Your Ultimate Reference Recording


What do use as your ultimate reference recording?

Through the many years of collecting music and building a music library, I have purchased certain LPs or CDs that have excelled in recording and sonic quality. These ultimately became the recordings I have come to use for auditioning audio gear, A/B comparisons and/or demos. They have become my reference recordings.

Repeated playing of these reference recordings on different systems have taught me all of the details and nuances of these recordings creating a standard to use as a basis for comparison. I would be interested in knowing what other people use as their "ultimate reference recording".

I think this post could be a great exchange and a broad exposure to super quality recordings others may be unaware of. In your response, please note whether the recording is in LP or CD format. If you have an LP reference and a different CD reference, please list both.

My ultimate references are:
Patricia Barber/ Cafe Blue-CD
Dave Grusin/ Discovered Again-LP (Sheffield, first issue)

Thanks for responding.


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Primary LPs, if I were to choose just three:

Opus 3, 7900, "Test Record 2: Depth of Image" (selections from several Opus 3 recordings, wide variety)
BIS, LP 163/164, "La Spagna" (particularly side 3)
Mercury, SR90226, "Stravinsky/Firebird" (Dorati/LSO)(Classic Records reissue)

CD:
John Marks, 15, "Glass Bead Game" (Delmoni/Rosen)
Nick Drake "Pink Moon" 2000 remastered CD (Island) and The Who "Who's Next" 1995 remastered CD (MCA), The Clash "London Calling" 1999 remastered CD (Epic), Paul Weller "Wild Wood" 1993 CD (London), The Zombies "Decca Stereo Masters" 2002 CD (Big Beat) --a list of nicely mastered CD issues for those of you "non-classical" listeners.
I use a JVC direct to disc vinyl recording called "Sugarloaf Express". It is Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Harvey Mason, Patrice Rushen,Steve Gadd, and Abraham Laboriel. The sound is sparkling; excellent for seeing how a system sounds. Not the ultimate for bass; for that kind of stuff I have some old Dead digital tape soundboards of bass synthesizer; it works.
I know this from first hand experience, and from the obvious posts: there isn't just ONE reference recording. Go into the archives and you'll see...we've been down this road before. It's hard to stop at three, forget about, just ONE...
Without a doubt, Louis Armstrong singing "St. James Infirmary" on 45 RPM version of "Satchmo Plays King Oliver", a reissue from Classic Records of an Audio Fidelity recording. I don't care what your musical taste is, if this one doesn't send chills up and down your spine, your system sucks, you are dead or you have lost your hearing. It is that good.