The main reason why I love Mahler 5 by Maazel is at Rehearsal 27 in the second movment. He is the only conductor who gives that moment the proper drama that it deserves. After all that part was Mahler's tribute to Bruckner, one of his favorite composers and largest influences.

Quote: Originally posted by scottder So the question now is, who DO you like Scott Maazel conducting Vienna are my consistent favorites, albiet I do perfer some other interpretations on #1 and #6

That was many years after Mahler's death and his music had fallen out of taste pretty much everywhere, not just in Vienna. I certainly give Bernstein credit for reviving the music of Mahler, but with the exception of the first symphony I am not a big fan of his interpretations.

The 5th symphony by Maazel is incredible. unfortunatly the recording quality isn't the best, but his interpretation of the piece most certainly is. Plus it was recorded by vienna, the very orchestra that Mahler wrote his symphonies for. IMHO the only orchestra that can play Mahler is vienna...

I agree with the Maazel being the worst of all the planets recordings, with the exception of "Saturn" which was actually the best recording of that movement released. The best all around recording is by far the Dutoit. The "Mars" is the best one out there and none of the movements are by any...

I just recently got this sound card to allow me to record high quality audio on the go (M-Audio Audiophile USB). The plesant "side effect" is that the sound card also has a really good DAC, and is great for listening as well as recording. I can't seem to find information on the headphone amp...

I am looking for an upgrade for my laptop sound card. I have seen some good looking cards in the sonica and the Echo Indigo, the only problem is that I have a limited budget and I also need to get midi in and out capabilities. While these cards seem to have great output I need more then just...

are any of the cheaper sennheisers any good? I've heard some good things about how the 497's sound without an amp, but I haven't heard anything about how they might color the sound.

Well I do a lot of audio editing work at school on my laptop, that and analyzing music.. Traveling in a noisy setting won't really come up very often.

I will mostly be using them on a laptop and occasionaly a portable mp3 player. I do have a really nice hometheater receiver, but I won't be using them on that to often. Everything that I have heard about Grado is that they color the sound quite a bit, and that is what I am trying to avoid.

I understand how important a headphone amplifier is to getting truely high quality sound, but right now my situation will not allow me to use one. I basicly want to know what is the best pair of headphones (sub $200) that will work very well without an amp and sound neutral. If possible I...