1. Carmen Gomes Inc., Thousand Shades of Blue( Sound Liaison) [urlhttp://www.soundliaison.com/]Sound Liaison[/url] 2. Doug MacLeod, There's a Time (HD Tracks) [url]http://www.hdtracks.com/{url} 3. Keith Jarret, Live at the Blue Note(ECM/HD Tracks)
I actually think that maybe the new Sound Liaison album from Andre Heuvelman, After Silence also could be no.1 or 2,but one album per label is maybe enough.
This is a good post, I will be interested to hear what other people have to say. Unfortunately, my own high res download collection is relatively small at present, so I don't really have a top 3. However, my favorite so far is the HDTracks 24/96 version of Fleetwood Mac Rumours, far better than any other version I have heard. The high res download I am hoping someone will release soon is the first Rickie Lee Jones album.
Immortal Nystedt http://www.hdtracks.com This 2l recording has an almost clinical precision.,
Batik, the o;d Man and the Sea http://www.soundliaison.com This recording has an unbelievable warmth and depth, placement of the instruments and just adorable beautiful music.
Minnesota orchestra; Stravinsky: The Song Of The Nightingale, The Firebird Suite, The Rite Of Spring http://www.hdtracks.com my favorite symphonic piece and favorite orchestral recording.
This my selection as of this moment. I will change it again next month!
Milan60....i agree with you re: the soundliason downloads. i downloaded the 'thousand shades of blue' jazz female vocal album last night and it is superb..thanks for the suggestion..
I agree with calloway,. The Sound Liaison downloads are a very welcome new addition to the the field of audiophile recording. Truly outstanding recording quality.
My 2 cents ... downloads from Sound Liaison are excellent across the board, but unfortunately there isn't much to choose from. HD Tracks has the best selection, but I've found sound quality to be hit or miss. More recently, I've become a fan of Blue Coast. With the purchases I've made to date, sound quality has yet to disappoint. Range of selection doesn't compare with HD Tracks nor are the offerings mainstream, but I really like that one can preview most albums/tracks in their entirety and even when a full length preview isn't provided, the sample of a track that can be previewed is of a decent duration.
As for 3 specific recommendations, I recommend the 3 ÂisoMike albums that are available from Blue Coast: Fan-Ya Lin ÂEmergingÂ, The Fry Street Quartet ÂJoseph Haydn String QuartetsÂ, and Joe McQueen ÂTen at 86 (the first two are classical, the third is jazz). Unfortunately, these three albums are only available in DSD, and the list price of $40 per album is ridiculous; however, when Blue Coast runs one of its Âbuy one get one free sales, then the pricing is at least palatable. Of course, if one doesnÂt have a DSD capable DAC, then these particular albums may not be the best choices although DSD file formats can be converted to hi-rez PCM file formats via software such as JRiver.
Incidentally, I forgot to mention in my post above, the recording engineer on the 3 "isoMike" albums that I mentioned is Ray Kimber of Kimber Kable, a fellow who I think everyone would agree knows what he's doing.
[img]http://www.soundliaison.com/images/tony-bert-300v1.jpg[/img] Impromptu, Tony Overwater and Bert van den Brink, Live at Rhapsody. http://www.soundliaison.com/images/tony-bert-300v1.jpg Ok, maybe there is not so much to choose from at the Sound Liaison label but each new release is a true must have. This DSD download is one of the best recorded piano / bass recordings I have ever heard. It is one of those recordings that just embrace you and draws you in. Spectacular audio quality.
[img]http://1652654879.rsc.cdn77.org/images/Witmertrio300shadow.jpg[/img] Witmer trio: En Azul highly recommended new Sound Liaison album.
The real challenge for a musician once he has mastered his instrument learned all about harmony and rhythm absorbed the music of the masters that came before him and found his own voice the real challenge is one that in itself sounds very simple place yourself in complete service of the music at hand and play only what the music is asking for but as every musician will tell you this is the most difficult of all musical challenges.
So many musicians these days are emphasizing the improvisation at the cost of the melody, with the result that .....''you got no melody to remember, and no beat to dance to''... (Louis Armstrong)
The new Carmen Gomes Inc. download; ''Little Blue'' on Sound Liaison has been in constant rotation on my media player the last weeks. Perfect autumn music.Highly recommended.
Head engineer Frans de Rond is proving once again that his knowledge of mic placement and use of equipment is in a class of it's own. He is one of the very few engineers that is able to create a sound stage, which is intimate, yet has depth and space. A sound stage which you could say projects a visual image of the musicians. Not a ''wall of sound'' but rather something like a three dimensional Monet painting, where you can walk in and take a look around.
