[feddar]

Now that I have a great set of headphones (Focal Utopia), I have been listening to more and more classical music. I am finding that albums released after 2015 have far better sound than those prior to that. In fact, I am finding that I am listening more to the sound of the instruments than the music itself. I guess that is why I am drifting into modern classical.

An example of one such album is The Law of Mosaics, by A Far Cry. Their other album, Visions and Visitations, was nominated for best produced album in 2019. A more ‘normal’ genre with great recording is String Quartets, Vol 4: Schubert, by Engegård Quartet.

Do you have any classical albums that have great sound? (Preferably available on Tidal)

 

[prionsarebad]

I am a mostly classical listener and despite having a Google play music subscription I took out the Tidal 4 months hi-fi subscription for £1.99.....and I've been blown away by the quality of the studio master recordings....even for old famous recordings like the Rostropovich/Karajan Dvorak. As you say though, the more recent recordings are often incredible.

 

[feddar]

I guess there aren't many classical listeners here...

 

[Christer]

I guess there aren't many classical listeners here...

Oh yes there are,
Two good threads with classical music added to almost daily.
By the way a very good album and recording by a FAR CRY is the one where they play Beethoven.
The binaural version should sound good via your Utopias.
It sure does via my HEKV2 and Chord Qutest/MScaler.
They have managed to capture even the height dimension of the hall. Heavenly when those strings soar in Opus 132.
Cheers CC

 

[feddar]

I missed that thread. I did a search prior to starting this one, but did not find anything. Could you post a link to it, please?

 

[Christer]

I missed that thread. I did a search prior to starting this one, but did not find anything. Could you post a link to it, please?

"Popular Classic Music" thread and "Classical Music what do you like" were the two I was thinking of.
Cheers CC

 

[FullBright1]

Here are 2 i can recommend.
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Yuja Wang "The Berlin Recital"
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Pergolesi - Stabat Mater
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[feddar]

"Popular Classic Music" thread and "Classical Music what do you like" were the two I was thinking of.
Cheers CC

Thanks. I found the second thread, but not the first. Those threads are for classical music in general, which I will go through. I am wondering about really well produced classical recordings. I find the production quality really comes through with a good set of headphones. I'll post a question there.

Thanks again!

 

[feddar]

Here are 2 i can recommend.
Yuja Wang "The Berlin Recital"
Pergolesi - Stabat Mater

Thank you, I will give them both a listen.

 

[Christer]

Thanks. I found the second thread, but not the first. Those threads are for classical music in general, which I will go through. I am wondering about really well produced classical recordings. I find the production quality really comes through with a good set of headphones. I'll post a question there.

Thanks again!

Hello again,
my answer was basically only in response to you asking about classical music listeners here.
But if by best production you mean most realistically recorded those two threads are maybe of limited interest.
Streaming quality is rarely good enough to really enjoy the recording quality.
There are some horribly bad examples also on these two threads.
I go there now and then mainly to hear good performances by great artists.

And if I really like them I try to get the actual recordings, not the compressed low res YouTube version.
For really well recorded material I play the actual hi res masters from several classical labels like BIS,Chandos, Channel Classics and some of the majors when they manage to do justice not only to the performer but also the recording.

Since buying a Chord Mscaler a year ago, I am discovering MANY really well recorded rbcds from BIS before they started to use lots of mics like everyone else. And some of those quite early 80s to mid to late 90s recordings in some respects rival the best of today's hi res recordings because they have a very coherent and stable soundstage not messed up by too many mics balanced in post production which is the norm today.
BIS used only two or three mics to record a full orchestra for quite long.
I know, I've been to their recording sessions. But now they use a forest of mics like the majors almost always have been doing since the days of LP.
But there are some notable exceptions like the recordings from A FAR CRY particularly if one gets the simply mic'd binaural versions.
For headphone listening nothing beats binaural.
Unfortunately very few classical labels seem interested in recording in binaural.
But the BBC regularly mix some live concert broadcasts in special headphone versions.
The BBC proms is source of binaurally recorded classical music and also BBC Radio 3.
But their actual streaming quality is not even of rbcd standard yet.
Imho good SQ only applies to older recordings with a Chord MScaler otherwise early cds sound pretty awful to me.
Utopia is a superb headphone, very transparent but a bit too small soundstage-wise for me. I prefer Sennheiser HD800 or HIFIMAN HEKV2 in that respect over Utopia.
Cheers CC

 

[feddar]

Thank you for the information.

