What CDs to buy

Good evening all, wanted to share my first experience with new HiFi CDs

Got a couple Blue Note XR24 from Elusive Disc

Donald Byrd - The Cat Walk

Stanley Turrentine - Look Out!

I have been listening to them quite a bit and on these two examples, they sound better than streaming them from Qobuz.  The gain is much higher on Qobuz so have to match the volume and ignore that initial loudness impact.  

I don't have either of these on vinyl for comparison.  

I am enjoying getting reconnected to CDs and look forward to trying more.  There is lots of great feedback on this thread so will take some time reviewing, streaming the music and then shopping for the ones I like.

- Rodney Crowell: The Houston Kid. A perfect album.

- The Notorious Cherry Bombs (Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill): s/t. Joyful singin’ and pickin’!

- The Johnny Staats Project (Bluegrass super-session): Wires & Wood. Virtuoso musicianship.

- Iris DeMent: The Way I Should.

-        "           : Lifeline.

-        "           : Sing The Delta.

-        "           : The Trackless Woods.

-        "           : Workin’ On A World (due out Feb 24th).

 

Why on CD? ’Cause they have never been available on LP (except for promo-only copies of The Way I Should, one copy of which I own).

+1 for Sting's "Ten Summoner's Tales".  Superbly written, played and recorded.

+1 for "Jazz At The Pawnshop".  I've got the 3-CD anniversary edition - marvelous.

Most any Steely Dan will sound good.  Always very well-produced music.  I like "Two Against Nature".  "West of Hollywood" is a great song, one of my reference tunes.  Donald Fagen's "Kamakiriad" is also a stellar recording, nominated for Album of the Year, FWIW.

Norah Jones' "Come Away with Me" was very well done, also a great collection of songs.  Won a Grammy for best engineered album, FWIW.

 

Charles Mingus Tijuana Moods (RCA Victor) – even if you're not a dedicated jazz fan. Terrific album and recording.

I feel the early cd the AAD sound better than the DDD.Those are the one's all Digital, that have exaggerated Bass sounds.When I have compared the first AAD cds.to the new,recut ones DDD the AAD win every time.

"Graceland" by Paul Simon. There's a lot to like on that album and recorded cleanly.

CD’s recorded by STS in the Netherlands are superb.  You could purchase directly from their website at sts-digitalshop.nl

 

A few suggestions:

 

Blues & Blues/Rock - any of Joanne Shaw Taylor’s CDs

- Gary Moore Legacy, Bad for You Baby

- Luther Allison Live in Chicago; Live in Paris

- Walter Trout We’re All in This Together, ALive in Amsterdam

- Christone Kingfish Ingram - Kingfish

-Alastair Green - Dream Train, Live From the 805

- Coco Montoya - Hard Truth

- Popa Chubby Live Big Bad Beautiful

- Alvin Lee Pure Blues

- Joe Bonamassa - Blues of Desperation, Blues Deluxe

- John Mayall - 70th Birthday Concert

 

Jazz - Female Vocals

- All of Lyndsey Websters and Melody Gardot CDs

- Maysa Blue Velvet Soul

 

If you like great guitar playing maybe check out music by the following to see if you like any - new flamenco

     Strunz & Farah

      Roman Street

      Nova Menco

      Ottmar Liebert

      Oscar Lopez

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of great suggestions.  One I haven't seen....Arista GRP.  One of the pioneers of CD digital mastering.  Some of the early stuff was done with JVC Japan.  Always sounds amazing and I'll buy any I see at the Goodwill if I'm browsing for CDs.  Great Jazz catalog!

@bdp24 

Thanks for the ideas....from your earlier post it didn't seem that you understood my objective.  CDs are new to my world since becoming an audiophile with a true hi-fi system.  I suppose I do have expectation that the SQ from CDs will exceed streaming.  I have a few hundred CDs from my collections from 30 years ago and have not heard an appreciable difference in comparing several of them to Qobuz.

@espilka 

Thanks for the suggestions, I will check out these albums as I don't have them on vinyl.

@grislybutter are you looking for new recommendations, music you don’t know?

That would be ideal, I am mainly looking to explore what the format can bring to my system as I haven't listened to CDs in about 20 years.  The CD player primarily serves as my DAC.

