Best CD

High Endition Society produces and distributes some phenomenal sounding CD's, my favorite manufacturer. They're rare and expensive, but soundstaging, nuances and musical content is superb. My favorite is Volume 9-Life Stories.

You can read more about this German audiophile group and their CD offerings here: http://www.highendsociety.de/english/society/ueberuns.php

Note- I am in no way affiliated with these folks.

'easy living genre'? YIKES

To fulfill the 'jazz' category,an easy pick for best sound quality,'Dick Hyman-From the Age of Swing' on reference recordings,in HDCD.It is of such a calibre of quality that you,(or I do anyway)perceive that you can 'feel' the chuffing out the bells of the saxes on certain cuts,and I do not mean chuffing from the speakers.Cymbal work also is a clear indication of the quality of the recording. OT,I wonder how much 'ribbing' Mr.Hyman has suffered in his life with those names.

Imo the best CDs are audiophile gold-plated discs such as Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs (MFSL), Digital Compact Classics (DCC) and Sony Mastersound. Unfortunately, most of these are long out of print from the 90s, and carry some pretty hefty price tags on eBay. MFSL also pressed many jazz, classical and easy listening aluminum audiophile CDs in the 80s before they started pressing golds. Almost every one of the hundreds of titles from these three manufacturers are the best redbook CD recordings ever made. If you're interested just search eBay music category for MFSL, DCC or gold CD to see what titles are available at any give time, but beware of cost since many have become rare collectibles that keep increasing in value. Some of my favorites are the Pink Floyd gold CDs. Another great source of audiophile-quality redbook CDs is to look for the titles you want on discs made in Japan which are also quite collectible and can get expensive for various rare pressing. I've converted over 90% of my U.S. made disc collection to audiophile gold/aluminum and Japanese-made discs, most are rock and blues.

I typically reach for these to give me goosebumps:
1. Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions
2. Kate Walsh - Tim's House
3. Buddy Guy - Blues Singer
4. Brian Bromburg - Downright Upright
5. Joe Pass - Virtuoso
6. George Winston - December
7. Dave Brubeck - Time Out
8. Fourplay - Elixir
9. Johnny Hartman - John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
10. Keb' Mo' - Keb' Mo'
11. Lyle Lovett - The Road To Ensenanda
12. Steely Dan - Everything Must Go