Permanent Waves
Digital Man
A dedicated thread to the sharing and discussing of audiophile* CD, SACD, DVD-A, XRCD, HDCD, K2HD CD, Blu-Spec CD, SHM CD, DSD, DXD, HI-DEF/RES downloads, Vinyl releases, or any other generally considered audiophile (or simply best sounding) release/format. Any genre is welcome.
For my own part, a large portion of my collection of releases in this area consist of "gold" CD's, HDCD's, and SACD's from these makers:
MFSL - Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs
AF - Audio Fidelity
DCC - Digital Compact Classics
SMS - Sony Master Sound
...so I'll mainly** be posting my collection of releases from those makers, but all other audiophile/best sounding releases are of course welcome!
Rules
Only one: Just keep it civil when discussing the relative merits of various releases.
A couple of other things to mention:
I will try to remember to list the DR (dynamic range) value of the releases I post itt since I think this is an important aspect of the overall SQ (sound quality) of a release. (See this site for more info. on DR and the Loudness Wars: http://turnmeup.org/)
The DR of an album can be obtained by using the Foobar media player and a plugin for measuring it. Alternatively, many DR values for various releases are listed on this site:
http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/
I'll also, when I have time and feel fairly confident that I'm in a secure position of knowledge to do so, post mini reviews or comparisons/recommendations between the different versions of an album I have which I feel are the best representatives of said album out of all of the versions that I own and have owned. These are only my opinions based on my gear and personal preferences of course.
A personal caveat: I'm convinced (for many reasons I have not the space to enumerate and expound upon here), that there is no inherently superior audio format/version for playback purposes. Thus, I take each release on different formats/versions on a case by case basis while trying not to be predisposed to view any particular one as being a priori better or worse than another.
*The term "audiophile" is inherently ambiguous and arbitrary. The intent of this thread is simply to share what you consider (or is widely considered to be) the best sounding version(s) of an album. As such, all formats and labels count, from regular Redbook CD and Standard Vinyl issues to Blu-Ray Pure Audio and DXD formats and "gold" or other exotic labels. If it sounds good to you, post it! :thmbsp:
Also, albums that are in genres not considered "audiophile" are welcome: the point of the thread is to share what you consider to be the best sounding version of an album regardless of whether that album is in an "audiophile" genre or even particularly well-recorded/produced or not. Thus everything from hair metal to classical to rap is welcome.
**I'll also be posting many regular Redbook CD's (and even standard vinyl releases), such as first press CD's or remasters/remixes, that I feel sound as good or even better than the "gold" CD, HDCD, and SACD versions of an album I have. And of course I'll be posting many albums that do not have a "gold" or "audiophile" release counterpart but which are favorites of mine that I have thus sought out the best sounding versions of and/or I feel are simply well produced.
I'm going to start with Rush's Permanent Waves, released in 2008 via MFSL. DR = 11
Imo the original Red Book CD press of this album sounds better; it is less compressed and loud. (It has a DR of 14).
For my own part, a large portion of my collection of releases in this area consist of "gold" CD's, HDCD's, and SACD's from these makers:
MFSL - Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs
AF - Audio Fidelity
DCC - Digital Compact Classics
SMS - Sony Master Sound
...so I'll mainly** be posting my collection of releases from those makers, but all other audiophile/best sounding releases are of course welcome!
Rules
Only one: Just keep it civil when discussing the relative merits of various releases.
A couple of other things to mention:
I will try to remember to list the DR (dynamic range) value of the releases I post itt since I think this is an important aspect of the overall SQ (sound quality) of a release. (See this site for more info. on DR and the Loudness Wars: http://turnmeup.org/)
The DR of an album can be obtained by using the Foobar media player and a plugin for measuring it. Alternatively, many DR values for various releases are listed on this site:
http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/
I'll also, when I have time and feel fairly confident that I'm in a secure position of knowledge to do so, post mini reviews or comparisons/recommendations between the different versions of an album I have which I feel are the best representatives of said album out of all of the versions that I own and have owned. These are only my opinions based on my gear and personal preferences of course.
A personal caveat: I'm convinced (for many reasons I have not the space to enumerate and expound upon here), that there is no inherently superior audio format/version for playback purposes. Thus, I take each release on different formats/versions on a case by case basis while trying not to be predisposed to view any particular one as being a priori better or worse than another.
*The term "audiophile" is inherently ambiguous and arbitrary. The intent of this thread is simply to share what you consider (or is widely considered to be) the best sounding version(s) of an album. As such, all formats and labels count, from regular Redbook CD and Standard Vinyl issues to Blu-Ray Pure Audio and DXD formats and "gold" or other exotic labels. If it sounds good to you, post it! :thmbsp:
Also, albums that are in genres not considered "audiophile" are welcome: the point of the thread is to share what you consider to be the best sounding version of an album regardless of whether that album is in an "audiophile" genre or even particularly well-recorded/produced or not. Thus everything from hair metal to classical to rap is welcome.
**I'll also be posting many regular Redbook CD's (and even standard vinyl releases), such as first press CD's or remasters/remixes, that I feel sound as good or even better than the "gold" CD, HDCD, and SACD versions of an album I have. And of course I'll be posting many albums that do not have a "gold" or "audiophile" release counterpart but which are favorites of mine that I have thus sought out the best sounding versions of and/or I feel are simply well produced.
I'm going to start with Rush's Permanent Waves, released in 2008 via MFSL. DR = 11
Imo the original Red Book CD press of this album sounds better; it is less compressed and loud. (It has a DR of 14).
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