True, very well recorded. Many on my "reference Playlist" and just all time favorites. I am currently searching out well recorded ROCK music from the 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000. For example I listened to MJ's Dirty Diana today, WOW! Some Pink Floyd is also really well done too.
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SYSTEM IN LESS THAN 30 SECONDS
I am serious. I work VERY hard to have the best system I can. I have made many upgrades and am more than happy with my equipment. I stream 100% of the time, mostly form Qobuz. My digital front end is highly optimized. But when I want my system to sound AMAZING?
I play Mark Knopfler or my favorite Dire Straits. Seriously. It is recorded so exceptionally well, and seems to have harmonics which just please the ear and soul. I often think it sounds a bit 'tube like', as my system is all solid state. There are just no offending sounds, and never sibilance. I could list songs, but it would be easier to just list the one not to play ('Money for Nothing').
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That batch of Dire Straits SACDs that MFSL put out do sound pretty good; and although Love Over Gold had pretty much blown me away for quite a while, I am now back to thinking that Dire Straits (the self titled) has the better sound; but with all that typed, I have other SACDs that perform equally or out perform those. |
Back in the 60-70s. Most recordings were done with vacuum tube equipment some still do that has a big influence ,also who is doing the mixing that’s why theBeatles sounded so good on most albums, they tried solid state mixers on 1-2 albums then went back to tubes ,Allen Parsons was excellent on the mixing board . 80-90s much music was recorded a bit tipped up a bit during the era of disco and boom boxes .. |
Six Blade Knife is great too. Great tune but really good for testing or showing off your systems lower end capabilities. The self titled album is their best IMO and what a way to come out. Wild West End is great too. When I moved back to England one of the first things on my list was to buy coffee at Angelucci’s. His grandson served me and I asked about the song. Mark asked permission to use it, but sadly they were not credited in anyway, but I’m guessing they still get traffic from it even today.
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Brother's In Arms was the first CD I ever bought back in the 80's. It's funny, the album won some award for recording, the second CD I bought was Momentary Lapse of Reason, also won some award. I was listening to it last night and comparing the 2019 remix version with the original 1987 recording. I think the original sounds better, at least on my system - possibly because it's what I expect to hear. The re-mix seems a little more saturated in the upper midrange, which my B&W's are super efficient in reproducing. It was pretty cool listening session. I closed out the session with Dire Straits Private Investigation, love the dynamics and crisp recording. |
@katzenjammer27 I bought the Dire Straits albums as they came out (I'm old). It was odd that I liked them because I was really into harder rock at the time. When Brothers in Arms came out, I would crank Money for Nothing and didn't care as much for the other songs. Now, it's just the opposite. I skip over Money for Nothing. lol. |
So (@roxy54) I do like to keep a short playlist called Demo, where I listen to the 'sound first' on music I enjoy and know well. I think it is very useful when evaluating a new piece of equipment. Here are a few from memory: Anette Askvik 'Liberty'....subtle sounds, breathy sax Tool "Chocolate Chip Trip"...soundstage way beyond speakers Buckethead 'Wishing Well'...not the best recording but I like it Mary Chapin Carpenter "hand on my back'...Beautiful Led Zeppelin 'Going to California' Stevie Ray Vaughan ' Tin Pan Alley'
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@sls883 Best song on In Step, Cross Fire is ok, Tightrope, some others, but this one is on another level. (instrumental) Looked at your Gustard 18 - seems like a neat interface. Right now I stream through my Blusound Vault, I don't have any need as the bluesound connects directly to my pre-amp and has usb port if needed.. |
@katzenjammer27 I'll give it a listen. Thanks for the recommendation. I have a Gustard R26 dac. I'm using it with an Innuos Zen Mk3 streamer. I'm very happy with the dac. I had read that the U18 adds a bit of improvement. I thought that made more sense than upgrading to a more expensive dac. I go from the Innuos to the U18 with a usb cable and from the U18 to the dac with an I2S cable. I'm not saying this is the End Game dac, but I'm very happy with it. |
