The finest technically recorded album. LP or CD

Zaikesman,

I don't think I've ever taken issue with one of your posts but if I am reading you right, then you don't believe any of the recordings offered by myself and others were technically done right. Would you please explain yourself?

Like most Audiogoners I compare my system and my music library to live music. Granted, I have very little experience listening to live classical due to lack of interest and opportunity. If rock, jazz, blues or bluegrass listening qualifies then I believe I probably have as much seat time at live events as almost anyone here.

For myself, a recording is technically right when it offers presence, realizm and emotion far above others. I would submit that anything recorded or broadcast in stereo has been subjected to some sort of violence but, in the real world, very few audiophiles even recognize mono as being a legitimate medium. I don't find mono recordings have the emotion to satisfy my listening needs.

I believe all the offerings above are included in the thread "Audiogon recordings to die for". Was this list all wrong too?

Lugnut
"Audiogon recordings to die for" the problem with this thread and Sterophile's "Music to die for" is too many people vote on the kind or style of music, rather than how good the recording is or should I say, how much "presence" it has. I have bought many of the recomended albums and found them to be horrible in quality. The ones you and others have recomended, is what I'm looking for!

I am going to assume that Zaikesman's comment about my post implied his general agreement with what I wrote. In my experience as an audiophile over the past 40 years, I have heard only a handful of recordings that were "technically excellent" (i.e., actually sounded like live music). Since it is virtually impossible to reproduce the live sound of a rock band (electric instruments, high SPL's) or a symphony orchestra (hall acoustics, wide dynamic range, etc.), about the best that one can hope for is accurate recordings of small acoustic ensembles or a singer with minimal accompaniment.

Like Zaikesman, I mean no personal criticism toward the posts that nominate recordings by popular groups. Quite simply, however, there is almost no way for those recordings to be "technically excellent" since the original master tapes were usually heavily processed, were 2nd or 3rd generation multi-track mixdowns before being pressed or digitized, etc. The ONLY storage medium that can get close to true accuracy, and therefore meet the "technically excellent" criteria, is direct-to-disk analog recording, and not even all of the D-to-D disks are equal in quality. I have a large number of D-to-D disks that I acquired in the late 1970's (multiple copies of each), and I believe they are the "gold standard" for technical excellence. Their "technical" sound quality, although usually not the quality of the musical performance itself, substantially exceeds even the best of the other recording media, such as SACD, CD, etc.

The only recording medium that is close to D-to-D in sound quality is analog tape at 30 ips, but its utility is severely limited because can only be one master tape (even 2nd generation copies have a noticeable reduction in fidelity). Most of the LP's on the Reference Recordings label, for example, began as 30 ips analog tapes. (One of the best "technically excellent" LP's on this label is Professor Keith Johnson's "Amazing Sound Show". It's sure as hell not an LP that you will want to play over and over, but it's got startling fidelity.)

While there are many recordings that people enjoy for their musical content (some are listed above), the standard of "techical excellence" is an entirely different matter. For those who have not had the chance to listen to the best D-to-D LP's, try to find some in good condition to hear what a high-end audio system can really sound like.

Sdcampbell,

Your years in this hobby exceed mine by only a couple. I'll admit that my system isn't anywhere on a par with yours. That being said, I've got somewhere around ten examples on LP that would meet your criteria for technicality and the content isn't worthy of my time. I have a hard time including those records as something I would recommend. As a novelty yes, but not for repeated playing.

Direct to disc has been around since the days of the Edison Gold Moulded cylinders but wasn't used for audiophile cosumption until the 70's as far as I can tell. I'll concede that in a perfect world I would agree with the premise that "finest technically recorded" software would forgo interim storage devices. The problem with that reference is that there is almost no selection and, in a practical sense, these recordings aren't available for purchase.

I apparently read the thread question differently than you and Zaikesman. I stand behind my recommendations. Those involved in each album I suggested pushed the technical envelope to the extreme given that they were making records for mass consumption.

I do understand your position and respect it.

Lugnut: I certainly agree with your point that a lot of the "technically excellent" recordings in D-to-D format are, more often than not, musically boring after a few playings. Wouldn't it be great if there were more really excellent recordings of musically exciting material?

BTW, you have my condolences on approaching geezerhood. My first serious exposure to "hi fi" actually occurred in 1958, when the father of my high school buddy across the street bought a Marantz preamp and power amp, a Garrard turntable, and a pair of KLH speakers. Man, was I impressed. It's interesting in retrospect to realize that so many of the LP's of that era (RCA, Mercury, Decca) offered such high quality when high-end playback gear was still in its infancy. Seems like the situation has reversed itself today: lots of great gear, but fewer and fewer recordings that do justice to the audio system.