl copies are fine! When I added a PSU to my nDAC the trackls went from painful to bearable - although still poor.

I love a lot of Tom Jones' tracks. So many of the CDs are poorly recorded. His recent album Praise and Blame being a noteworthy exception. Having bought a number of CDs with his back catalogue I have given up, the amount of compression is palpable.

My hope was that in this thread rather than just complaining we could try and take out fate back into our own hands.

M - I think this is a good thread.

I have one I have been listening to over the holidays, downloaded from HDTracks.  I play through my recently aquired NDX and this sounds stunning.  If you like Jazz it makes an excellent list, her voice is solky smooth and the mastering makes it demonstration quality.

I'm sure the redbook CD would be very good as well.  Has anyone downsampled a 24/96 recording purchased in this way to 16/44 and compared to a redbook CD?  It's something I keep meaning to do.

Media: Download - 24/96

Genre: Vocal Jazz

Title: Home

Artist / Composer: Jane Monheit

Ref:

Notes: Track 4 - Tonight You Belong To Me is a simple accoustic track and sounds magical!

Richard

Thx Richard - nice photo by the way.

I have played with sampling both up and down. Personally I do think that the main differentiator is the recording & mastering.

I'll put the Monheit on my list.

Martin

Martin

The other night I listened to the whole album but wanted more, I have "The Very Best of Jane Monheit" on CD (ripped for playing on the NDX) so gave that a 'spin'.  It lacked atmosphere and presence compared to the 24/96 version of Home and just seemed dull in comparison even though I normally enjoy it and it is well mastered. 

I'm sure if I had listed to them in the opposite order it would have been fine.  It will be interesting to try downsampling just out of curiosity when I have a moment to see how it compares.

Richard

Media: CD

Genre: Jazz

Title: Bending New Corners

Artist / Composer: Erik Truffaz

Ref: Blue Note 522123 2

Notes: This is probably the "best sounding" album I own, in that sense that it sounds just like it has been recorded and directly burnt to disc.

Media: CD

Genre: Various

Title: Babel Soundtrack

Artist / Composer: Various

Ref: Concord Records 0888072301917

Notes: This double album is brilliantly mastered, with much dynamic, presence and fine detail. It is also a refreshing listening experience as if offers varied music styles.

Regards,

Christian