[incognitoedleon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaGWiRE Yup, Steely Dan rocks, and I've got all 3 of his DVD-A ripped onto my HD in wavpack .

Sorry, a bit off topic, but I thought there was no way to rip DVD-A.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by incognitoedleon Sorry, a bit off topic, but I thought there was no way to rip DVD-A.

If your tricky enough, and smart enough, you can get a perfect quality rip. Honestly, it's too difficult to explain, it's a strenous process, it takes lots of time, and there are probably like only 20-25 people in the entire world who have done perfect rips. I had a thread awhile back that got deleted becasue of debatable legal reasons, but pretty much I was offering a service where I would rip peoples dvd-a/cd's into lossless formats at a fee, and then send it back to them on a burnt dvd or cd or whatever media they send me / want me to use.

 

[Asr]

I always thought Radiohead's "OK Computer" was a good recording based on some past comments I read here...that's not the case?

 

[xantus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davey Reference audiophile quality and good pop/rock music don't very often come together on the same recording. Almost never. And sound quality is unfortunately just as subjective as the music. But since I noticed there are no women represented on your list of artists, I'll go ahead and toss out one that comes readily to mind, a very good recording of very good music, the second album from Tori Amos, Under The Pink. Of course if you hate her, or hate female vocals, or hate piano, nevermind Here's a link for a guy that reviews some of his records with a strong emphasis on sound quality. He's mostly into Pink Floyd and the classic stuff, but loves Tori too ... http://pages.sssnet.com/glg/aaatoriamos.html#pink

a big second for Under the Pink
Tori's stuff is usually very well recorded.
I always like to hear the last track Yes, Anastasia to test out new systems.

 

[3DCadman]

I always remember the great J. Gordon Holt from Stereophile fame quote "the better the sound quality, the worse the music". Or something like that. In other words, if it sounds great, the music usually sucks or if the music is great, the sound quality usually sucks.

Not always true, but far too common anyway.

 

[VicAjax]

i always recommend Zappa for these threads... so i'll recommend Zappa.

Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
excellent dynamics and great for testing vocals on speakers.

also...

Brian Wilson - SMiLE
new recording on the original studio tube boards. one of the best sounding pop/rock recordings that's been made in the past 20 years, IMHO. not overcompressed, great smooth sound.

 

[trains are bad]

Out of my collection, I have to recommend you check out some albums by Electrelane, such as The Power Out and Axes. It's a good band, and the recording is astounding.

 

[Albatross05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by applebook Most of my favorite CDs sound nice, but they are clearly not "reference" audiophile quality. Can anyone recommend an album based on my tastes? Beatles, Coldplay, U2, Oasis, Radiohead, Travis, REM, Pumpkins, The Wallflowers, Simon & Garfunkle, etc.

I'll also drop a recommendation for Clapton's Unplugged. I don't even care much for his style of music but it just sounds so damn good I don't really care.

At any rate, the only bad thing about audiophile grade "reference quality" discs is that they sound great on just about anything. They used to use Clapton's Unplugged to demo Bose systems at my local store because it sounds so nice it can even hide the Bose flaws from an untrained ear.

It's probably better to look for discs that DO sound great - but also have sounds on them that are very difficult to reproduce properly. This way, they don't sound great on pretty much anything. Assuming you're looking for reference discs to test new equipment, this would be probably better.

 

[itza2mer]

Rush - Moving Pictures, Toy Matinee - Toy Matinee, Kevin Gilbert - Shaming Of The True, Billy Cobham - Warning

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Supertramp - Breakfast In America

 

[Uncle Erik]

A second of eyeteeth's Wilco recommendation. If you're not familiar with them, they should fit with your tastes.

A few more that I'm pleased with are Stereolab, David Byrne and Of Montreal. I think their recordings are pretty good. You may or may not like them, but I think they do a good job.

 

[chadbang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthrax most ppl say siamese dream is an exellent example of redbook cds(am i correct?) might have to double check this.

Well, it's a bass lover dream, but otherwise I don't think it's special sonically other than the very smooth footprint of Billy Corgan's Big Muff pedal.


Supertramp "Crime of the Century"