Great music and excellent recordings can be found on Stockfisch Records. Sara k. is fantastic.

Thanks for the suggestions! Yeah, I like Wynette and Springfield.... and of course Emmylou Harris, Cowgirls Prayer and Wrecking Ball, for example.

I’ll check out the TEF suggestion too.

Here’s a great sounding CD; whether or not you are interested n the music is a different matter:

Country Hits...Feeling Blue by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Songs by Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, Don Gibson, and Fred Rose. Swinging guitar by Billy Strange, upright bass by John Mosher. Fantastic audiophile-quality recorded sound. The original Capitol Records LP has been considered a super disc for years (I have a copy), and Analogue Productions has received raves for the their LP reissue of the album from reviewers the world over.

Remastered to DSD (the disc is an SACD hybrid) from the original analogue master tapes by Kevin Gray, manufactured by (or for) Analogue Productions, distributed by Acoustic Sounds (AP’s distribution arm). If you spend $50 or more, shipping from AS is free. Just add a copy of either Tea For The Tillerman by Cat Stevens (one of the best sounding recordings in the entire history of recorded music) or Dusty In Memphis by Ms. Springfield (ditto). Both reissued by Analogue Productions, imo (and that of many others) THE music reissue company.

@curtdr: Yes indeed, finding music you like that was recorded in good sound is the audiophilic music lover’s dream. Unfortunately, as J. Gordon Holt often said in his Stereophile reviews as far back as the early-60’s, the two are often mutually exclusive: the best performances (he was concerned mostly with Classical music) are all-too frequently the worst sounding recordings.

I consider myself lucky in that my preferred genres of music (Singer/Songwriter, Americana, Hard Country, Bluegrass) are one of the generally better recorded musics. In his YouTube review of the January LP releases by Vinyl Me Please, Michael Ludwig (his YouTube moniker is 45 RPM Audiophile) gives the month’s Country music title (VMP does one release per month in 5 genres)---Tammy Wynette’s Stand By Your Man album---an absolutely rave. I had written off Michael’s musical opinions (his taste is very different from mine) after he last year panned VMP’s re-release of Iris Dement’s debut album. It’s good to see him coming to his senses ;-) . In the currently-running Favorite Female Singer thread here on AG, I listed Tammy and Iris as two of my three (the other being Darlene Love. I had to leave off Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris, who round out my Top 5 list. Sixth would be Brenda Lee.). By the way, the Country release in February is Busy Bee Cafe, a great album by another fave of mine, Marty Stuart.

T Bone Burnett is the man responsible for the two Alison Krauss/Robert Plant albums, a great example of good music and good sound. T Bone’s 1980 album on Takoma (a label known for good sounding albums)---Truth Decay---features fantastic sound (it was produced by the great Denny Bruce), and can be found for peanuts on both LP and CD, as can many of his other albums. I like his earlier ones, his later ones not so much.

@bdp24  I for one appreciate your perspective. It is true that "audiophiles" often fall into the trap of worshipping equipment and "sound quality" (which is of course a subjective term) - and for many, as is unfortunately evidenced on so many threads of this forum, the more expensive the better, lol - over enjoying music itself.

That said, it is fun to find both: good music, recorded well.

 

For well-recorded jazz try the Three Blind Mice (aka TBM) Japanese label. Pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto is artful on "Midnight Sugar" (TBM-XR-0023) and "Misty" (TBM-XR-0030).

Also for jazz, I like "Jazz at the Pawnshop" for its immersive you-are-there microphone capture. My favorite version is XRCD on the First Impression Music label (FIM XRCD 012-013).

Mothership - Led Zeppelin 

bdp24 ... "ridiculous." Far from the truth, keep stretching.

You asked, "Where else should one go to find good opinions on the topic?!" Simple ... a bag of tricks :-)

While my instincts warn me against wading into such waters, I can’t resist. To come onto an "Audiophile" site in search of recommendations for recommendations of CD’s to purchase does nothing less than provide evidence that audiophiles care about the sound quality of recordings more than the music itself.

This is ridiculous. Where else should one go to find good opinions on the topic?!

