50 of the best hi-fi albums for audiophiles

A Mercury Living Presence box set will give you 50 in a compact single box. 

Props to What Hi-Fi for compiling the list and linking it to a stream. I haven’t made it through yet, but while "Automatic for the People" is a very good lp, the sonics are not to audiophile standards on my 1st press lp.

Not an album, but a stream: this summer BBC Radio 3 has experimented with full red book standard 16/44 streams of live classical broadcasts (compressed in lossless FLAC). What was remarkable was that the average recorded level was much lower than I have heard elsewhere. So there was plenty of headroom for a very high dynamic range. It was pretty spectacular. The music was often great too.

"We didn't set ourselves the task of picking the absolute, definitive best 50 albums for audiophiles.

"We did, however, manage to compile the below list of 50 records (and a little further listening for each) we feel span genres, styles of production and sonic character rather well. If nothing else, they'll give your hi-fi a workout and, hopefully, broaden your musical horizons at least a little."

> From the introduction to the article

gsm18493,

If you are associated with the article, I don’t recall you mentioning "definitive" in your original title/post. I recall this.. "50 of the best hi-fi albums for audiophiles". When one mentions audiophiles, I can only assume, they mean, the best sounding.....You now want to go back and renew your original meaning.

My "Automatic for the People" does not give my system a "work-out". It does give my ears a sense of...'I don't want to subject myself to this anymore".

Agreed that AFTP would not be on my list.  Reckoning is a much better choice in the REM realm, at least for me.

I am surprised by the list. There is quite a bit of music that I like, but audio quality in analogue recordings from the sixties?

I had expected the usual list of audiophile warhorses, many with good sonics, but so-so music, or material so well-trod that it is hardly a revelation. The inclusion of The Congos, Heart of the Congo, is cool. It isn't a sonic masterpiece in the audiophile sense, but it is a trip to listen to; Lee Perry cobbled it together using some of the top players in Jamaica, using a TEAC 4 track deck - 2340 o4 3340?-- bouncing tracks to get more space to overdub. The whole thing is a marvel of sound, but it isn't purist stuff- if anything, it is a wacky, wonderful exploration of the art of dubbing and Jamaican roots reggae.  (PS: if you want to buy this record, there is only one I've heard that sounds decent- it is the OOP Blood & Fire copy. The short-lived Simply Vinyl reissue of same sounds flat and dead).  

I am NOT associated with the article. I merely cut and pasted the introduction to the article as it appeared on-line - ncluding "definitive" in italics. The introduction (or premise) to this or any similar article is important in order to put the list in context. It is much more informative than the title.

Good info, whart. I have used the Teac 2340 (just like the 3340, but with 7" reel capacity to the 3340’s 10-1/2") in a small studio I built and engineered in, and it is a good sounding recorder, almost as good as my Revox A-77, believe it or not. Nicely transparent, low noise, and full bandwidth.

Should have been called “A random list of 50 albums we like, that weren’t brickwalled into oblivion”

If it ain’t all about sonics and it seems within this list it ain’t, it must be about something else as significant.

Perhaps ‘audiophile’ means more in different cultural settings. What Hi Fi is to my understanding an ‘off shore’ magazine, isn’t it? Maybe they feel ‘eclectic’ is as congruent to audiophile as is excellence is to sonics.

Did anyone look into the actual choices as to each prominence or uniqueness or even influence, or in other words an albums entymology, its musicians recording venues, and or producers?

  Not digging at anyone, just wondering aloud.

Could be too, as with so many top 10 or top 100 lists on various tV shows, the list is aimed primarily at crating controversy. I see this occur on Nat Geo, Hist. AHC, etc., all the time.

Beats me. If only a few items on the list appear audiophile by definition which have not been known before, then you are ahead of the game for not much effort at all, right? I saw they said something about just that thing too, “finding new stuff”. Broadening your musical horizons.

Could be just that simple.

@blindjim - the very notion of a "list" of recommended albums is bound to evoke reactions from "what, that again!" to "why didn't they include X?"
Your question about researching the story behind the record is an interesting one- I discover music all kinds of ways, from reading and research, to recommendations, to record "surfing" (i.e., finding a singer or musician on one album and then researching that artist's discography). Some of the albums on that particular list are familiar to me. The one from the list I mentioned above was actually the subject of a fairly detailed article I published: [url]http://thevinylpress.com/congos-heart-congos/[/url]. It is a very worthwhile record musically. 
I'm usually put-off by "audiophile" records because the characterization, to me, usually means great sonics and less interesting music. 
I don't read any of the hi-fi mags anymore. As I recall, What Hi-Fi is a British mag that does fairly straightforward reviews of gear with "pros" and "cons"--and an emphasis on equipment available in the UK. 

Not a bad list. There seems to have been listed more modern albums (90-00's). I would have liked to see "Kind of Blue" 1959 and "Let it Bleed"
the flipside to The Beatles "Abbey Road". Happy Listening!

imo a very good, broad-minded list, with some interesting obscurities like nils frahm and mbongwana star.. we could all, of course, make our own lists, but it's always nice to get new input

@snackeyp 

Thanks very much for posting that link.  Nice to see a few different recommendations for a change.  Especially appreciate the intro to 2015's "Junun" with the Rajasthan Express, Tzur and R'head's Greenwood.  Hadn't heard about that one.  Thanks again.

You're welcome, ghosthouse.  Glad you enjoyed it.

Tonight I found a copy of Daft Punk - Random Access Memories on vinyl, and based on this list, picked it up.  
I can report that this list is not wrong.  This is a gem of a record.  I have it in digital format but never really liked it as a whole until I heard the vinyl version of it.  Really cool concept album of sorts.  Great sound and high art to boot.  Well worth the time spent to appreciate!

A friend brought over Darkside-Psychic last night and it is a great sounding record and very cool techno stuff. Not surprised it made this list. Not my usual go to music at all but I just ordered it and the another couple titles as well, Junun,
Mbongwana Star
Thank you for posting. Agree about that Congos reissue btw, terrible. Mine is '08 deluxe 2xlp VP music group. Meh, bummer.