I take the opposite approach. I want my system to sound good on "average," standard issue records, not audiophile "spectaculars." That isn’t to say I won’t search out a "best" pressing, but having accumulated a lot of LPs over the years, and culling them out, replacing some, buying others, I’ve found that the better a system is, the more it will reveal from "standard" issues- I collect a lot of small and private label post bop, have a ton of classic rock and a considerable amount of classical that I bought decades ago. Most of the "audiophile" stuff collects dust- simply too banal, musically. If you dig down, you can find interesting music that sounds good. It used to be easier before record inflation (grading and price) kicked in. But there are a lot of gems out there that are not on the standard "Chad" or "MoFi" reissue list. I also like to challenge myself by listening to music that I once would have regarded as too cacophonous. There is a happy medium for every taste- from country to free jazz. Part of the quest, for me, is discovery of "new to me" music that may be "old." It’s astounding what you can pull from those grooves if you can land a copy that hasn’t been abused. There is also a considerable amount of "new" music that is worth exploring. Open the aperture wider--audiophiles tend to silo themselves into approved sonic wonders. I rarely go near that stuff, even though I have shelves of it in my secondary storage area. |
An acoustical recording of an orchestra, chamber group or vocalist/vocalists is the only way to hear the real thing. Not that overly processed recordings aren't exciting with thumping bass, dazzling highs and dynamic range beyond imagination, but they are so far from reality that they enter a new dimension of media presentation. Acoustical reality is an honest thing but the twist of a knob, the use of an "app" and the panning of material all over the soundscape is a tool and should be recognized as such. Kudos should go in equal parts to the performers and the engineers in such cases. Great examples of both are the recording of Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Symphony performing the Carmen Suite of Bizet arranged by Schechedrin for string orchestra and 40 or so percussion instruments and the collaborations between Linda Ronstadt and George Massenburg as performer and recording engineer . The best of both acoustical beauty and engineered ingenuity ! YMMV ! |
Those bands are good, but it's boring and we've all heard it a million times, great songs great recordings but there is so much great music with insane fidelity besides that stuff... And your 100% streaming which sounds like crap anyway, that's your problem... I have a Aurender with a SSD with about 800 CDs ripped in WAV on it, and Qobuz... Is no contest, the ripped CDs off the hard drive absolutely blow away the streaming Qobuz music including Hi-Res tracks and albums , it's not close. I like Qobuz, listen to it often, but when I find something I really like I'll buy the CD and rip it to my library You need to re evaluate your whole approach... Just having a system that is dedicated to a few old albums we've all heard a million times is not what I would consider a audiophile system |
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It has been fun hearing everybody's "favorite sounding songs that they like''. Is that fair to say?? My only intention here was that some music (that I like) sounds better than other music (that I like). There have been many great suggestions here..hopefully many pick up a few songs that they like and that leads to even more music that they like. It is the process of streaming....hear something new and broaden your listening. Why the haters??? Rosy54 accused me of listening wrong. The Carpathian was just plain mean to rcm1203. bolong put me and others in a sad old group...I think a sadder group is those who write stuff like that. and fpomposo is accusatory, assumptive, ignorant and rude. I am so proud of him for having an Aurender with a hard drive. That certainly proves his music sounds better than mine. The only approach that needs reevaluated is how you respond on a public forum. Thanks all for the great suggestions and enjoy your music! |
I agree @ossicle2brain. I have an extensive hard drive with files from standard CD's to DSD. But my streaming is so highly optimized that is not always true that local sounds better than a high rez stream from Qobuz. I love Bela and Cosmic Hippo has amazing bass! Recall I never challenged anyone's local file sound quality. |
fastfreight,
So agree w u on Dire Straits. I “discovered” them in the late 90’s thx to Absolute Sound. I use the later tracks on Brothers In Arms for my evaluations. Also, Famous Blue Raincoat by Jennifer Warnes. I consider Knopfler a bit of a mixture of Santana and Clapton. Love the riffs he puts in. My system is made up of an ARC SP-9 MkIII, Leach mono SuperAmps, Genesis IM-8300 speakers, NAD CD, SOTA Sapphire w ET-2 tone arm and Sumiko Celebration Pearwood. |
@dwcda yep, in fact, i was just talking like Knopfler and Cash in the shower a half hour ago (no aptitude required). Here are some bros who can actually sing. The recordings may not be "audiophile" enough for the gon crew, but, nevertheless, it is the voices of these type of bros that the lasses fall for. Lasses are not attracted to talkers (unless they get rich). Poppy Bros George Michael - Father Figure Michael Bolton - Said i loved you but i lied
Rocky Bros Geoff Tate (Queensryche) - Silent Lucidity Geoff Tate (Queensryche) - Della Brown David Coverdale (Whitesnake) - Is this love David Coverdale - Sailing Ships Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) - Tears of a Dragon etc, etc, etc
and my personal favorite bro, of course (might be a very complicated voice for some of y’all)
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katzebjammer27.