No one would argue that some audiophiles do not fall into that trap category, but given the amount of time, energy and money that many put into their systems, why on earth would they not have an interest in listening to exceptionally well-recorded music? Not necessarily at the expense of less well-recorded music, but as an understandable emphasis.

I posted specifically about a genre that was generally not very well recorded, and how it is possible to find relatively good exceptions. Others have made useful suggestions as well.

Welcome aboard the CD train.  I have a AR refCD7 that i still use a lot. Recently got a DCS Bartok to take me into the realm of streaming.  I find that I prefer the sound of cd's to most of the hi rez on Qobuz but not always- for instance, to my ears, most Allman Bros versions sound better streamed.  I highly encourage you to order a copy of Rupa and the April Fishes "este mondo".  It is one of the finest recordings I own and I find the music very interesting too.  "trouble" is a great reference recording.  The CD version is particular ambient.  Leonard Cohen's "ten new songs" is another one with similar characteristics. Happy listening!

Jvc xrcd either generation.  Likely  the best. Mobile fidelity  sound lab gold cds ok. Chesky  very good. Ma very good. Try some of those audio file  recordings  on those discs

While my instincts warn me against wading into such waters, I can’t resist. To come onto an "Audiophile" site in search of recommendations for recommendations of CD’s to purchase does nothing less than provide evidence that audiophiles care about the sound quality of recordings more than the music itself. My God, @dhite71, reconsider your priorities! Do you use your recordings to show off your hi-fi, or rather use your hi-fi to increase your immersion into and appreciation of the music contained in your recordings?

Radiohead OK Computer 

I practically never listen to rock, but this one blows my mind.

 

 

 

 

Any of the Steven Wilson remix's (Chicago - Jethro Tull - XTC - Yes) or any of the recent remasters of The Beatles, Joni Mitchell or Pink Floyd will get you started.

So far, the best recording to show off a sound system is a song "Nasty" by Vincent Ingala.

What kind of music do you like?

Almost anything by TELARC, MOFI or Chesky Records is going to be well recorded and high quality.

 

Cowboy Junkies; Trinity Session 8568-2-R

TELARC 1812 Overture / Capriccio Italien  CD80041

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (Legacy Editions) CK64935 or 8869 747627-2

MOFI Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon UDCD517

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms 9 25264-2 or 9871498

Holst- The Planets CFM FW 021

TELARC Vivaldi - The Four Seasons CD 80070

Any of the Chesky "Demonstration Discs"

 

Lots of good classical CDs from Europe, especially Germany.

 

Nothing really to add. I also buy CDs when the music is not available on LP’s - generally speaking. 
 

I did find this thread interesting in concept. As much as we compare LP releases, I never considered ‘is this a good company for CD cuts’. I think that’s because we assume the skill of cutting a CD is in the mastering. If the mastering was done right, whoever produces the CD using the same master doesn’t matter. I may be 100% wrong - but I’m OK with that. I have enough neurosis in my life - no need to add on. 

Two phenomenal illustrations of what digital mastering can do to pull sound out of 78 records you'd never imagine possible are Robert Johnson: The Centennial Collection and the American Epic collection engineered by Nicolas Bergh. If I'm not mistaken the Johnson reissue was the first one taken from the original metal parts. The recent remastering of the Band's Music from Big Pink was something of a revelation, and a similar remastering of Stage Fright restored the album to Robbie Robertson's preferred sequencing. These are a lot older than 30 years, of course, but there are new things to hear.

are you looking for new recommendations, music you don’t know?

My greatest discoveries in the last decade were

M. Ward, The Be Good Tanyas, Shovel and Rope, Nataniel Rateliff, Paulo Nutini, and a few others, mostly mainstream (Wilco, BNL, and the like).

All CDs, no issues. Of my favorite 80s - 90s bands I am pretty unhappy with my ELO, Queen, Stones CDs. U2 is OK, but not great. I don't know whether it's a recording or music doesn't work well in a smallish room.

Almost every classic rock album has been remastered and The Beatles and Pink Floyd are no different. All the 2010 remastered Beatles and the newer Animals and Wish You Were Here are great!