All you Sound Liaison fans, all downloads are €10/$11 at the moment, also the DSD downloads. That is a 50% reduction. Sound Liaison Winter Sale;http://www.soundliaison.com/
Enjoying the Witmer trio’’ EN Azul’’ download too,....http://www.soundliaison.com/ .......very listenable album, incredible SQ. Good review here;
Sound Liaison is a Netherlands based partnership two bass players, Frans de Rond and Peter Bjørnild. They’ve assembled some terrific artists who play great jazz and given them high definition sound. I raved about their initial recordings on the Sound Stage! Network, and have enjoyed watching their progress in listening to their appealing new albums. Their newest program is titled En Azul and features the Witmer Trio, Cajan Witmer – piano, Han Slinger – double bass, and Maarten Kruijswijk – drums. The trio has been together for 20 years and all the players sound very comfortable in their skins. Their emphasis is on melody with ornamentation and variation that heightens a sense of melody rather than distracting from it. And they’ve picked some terrific tunes to work with – Carioca, TheGentle Rain, Moon River, Moonglow, Rhapsody in Blue, Recado, and St. Louis Blues, to mention a few. The playing is delightfully impeccable and the recorded sound nearly so. The trio sounds like it’s playing in a real space and is nicely spread between speakers with no exaggeration. The piano sound is perfect as is the sound of the many percussion instruments that are so imaginatively employed. The bass is solid; I could use just a tiny bit more focus on the attacks. Sound Liaison recordings are only available as high quality downloads. Many download formats are available including DSD and PCM 24bit/96kHz stereo. If you’re searching for real sounding intimate jazz, give the work of these folks a try. You’ll not be disappointed and it’s so
On the computer audiophile forum this one is getting excellent ratings, recorded in DXD and available in lower formats as well. Very natural SQ. Maybe one of the best sounding cello recordings I know. And Maya Friedman plays so very beautiful. Maya Friedman, the Invisible Link. http://trptk.com/
Yes very nice album indeed. I am very impressed by the piano sound that Sound Liaison achieves in general. The Witmer Trio, which I mentioned above, is a bit easier accessible music but also with a gorgeous piano sound.
I had the same thing with the Brad Mehldau album, at first it did not really register, maybe because of the sound, but then I completely fell in love with the playing.
That was also the case with this weeks special offer on the http://www.soundliaison.com/ label; Startas Orkester, although the sound is remarkable the music is at at first ... well ...different... but at third listen I completely fell in love with the album.
Lovely good sounding 44.1 studio master from Linn, only €11 , I guess because of the format. William Conway - cello Peter Evans - piano Recorded in St. George’s Hall, Brandon Hill, Bristol on 28, 29 & 30 May 1990 http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-debussy--martin--poulenc-cd.aspx
Great new Bach recording on the Sound Liaison label. Very very impressive sound stage, and the ensemble plays with a drive seldom heard in the classical field. Highly recommended. http://www.soundliaison.com/
"International elite on the West Side of Copenhagen. Enghave church has been programming concerts with the most prolific musicians specialised in Baroque music ….unsurpassable level of performance!" Søren Schauser, music editor at the danish newspaper "Berlingske Tidende"
"Full house and baroque music played with fire on the West Side." Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten
These musicians play straight from the heart, enthusiastic, swinging and in complete agreement with the music.....if this level can be kept on future releases I will be first in line…. ...This is a conductor on mission with Bach’s music!...... Review by Bach expert Knud Svendsen in danish organ society magazine
Plenteous expertise from the ensemble but you'd have to pick out Jesenka Balic Zunic's tender playing on the Violoncello da Spalla, Jakob Bloch Jespersen in ideal repertoire for him, and the striking freshness and fluency of Anna Jobrant's soprano solos. It was free, and full. Andrew Mellor, reviewer for Gramophone magazine
the sound and the playing reminds me a bit of the Dunedin consort recordings from Linn. Highly recommended as well. http://www.linnrecords.com/Index.aspx
One more vocal suggestion that I just downloaded. This is my initial reaction; Carmen Gomes Sings the Blues, DXD recording. Mind blowing sound quality: The sound stage is amazing. Great repertoire played by fantastic musicians. Highly recommended album download. http://www.soundliaison.com/
That Carmen Gomes Inc. would take on the challenge of reinterpreting
Harry Belafonte's 'Belafonte Sings the Blues' was originally suggested by Harry van Dalen, owner of the eminent High End audio shop Rhapsody. He thought that Carmen’s band would be perfect for reinterpreting the mood and the sound of the classic album. Carmen immediately loved the idea. 'Belafonte Sings the Blues' was one of her favorite albums when she as a kid spent countless hours listening to music and making cassette tape compilations from her parents vast LP collection. "I had a 60 minutes tape that I made consisting of my favorite songs from the Sings the Blues albums of Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone, Ray Charles, Memphis Slim and Muddy Waters. The tape eventually broke and got eaten by the machine, that's how much I played it!" Carmen recalls.
The Carmen Gomes Sings the blues album is fabulous, best download of the year so far if you ask me. There is only a week left of the introduction offer at the Sound Liaison site;
First we would like to express our most sincere gratitude and appreciation for the very positive response we received after the release of Carmen Gomes Sings The Blues. This album is our first DXD recording! The album was used by Schnerzinger, Nagra and Zellaton at the Munich High End Show 2017 to demonstrate their new products.
A friend of mine was there and heard the tape in the Nagra room. He found it very impressive. Says the DSD 256 digital download has the same kind of warmth.
But the tape version has been made following a pure analog signal chain while the DXD has gone straight into the computer. The DXD sounds good to me. There is a free sampler as well on the Sound Liaison site where one can compare the different formats.
milan60, I noticed that Doug MacLeod album is also available on HDTracks in the same resolution... would there be a sound quality difference between the 2 web stores ? not talking resolution but maybe more warmth / musical / .... just better ... anyone can answer.... thanks
The Enghave Barok 2nd edition. Excellent recording and SQ. And it is a nice that they included a stage map with the download, enhances the listening experience. There is still 2 days left of the introduction price of 10 $/euro. https://www.soundliaison.com/studio-masters/254-bach-live-edition-2
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