High quality CDs

OP

Regarding “so many choices”…the Classical Market used to be dominated by 3 or 4 “Major” labels—Columbia, RCA, EMI, DG,Phillips and Mercury-and their dominance was gradually broken up by budget and independent labels.  The CD era really facilitated the growth (and now streaming) of these labels so now they now dominate the Classical Market.  Many of them place a much greater priority on SQ than pop labels, because the goal is to capture the sound of a live ensemble, not some end product created at a mixing console.

  Another trend is to use concert performances for recordings, as this reduces studio costs.  This presents more of a challenge to record accurately, but the performances tend to be more exciting.  It may be worth sacrificing a bit of sonic accuracy for extra performing juice.

I listen exclusively to Classical.  Where are you getting your CDs from?  Maybe your system needs revamping.

  Anyway, Classical Labels that are especially known for good Sonics are, inno particular order:  BIS, Reference Recordings, Decca, MDG, Pentatone.  These labels tend to bill themselves as Audiophile, and most of them are sonically outstanding.

  The so called Major Classical labels, besides Decca, are Sony and Warner.  Like Decca, these current mastheads comprise many labels that were until a decade or so past were independent with decades long recording traditions, such as DG and Phillips (Decca), RCA (Sony), EMI , Erato, Telefunken(Warner).  Then there are the historical budget labels such as Naxos and Vox.

  DG was thought to be exemplary in the lp days, but most of the  records from their heyday show hot treble and limited bass.  Naxos and Vox always suffered from poor engineering but there are some exceptional finds there.  Sony and RCA early digital transfers could be problematic but later remasterings are usually exceptional.

  My recommendation. : It would help if you told us what sub genres within Classical you are interested in (Baroque, Opera, etc. or just name Composers) and then I and others will flood you with recommendations.  Secondly, use a streaming service to audition a recording before buying 

The great thing about getting to a happy place with your system, at least digital replay, is that it is a rare CD that sounds bad.  As digital matures, more information than we ever thought possible gets pulled out of those pits.  I recently randomly pulled two CDs off the shelf that I hadnt heard in years.  The first was a Sony issue, early digital, of the Schuman PC and Quintet with Rudolf Serkin as the Pianist.  Always loved the performance but was utterly blown away after not hearing it for a few years at how stunning the sound was.  OK, the treble hardens a tad when pushed, but certainly amazing for 1959 recording.  The second was a Naxos CD of the Beethoven and Mozart Piano and Wind Quintets and the Mozart "Glass Harmonica" Adagio as a throw in bonus.  Again, my memory of most early Naxos issues was that that  they were dry and not to sonically appealing, but this sounded magnificent.  

   I really treasure my SACDs, Blu Rays and High Resolution downloads, but even plain vanilla Red Book CDcan sound so good as to be completely satisfying

Telarc is out of Buisness.