Here’s a few of my favorites:

Jacques Loussier Trio - The Brandenburg Concertos or Best of Play Bach

Allan Taylor Looking for You

 

When Sting left The Police, he'd already made a fortune, so his solo career not only features great musicians, but high quality recordings. They really shine on a good system----Nothing Like the Sun, Soul Cages, Ten Summoner's Tales, and Brand New Day are all great albums/recordings.

Explore Japanese press CDs. Lots of rare jazz titles not available anywhere else, exceptional quality, nice artworks. Could be expensive sometimes but totally worth the investment. Also CDs from Dabringhaus und Grimm label could worth your attention due to very good quality. 

I should also add that I use a DVD sony DVD 999-ES (bought it for $139) player that was modified by Dan at Modwright in Oregon.  His modification (about $1500 in 2010) includes adding a separate power supply and output tubes to the DVD player modification.  I have used it for 12+ years and it is awesome sounding!

I recommend the XRCDs from Japan, 24 bit sound of the RCA living stereo series.

The Bartok recordings with the Chicago under Frits Reiner are incredible.  I also love the Beethoven 6th on the XRCD label.  There are others!

 

Vinny

“Target cd’s” made in West Germany in the early 80’s

was the first transfer from the analog source to cd.

I have a few and they are well done 

Good luck Willy-T

I’ve had good luck with both Blue Note CD’s, and any Van Gelder reissues, not necessarily only Blue Note ones. You might try out a few SACD’s if your CD player can play them. The two I own are markedly better, although perhaps prohiibitively costlier than their Redbook equivalents. I’ve also had luck, generally speaking, with Japanese CD’s.

The price is definitely right on used CD’s versus new vinyl. I hardly mess with used records due to condition issues which CD’s are immune from for the most part. You’ll see a wide selection on Ebay.

Mike

Anything by Patricia Barber will sound good on CD. But basically, anything mastered in the last ten to fifteen years should be good - provided the original recording is good enough in the first place. However, if you have a top quality streaming setup, don't necessarily expect the CDs to better it.

My go to process has always been to search for “best version of X CD” then select Steve Hoffman forums and start researching. It’s always worked well for me.

I MADE THIS FOR YOU, MYSELF, AND FRIENDS WHO ALWAYS ASK ME ….

FAVORITE CD’S (it’s hard not to be very personable about this)

DYNAMIC ‘Show Off Your System’ type of stuff: After a few listens, alone and with friends, they gather dust. So, buy a few DEMO Compilations, Praise yourself for assembling your system, i.e. get it out of your system (pun?).

IF you have an LP in good shape, and you like streaming quality, don’t look for a ‘better’ CD. Look for music you don’t have. Look for masters of Instruments, i.e. Piano; Saxophone; Trombone; Trumpet; Bass; Drums. Find you like Trombone, get more! Same thing: Singers you don’t have, find who you really like. I cruise YouTube: Tiny Desk Concerts; Boyce Avenue Duets, Voice Battles (all over the world), … Got Talent. You might not like the show’s, but there are many great singers to be found. I find new to me stuff, then buy that person’s music. I was only buying LP’s, I found a SACD player I really like, so I am buying used CD’s as well as LP’s, and rediscovering my many CD’s.

CD/SACD. IF the player you have/like plays both CD layer and SACD layer, that is an advantage. Used player: get one with low hours, the lasers get weak, and finding the SACD layer becomes problematic. Also, check if replacement laser assemblies are available on eBay to keep it going for many years. (there are not a whole lot of SACD’s)

SACD advantages: for me, what I often notice: SACD’s noise floor is always lower (a rare track un-naturally quiet).
after a while you stop listening for the difference, just enjoy that version.

Stereo/Mono LP’s: CD versions from Mono originals: MAY be quieter, but methods used: at what expense?

Stereo R2R was 1956. Stereo LP’s were 1958. For a few years, both were made/issued. Mono recording teams had excellent skills, and at first the major labels had two teams, existing Mono team, and new ‘whiz kids’ doing separate Stereo. They paid the studios and musicians for longer sessions. Our friend Rudy Gelder watched this, didn’t have the money for this, so he decided to record in Stereo and mix Mono from that, thus having the Stereo to issue later.

So, Mono CD’s and Early Stereo CD’s of Rudy’s have a better chance of sounding better than reprocessed stuff. CD’s of highly respected Mono LPs are likely to be better, no re-processing needed (avoid reprocessed to Stereo).

