Prog rock
Mar 31, 2024 at 10:14 PM Post #4,337 of 5,032
Hi Ytsejamer - which Dream Theater album do you think sounds best on good, super detailed headphones? Studio, live or whatever.

I’m obsessed with DT but never been blown away by their album fidelity.

I'm a big DT fan, but honestly, some of their albums sound pretty average. My top picks for sound quality are Octavarium, SFAM, and Falling Into Infinity.
 
Mar 31, 2024 at 10:17 PM Post #4,338 of 5,032
Hi Ytsejamer - which Dream Theater album do you think sounds best on good, super detailed headphones? Studio, live or whatever.

I’m obsessed with DT but never been blown away by their album fidelity.
I understand this sentiment precisely. DTs first two albums (though I discovered Images and Words first) shaped the entire future trajectory of my musical tastes and remain among my favorite albums of all time, but I almost never listen to them on my HiFi system. They sound like crap on a good system since they were so compressed as recorded.
 
Apr 1, 2024 at 1:53 AM Post #4,339 of 5,032
After four full nights I finally finished going through my local music library, changing .APE to .FLAC (roon doesn't do APE) and deleting all MP3 albums and replacing them on Qobuz/roon and there were surprisingly few I couldn't replace out of over 6000 albums. So now that my setup is all squeaky clean and optimised I figured I would celebrate by playing the very first prog-rock album I ever bought, way back in 1970 and still one of the greatest prog-rock albums ever recorded....

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I'm certainly getting full use out of roon, in my first full week's use I spent 64 hours listening to music with it :darthsmile:
 
Apr 1, 2024 at 12:11 PM Post #4,340 of 5,032
I understand this sentiment precisely. DTs first two albums (though I discovered Images and Words first) shaped the entire future trajectory of my musical tastes and remain among my favorite albums of all time, but I almost never listen to them on my HiFi system. They sound like crap on a good system since they were so compressed as recorded.
Totally.

I wish they would record with a producer like Joe Barressi (who recorded Fear Inoculum by Tool).

That album is unbelievably good with hi-fi/headphones.

I saw an interview with Tool’s drummer about how good Joe’s ear is. For example one time Joe *heard* that there was a loose lug-nut on the drummer’s floor tom, that nobody else could hear.

Imagine a DT album recorded like that.
 
Apr 1, 2024 at 5:27 PM Post #4,341 of 5,032
Hi Ytsejamer - which Dream Theater album do you think sounds best on good, super detailed headphones? Studio, live or whatever.

I’m obsessed with DT but never been blown away by their album fidelity.

I'm a big DT fan, but honestly, some of their albums sound pretty average. My top picks for sound quality are Octavarium, SFAM, and Falling Into Infinity.

I agree with this but I would also add Awake as far as production quality goes. Images & Words isn't bad either.
 
Apr 1, 2024 at 5:31 PM Post #4,342 of 5,032
I agree with this but I would also add Awake as far as production quality goes. Images & Words isn't bad either.
I found Awake and Images & Words to have horrible compression. Are you upscaling them?
 
Apr 1, 2024 at 5:51 PM Post #4,343 of 5,032
I found Awake and Images & Words to have horrible compression. Are you upscaling them?

Standard 44.1 Flac. I find most of their albums from 00's to sound heavily compressed in comparison to their earlier work, with the exception for Octavarium maybe.
 
Apr 1, 2024 at 6:27 PM Post #4,344 of 5,032
 
Apr 1, 2024 at 7:05 PM Post #4,345 of 5,032
I'm a big DT fan, but honestly, some of their albums sound pretty average. My top picks for sound quality are Octavarium, SFAM, and Falling Into Infinity.
Good call on these.

FIF has always been a guilty pleasure of mine (more commercial sound but still amazing).

Octvavarium sounds awesome on headphones - listening now on my new DCA Expanse and Topping..

Thx!

Btw if you haven't already, listen to either of the two albums by Plini. Gorgeous recordings.
 
Apr 1, 2024 at 8:34 PM Post #4,348 of 5,032
Apr 1, 2024 at 9:52 PM Post #4,350 of 5,032
Currently listening to Detachment by Barock Project on Qobuz, one of Italy's finest. They are from the lighter end of the prog gene pool but sound really good on headphones.

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