I rarely listen to youtube or such streaming. I looked into BBC proms, but only found streaming. Do you happen to know if they sell better versions?

I generally listen to Tidal. I am one of the people who actually like the MQA recordings quite a bit.
When I buy, it is usually from NativeDSD.com. I have listened to binaural recordings from them, but I don't really find much of a difference. Maybe it is my setup that is lacking. I use a Chord Mojo, or an Onkyo DPX1A.

About your setup, do you find old rbcd through the MScaler to be as good as the new high res files (via MScaller) coming out now? From my understanding of Chord's theory, the 44.1kHz has all the information that is needed, and the MScaller should be able to reconstitute it better than current high res files.

 

[Christer]

Hello again, quick answer to your question regarding the MScaler.
Yes it is imho the most interesting digital toy I've ever bought.
It makes well recorded rbcd material sound as hi res music to me.
Everything else equal the hi res version can still sound a wee bit more realistic.
But the difference not at all as big to me as it used to be before HMS
RBCD via HMS is often so good that I can now listen to old cds that where unlistenable to me before HMS.

My advice if you like classical and acoustic music is try to audition it with the three Chord dacs that it can be used at full throttle ie 1M taps 705/768khz upsampling, with.
Regarding the BBC the only cd quality BBC I am aware of is when they bundle a Proms or BBC recording on CD with the BBC music Magazine.
Cheers CC

 

[feddar]

Here are 2 i can recommend.

Yuja Wang "The Berlin Recital"

Pergolesi - Stabat Mater

Both recordings are excellent sound quality and content. Thank you very much!

 

[FullBright1]

fedder,

If we considered that all videos on UTBE are compressed, and even if the original is a truly high def upload....then even the best utube video is going to suffer, sonically.
But even so, both of these recordings are very well recorded and have a very fine sound.
I own the originals and if you like these artists and this music, i can recommend 2U the quality of these recordings.
I personally tend to shy away from most recorded Classical music that is a pianist giving a recital, as most of the time the engineers of the sound, seem to forget that if the piano is being recorded in a big wide (wet) hall, then that is already a lot of reverb. And then they add on a reverb effect, usually.
This means the end result is that the piano sounds like its in a "deep well", vs a concert hall, as Reverb + Reverb is TOO MUCH.
Too dry is like a spotlight looking for mistakes, so, the pianist flees from this.....and in doing so, often ends up with a recording that has no definition to the notes, and much of the dynamics that make music emote, are lost in the swap of Reverb.

 

[feddar]

Hello again, quick answer to your question regarding the MScaler.
Yes it is imho the most interesting digital toy I've ever bought.
It makes well recorded rbcd material sound as hi res music to me.
Everything else equal the hi res version can still sound a wee bit more realistic.
But the difference not at all as big to me as it used to be before HMS
RBCD via HMS is often so good that I can now listen to old cds that where unlistenable to me before HMS.

My advice if you like classical and acoustic music is try to audition it with the three Chord dacs that it can be used at full throttle ie 1M taps 705/768khz upsampling, with.
Regarding the BBC the only cd quality BBC I am aware of is when they bundle a Proms or BBC recording on CD with the BBC music Magazine.
Cheers CC

I am waiting for the construction at my supplier (Bay Bloor Radio in Toronto)to be over in the new year. I tried to audition it, but the construction sounds are so loud that, especially with the Utopia, it is hard to hear any differences. I am looking forward to it.

So which it your current choice for best produced RBCD album via MScaller? I'll have to give it a try when I audition the HMS (with TT2).