Mono LP’s (not CD’s I know): I learned here, playing with a true Mono cartridge is better, ranging from a bit, to a lot better. Mono ‘mode’ on your preamp is not as good. Sometimes, playing your preamp in L+R to L (or right), i.e. thru one speaker, not only sounds best, but lets you sit anywhere, and stop our habit of seeking imaging. An example: an early compilation, 20’s and 30’s, all to become greats, including a very early Louis Armstrong. Stereo: a history lesson, never would play it again. Mono cartridge: not imaging, but a distinction of individual instruments: trumpet, trombone, drums, .., much more enjoyable, and have played it for friends several times.

I sold a few ‘quiet’ mono lps. Told buyer: some noise/scuffs, very little noise with a mono cartridge, same scuffs more apparent with a stereo cartridge, it reacts to both vertical and horizontal movement. So, buyer will be happy with a Mono cartridge, don’t buy to play stereo.

This is why I always mention either two tonearms, switch Stereo/Mono in seconds in a listening session, or arms that allow different arm wands ready to go, i.e. Technics BP500 Base; VPI Unipivots, …

Enough of that, eh

…………………………………………….

JAZZ, some I collect, have a lot of, many are ‘who is that ….playing, remember from the credits)

The recording skills I prefer: small bands, not orchestras, both with and without voice. Distinct instruments, and, if engineered properly greater imaging. I agree, as many musicians did, if you see Rudy Gelder’s name, go for it.

Oscar Peterson, nearly anything, check online for remarks. SACD 4 disc series ‘For My Friends’ is terrific. He had a stroke, early/later recordings, but it’s hard to tell the difference. I’ve seen him live at the Blue Note, he can do bass with his left hand, lean left and do EVERY thing else with his right hand, you wouldn’t know, big reach with his arms, big hands, wonderful to watch..

Louis Armstrong with Ella Fitzgerald, other separate Louis and Ella also

Miles Davis. Start with early Miles, Kind of Blue, … then after a while ‘Sketches of Spain’ a near religious experience. Then. Later stuff, he simply couldn’t play the same stuff over and over, so he experimented, if you keep that in mind, you ‘get it’ more readily.

Dave Brubeck, Take 5 for sure, other recordings, and then his band member’s individual recordings:

Paul Desmond,
Stan Getz, Stan-Getz-Gold--Happy-50th-Stan-A-Celebration-Live-At-Montmartre
Ben Webster, meets Oscar Peterson

A 1953 line-up of the Dizzy Gillespie/Stan Getz Sextet featured Gillespie, Getz, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Max Roach.^[1] He moved to Copenhagen, Denmark in 1958.^[5] Here he performed with pianist Jan Johansson and bassist Oscar Pettiford, among others, at the Club Montmartre.^[12]

Toots Theilemans, Chez Toots, Belgian Harmonica, unique playing style.

Bill Evans

In late 1959, Evans left the Miles Davis band and began his career as a leader, with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, a group now regarded as a seminal modern jazz trio. In 1961, two albums were recorded at an engagement at New York’s Village Vanguard jazz club, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby; a complete set of the Vanguard recordings on 3CDs was issued decades later.

SAX: COLEMAN HAWKINS, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, BENNY CARTER, Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis, PAUL DESMOND, Bud Freeman. Dexter Gordon, ILLINOIS JACQUET, RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK, LEE KONITZ, Joe Lovano, BRANFORD MARSALLIS, Hank Mobley, James Moody, GERRY MULLIGAN, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, Art Pepper, IKE QUEBEC, Joshua Redman, SONNY ROLLINS, Zoot Sims, Sonny Stitt, STANLEY TURRENTINE, Grover Washington Jr., BEN WEBSTER.

