First and Last and Always - The Sisters of Mercy   Psychocandy - The Jesus and Mary Chain   Meat is Murder - The Smiths

Necessary - Galgeberg/Gimle   Eclectic and excellent album. Download available http://www.weltschmerzindustries.com/downloads.htm   The only two tracks I could find online are with rapping, but are not really representative as most is without rapping.   Nice write up here...

Radio Rothko - Deadbeat   Very good dub techno mix album

Eve - Ufomammut

I like the Koyannisquatsi trilogy soundtracks, Dracula, and the Low Symphony. Agree with preference for Reich though.   I'd also put George Crumb, Kaija Saariaho, and Arvo Part on the list of essential contemporary composers.   Sibelius Symphonies - Maazel Vienna Philharmonic   Biber...

Maybe not straight up electronic, but I never got around to listening to the Knife's Tomorrow in a Year after reading some dodgy reviews. Turns out it's fantastic.

Quote: I'm moving, so maybe in the new place. Going from an apartment to a house, so I might push the boat out and build some Thors to go with them.

After building some Linkwitz Orions it's been just music for me. I haven't changed any of my gear for four years now. Before that I changed something at least once a year

I bought it last Friday and have listened to it four times since then. It is as great as expected. If you liked his other Mozart you will love this too. I would think you can find it cheaper than that, I bought it for under $40 in my local mall and CDs are expensive in Moscow.

Don't worry about not liking DSOTM, it's just one of those albums that people who listen to equipment instead of music are obsessed with. The only reason it's sold millions is because its been released dozens of times in a dozen different formats and the wierdos that like buy every new one...

I also use TacT. I would never go back to an un-eq'ed system. EQ is particularly essential if you do your listening in a normal room where it is not practicable to put in much acoustic treatment. Anti RC sentiment is mainly luddism. I expect that as computer based listening continues to gain...

1. TacT RS2.0 2. Cyrus DAC-X 3. Apogee Minidac 4. Zhalou

Good Morning Spider is a much better album. It flows from beginning to end and is full of great songs. It's a Wonderful Life has some good songs too, but is blandified by Fridmann's always sounds the same production and all the guests make it less coherent. They are all worth a listen though.

I have a separate iTunes library for classical. It is divided by genre into classical, classical vocal (lieder etc.), opera and choral. I rip pieces as whole pieces rather than movements, because that's how I listen to them. Operas I rip by act. Then I have the name of the piece as the track...

I'll second the Deutsches Requiem, especially the all flesh is as grass section. For something a bit different you could try Veljo Tormis, an Estonian composer who writes a lot of choral stuff. http://www.veljotormis.com A bit harsher than than the classical and romantic stuff, but dark and...

Lots of good recommendations here, but for over the top I don't think you can beat Messaien's Turangalila Symphony.

Arvo Part - Miserere Lots of stuff on ECM by Eastern European composers, look for black covers and death/sadness/tears in the title. Shostakovich string quartets Messaien's Quartet for the End of Time Feldman and Ligeti.

Anyone have any experience with the Tact RCS2.0 they are offering for 1500 refurbished. I have been thinking of getting a new pre and a deq2496 to play with. I know the TacT is older, but it was a lot more expensive to start with. Anyone got any idea of how they compare? EQ ability...

I have a pair of the Linkwitz Plutos in my second system. They are excellent. They replaced a Cyrus amp/B&W Nautilus 805 set up. Compared to the N805s they have a much more natural sound with acoustic instruments and voices (I listen mainly to chamber music), and a far better soundstage...

That's it! I was surprised to find something in Hong Kong that hasn't been exported around the globe. I've never seen them anywhere in Europe.

sorry to go off topic a bit, but in Hong Kong a couple of weeks ago I had a fruit that I've never tried before and I dont know what it is. It was kind of bell-shaped, deep red color skin, kind of like apple skin, nice aroma, white, crispy, juicy flesh with no noticeable seeds. About the size of...

I completely forgot the Stello, that would probably be just right. The Bryston only has two inputs, unfortunately. But is the Rotel (or any AV processor/pre) any good for music? I used to have a Marantz SR8300 and it was rubbish.

Are there any other dacs similar to the Cyrus DAC-XP? I'm looking for something to handle at least 4 sources, two sets of outs, and provide remote volume control for use with active speakers. I have a DAC-X now that I'm quite happy with, but I've been informed rather bizarrely by the importers...