So What Are Everyone's Favorite HI-Rez Digital Files?

[MylesBAstor]

Are they pure analog, pure digital, DSD or PCM? Share those musical treasures with everyone!

[mep]

DSD made from analog tape is my preference. All of my classic jazz DSD sounds great until you play the LP.

[MylesBAstor]

So has anyone given a listen to any of the new Quad DSD files from Yarlung (that Gary Koh sponsored), Opus 3, etc.?

[mep]

I haven't invested in quad DSD playback capability yet because there is still a paucity of DSD128 files for download. Anybody have a 4K DVD player yet and a bunch of movies to watch? Sometimes being an early adopter is lonely and boring when there really isn't much content to play on your acquisition. I learned that lesson when I bought one of the first HD TVs and you were lucky to find one program a week that was actually being broadcast in HD.

[JCOConnell]

one of my favorite hi rez recordings is analog. its a 33.33 D2D LP : FOR DUKE Realtime records RT-101. Good Music, Fantastic Sound.

[JackD201]

The Fone records release of Piazolla's Oblivion is very good.

f one can still find a copy from the original batch pressing (less than 500), it is worth it. Hat trick IMO Music, Performance and Sonics.

[regnaD kciN]

one of my favorite hi rez recordings is analog. its a 33.33 D2D LP : FOR DUKE Realtime records RT-101. Good Music, Fantastic Sound.

Since the title of this thread is 'So What Are Everyone's Favorite HI-Rez Digital Files?', I am guessing that your recommendation belongs in another thread -- unless, of course, you're talking about a new hi-res digital transfer of the analog original. (I should add that the only version of this title I own is the CD, hard enough to find on its own, made from what I assume was a safety tape backup made during the recording process. As good as that sounds, I can only imagine how nice the direct-to-disc LP must be.)

[regnaD kciN]

Here's my initial list:

Beethoven & Enescu: Violin Sonatas (Abel/Steinberg) (Wilson Audio) (DSD)
Chopin: The Nocturnes (Rubinstein) (Presto Classical) (24/96)
Debussy: Violin Sonatas (Abel/Steinberg) (Wilson Audio) (DSD)
Dvorak: Violin Concerto & Ravel: Tzigane (Peinemann/Maag) (HDTT) (24/96)
Hindemith: Symphony in B Flat/Schoenberg: Theme & Variations/Stravinsky: Symphonies for Wind (Fennell) (HDtracks) (24/96)
Holst: The Planets (Boult/LPO) (HDtracks) (24/96)
Kodály: Music of Zoltán Kodály (Kertész) (HDTT) (24/96)
Mozart: Violin Concertos (Thorsen) (HDtracks) (24/96)
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Reiner) (RCA/Acoustic Sounds) (DSD)*
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 (Previn) (Qobuz) (24/96)
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances (Oue) (Reference Recordings) (24/176)
Respighi: Beliks/Dance of the Gnomes/Pines of Rome (Oue) (Reference Recordings) (24/176)
Respighi: Pines of Rome/Fountains of Rome (Reiner) (RCA/Acoustic Sounds) (DSD)*
Rimsky-Korsakoff: Scheherazade (Reiner) (RCA/Acoustic Sounds) (DSD)*
Rossini: Overtures (Maag) (HDTT) (24/96)
Stravinsky: L'Histoire Du Soldat (Mandell) & Resphigi: Rossiniana (Zeller) (HDTT) (24/96)
Tchaikovsky; Symphonies 4-6 (Mravinsky) (Presto Classical) (24/96)
Vivaldi: La Stravaganza (Podger) (Channel Classics) (24/96)
Vivaldi: La Cetra (Podger) (Channel Classics) (24/96)
Walton: Facade & Lecocq: Mam'zelle Angot (Fistoulari) (HDTT) (24/96)

La Spagna: A Tune Through Three Centuries (Paniagua) (ClassicsOnline) (24/96)

Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else (Analogue Productions) (DSD)*
Blood, Sweat & Tears: S/T (Columbia/Acoustic Sounds) (DSD)
Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out (Analogue Productions) (DSD)
The Clash: London Calling (HDtracks) (24/96)
Holly Cole: Temptation (Analogue Productions) (DSD)*
John Coltrane: Blue Train (HDtracks) (24/192)
Sam Cooke: Night Beat (Analogue Productions) (DSD)*
Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (HDtracks) (24/96)
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (HDtracks) (24/192 Stereo)
Elina Duni Quartet: Matane Malit (HDtracks) (24/88)
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On (HDtracks) (24/192)
Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd: Jazz Samba (HDtracks) (24/192)
Andre Huevelman: After Silence (Sound Liaison) (24/88)
Norah Jones: Come Away With Me (Analogue Productions) (DSD)*
Robert Len: Fragile (HDtracks) (24/96)
Ottmar Liebert: Bare Wood 2002-2012 (HDtracks) (24/88)
Charlie Mingus: Mingus Ah Um (Columbia/Acoustic Sounds) (DSD)
Oliver Nelson: The Blues and the Abstract Truth (Analogue Productions) (DSD)*
Space Master Silence: Where We Met (Sound Liaison) (24/96)
Dusty Springfield: Dusty in Memphis (Analogue Productions) (DSD)*
Steely Dan: Gaucho (ABC/Acoustic Sounds) (DSD)
Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman (HDtracks) (24/192)**
Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman (Analogue Productions) (DSD128)**
Muddy Waters: Folk Singer (Analogue Productions) (DSD)
Cassandra Wilson: Another Country (HDtracks) (24/48)

*Acoustic Sounds has the stereo tracks from a number of Analogue Productions SACDs available as DSD downloads. As far as I know, these are sonically-identical to their SACD predecessors. Recordings marked with an asterisk indicate those for which I own the opposite version (SACDs for the downloads list and vice-versa), thus their inclusion is based on the assumption that there are no sonic differences between the two.

**That's right, two different download versions of this title. The HDtracks was mastered by Ted Jensen; the Analogue Productions by Ryan Smith, both from the original analogue tapes. While an examination of the differences between these two could take quite a long essay, I'll just say that they are both excellent transfers, the biggest difference being that Jensen attempts to get a more consistent track-to-track sound, while Smith is more content to let the acoustic differences between different sessions, setups, etc. stand out in the name of transparency. Which I prefer depends, as much as anything, on the sonic character of the system on which I hear them. Incidentally, note that the Analogue Productions is the double-DSD download; the single-DSD remaster also available from Analogue Productions is a completely different mastering, based on George Marino's SACD release, which appears to have been sourced from a 20/48 PCM transfer.

[MylesBAstor]

Thanks James for taking the time to compile your list!!! Believe me I know it takes a lot of time and effort.

[JCOConnell]

while I have a number of hi rez digital recordings, all but one are via dsd SACDS. The only digital download I ever bought was the HD tracks 24/96 PCM version of Davis' KOB
and I don't think its as good as my 6eye white label promo original LP. At least with my DAC.

[MylesBAstor]

while I have a number of hi rez digital recordings, all but one are via dsd SACDS. The only digital download I ever bought was the HD tracks 24/96 PCM version of Davis' KOB
and I don't think its as good as my 6eye white label promo original LP. At least with my DAC.

It's hard to compare any release of KOB because the chain of custody is always different. Seems like never from the same source twice.

[regnaD kciN]

Added the following to my list above:

Hindemith: Symphony in B Flat/Schoenberg: Theme & Variations/Stravinsky: Symphonies for Wind (Fennell) (HDtracks) (24/96)

Originally Mercury SR90143, this is one of the Living Presence titles that never made it to CD or SACD as a stand-alone item, although I think it's a bonus disc in Collector's Edition 3. Remastered under the supervision of Thomas Fine using the Plangent Process, this is demonstration-quality material and, along with the 24/96 remaster of Paray's Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, a powerful argument for redoing the entire Mercury series once again, the reputation of the '90s CDs nonwithstanding.

[JCOConnell]

My favorite hi rez recording so far is TOMMY by the who on hybrid SACD. The 2ch sacd layer sounds way better than any vinyl version I have ever heard,,,,

[gjm]

Elisabetta Serio - April. Beautiful music.

[Audiocrack]

On whatsbestforum I started a while back a thread on Challenge Classics, a small Dutch based company that offers files in different formats. I order my files in 24/192 (for my Trinity digital combo) as well as in the dxd and dsd 256 formats (for my Lampizator Golden Gate and Lampizator dedicated server combination). I my view the various Challege Classics files belong to the very best available at the moment.