PIANO: Mose Allison, Lil Harden Armstrong (Louis’s Wife), Patricia Barber, Count Basie (early), Eubie Blake, JOANNE BRACKEEN, DAVE BRUBECK, Henry Butler, Ray Charles, Cyrus Chestnut, Nat King Cole, Connie Cruthers, Duke Ellington, Bill evans, RED GARLAND, ERROLL GARNER, Vince Guaraldi, EARL HINES, JAMES P. JOHNSON, HANK JONES, NORAH JONES, Stan Kenton, Kenny Kirkland, DIANA KRALL (early), John Lewis, RAMSEY LEWIS, Marian McPartland, JAY MCSHANN, Thelonius Monk (take your time), Phineas Newborn Newman, OSCAR PETERSON, Leon Russell (some, not organ), Dianne Schurr, GEORGE SHEARING, BOBBY SHORT, NINA SIMONE, CLARENCE ‘PINETOP’ SMITH, Billy Taylor, Allen Toussaint, MCCOY TYNER, Mal Waldron

BASS: Moses Allen, Ellen Brekken, RAY BROWN, RON CARTER, Stanley Clarke, Ray Drummond, Pops Foster, EDDIE GOMEZ, CHARLIE HAYDEN, Percy Heath, Milt Hinton, SAM JONES, Scott LaFaro, Jay Leonhart, CECIL MCBEE, CHRISTAN McBRIDE, CHARLES MINGUS, RED MITCHELL, NEILS-HENNING ORSTED PEDERSON (DOUBLE BASS WITH SAM JONES), OSCAR PETTIFORD,

DRUMS: MAX ROACH, GINGER BAKER, Ray Barretto, LOUIS BELLSON, ART BLAKEY, Sid Catlett, Stanley Crouch, Al Harewood, Roy Haynes, Albert ‘Toothie’ Heath, ELVIN JONES, PHILLY JOE JONES, Willy Jones

TROMBONE: Bob Brookmeyer , Jimmy Cleveland, Jimmy Cleveland, Robin Eubanks, JJ Johnson, ,tromboneshorty, Fred Wesley, Urbie Green, Natalie Cressman, Curtis FowlkesBennie Green, Urbie Green , J. C. Higginbotham,

Trumpet: NAT ADDERLEY, Red Allen, LOUIS ARMSTRONG, Chet Baker, TERENCE BLANCHARD, Chris Botti, Clifford Brown, Donald Byrd, BENNY CARTER, Doc Cheatham, Don Cherry, Buck Clayton, Johnny Coles, MILES DAVIS, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Roy Eldridge, Art Farmer, Maynard Ferguson, DIZZY GILLESPIE, Roy Hargrove, Freddie Hubbard, Thad Jones, WYNTON MARSALIS, HUGH MASEKELA, Fats Navarro, King Oliver, Nicholas Payton, ARTURO SANDOVAl, Charlie Shavers, CLARK TERRY, Cootie Williams, Webster Young,

My ass hurts.

 

 

Thanks for all the ideas.  I have lots to explore : )

Usually any of the latest remastered remixed CDs sound great like the Beach Boys, Beatles Sargent Pepper, Revolver, White or Let it Be, much cleaner sounding, great bottom, middle and highs as well as instrument and vocal separation.

IMO, a lot of CD's that came out in the 80's sounded like crap as far as sound quality; not surprising as it was a new technology - Midnight Oil and Iron Maiden come immediately to mind as 80's offenders, but there are many, many more, and the remastered versions of these releases sound far superior to the 80's releases, at least to me they do. 

@dhite71 

The best advise I could give you is to spend some time doing research before purchasing certain CD's. There is a vast difference in sound quality based on the particular iteration of the disk. In a lot of cases, older is better, but even that is not a hard and fast rule.

This website is invaluable in making a decision.

https://dr.loudness-war.info/

The site is a library of the dynamic range of each version of a particular disk.

SuperTramp, Brothers in Arms (Dire Straights), Jennifer Warnes, Art of Noise (if you like them).

The Blue Note XRCDs are outstanding. I was just listening to Hank Mobley's Soul Station, and it is superb.

Also, it is well known that some, but not all Japanese remasters are excellent. They can be expensive, but in my view worth the retail cost in at least some cases, I believe. For example, I grew up on '70s funk and soul, and of course there were plenty of less than stellar recordings. But the Japanese remasters of, for example, the early albums  of Tower of Power and Earth Wind & Fire, are really excellent.

@akg_ca 

Elusive Disc +1. Good pricing for XRCD.

Are the Redbook releases remastered for audiophiles?