[Jodet]

My one recommendation would be the soundtrack to 'The Machinist' by Roque Banos. The movie, starring Christian Bale was pretty good, sort of a two -hour long 'Twilight Zone' episode.

But the music was amazing. It sounds...I'm not making this up....like Bernard Herrman, only BETTER. Theremin and everything. Just wonderful music. I hear they are re-doing 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' (Keanue Reeves as Klaato, no I am not making this up). If there is a God in heaven they'll get Banos to do the score.

So....if you wanted to recommend 1 disc for headfi, what would it be?

 

[zumaro]

Mahler Symphony 2 - Ivan Fischer and The Budapest Festival Orchestra
Stunning sound, stunning music, stunning playing.

 

[Agent Kang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zumaro /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mahler Symphony 2 - Ivan Fischer and The Budapest Festival Orchestra Stunning sound, stunning music, stunning playing.

I second this. This is my reference recording for testing new equipment.

 

[boomana]

Arvo Part: Lamentate.

I just get lost in it every time. It's one of those pieces that's better with headphones than with speakers because of the intimacy of the experience,and how the music pulls you in and it becomes your world.

 

[krmathis]

Nils Lofgren - Acoustic Live

 

[electrathecat]

Depeche Mode Remixes

 

[pageman99]

The Eurythymics-Greatest Hits.

Exceptionally well mixed and engineered on a simple 4 track piece of equipment of outstanding quality, at least for the earlier pieces of the ouevre.. Every instrument is precisely placed for a perfect recreation of soundstage. Instrument and voice timbre is to die for.

 

[speakerface]

If you like rock/alternative, the reference album I can't get away from is Jeff Buckley's Grace. (Andy Wallace is an amazing engineer)

I know you said only one, but as kind of an off the wall recommendation, I would say either album by the Latin Playboys. They are a combination of some of the guys from Los Lobos, Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake. Tchad Blake is a nut when it comes to mixing albums, and the LPs stuff is more of a showcase for him then the music (the music is good, but different). He incorporates some binaural "textures", extreme panning (crossfeed may improve the experience), and other really different natural and electronic effects for some unique mixes. Definitely not for the purist.

 

[Quaddy]

Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Penguin Cafe Orchestra

 

[SR-71Panorama]

The Knife: Silent Shout.

Hearing it in my car with a subwoofer still doesn't compare to the clean, flat balance when hearing it on a good headphone rig.

 

[VicAjax]

Murcof - Utopia

 

[Archangel]

Kari Bremnes - Erindring

 

[CMasten]

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome is still a masterpiece, too bad the band just fizzled out..

Rickie Lee Jones - Flying Cowboys and Paul Simon - Graceland are two more very well recorded albums.

Another album that is interesting, is David Pack (former member of Ambrosia) his last album - The Secret of Moving on has a great sound, maybe not well engineered, but sonically it sounds great on everything I play it on. "Your the only woman", is very dynamic and has great percusion and bass lines. Ann Wilson, Steve Perry and many others helped David out on this album and its a great work if you like his voice.

 

[goldenratiophi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SR-71Panorama /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Knife: Silent Shout. Hearing it in my car with a subwoofer still doesn't compare to the clean, flat balance when hearing it on a good headphone rig.

I clicked this thread to recommend the same album!

 

[vcoheda]

the sound quality is amazing. if you want to know how detailed your setup is, listen to this.