What CD are you listening to right now?

[mjb]

Gosh, we need a new thread: "what audio stream are you listening to now?" to keep up with the times. Or are people still spinning red-book CD's?

[Chris D]

Haha! Quite a similar topic as of-late. Yes, I still buy and spin redbook. Matter of fact, right now I'm auditioning a boutique high-end CD player.

[madmac]

Of course I still spin redbook CD's !!. I do that for critical listening. MP3's on my Android for less critical 'on the go' listening.

[wkhanna]

I have not had SeeDee player in my system for over two years.

[Burke Strickland]

I've don't recall when my system has ever included a SeeDee player (whatever that is), :>) but my Oppo BluRay players happen to do a great job playing RedBook CDs.



The CD I'm listening to right now is Buddy Guy's 1991 classic album "Damned Right, I've Got the Blues" in its 2005 reissue "Damn Right, I've Got The Blues Expanded Edition" with two bonus tracks. When originally released in 1991, Buddy had been away from recording for nearly 10 years, so this was sort of a comeback album for him.

In addition to being a talented guitar player in his own right, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler also play guitar on some of the tracks. The late, great Richie Hayward was on drums. This album was recorded live at Buddy Guy's Legends club in Chicago. The audience was audibly appreciative but fortunately did not cough or heckle during the songs. This is also one of the times the Grammys got it right (for Best Contemporary Blues Album).

[Chris D]

Tex! :later:

[bigburner]

Well, I won the auction, and it shipped very quickly- arrived today!

Have you seen / heard this one Jon? Lovely sound.

1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 96 kHz / 7734 kbps / 24-bit
2: LPCM 2.0 / 96 kHz / 4608 kbps / 24-bit

Good photo of the band by the way.

Nigel.

[Ovation]

Gosh, we need a new thread: "what audio stream are you listening to now?" to keep up with the times. Or are people still spinning red-book CD's?

CD, SACD, BD, DVD-A, DAD, HDAD, DTS-CD--each of these is a "shiny disc" format that I call upon for audio. If we include concerts, BD, HD DVD and DVD are also on call. Audio streaming is from itunes in ALAC or AAC for the smaller portion of the collection bought directly in itunes. I sometimes stream internet channels with my TuneIn app on my phone or ipad. As you can see, when it comes to formats, I'm "ideologically promiscuous". :lol:

[Burke Strickland]

when it comes to formats, I'm "ideologically promiscuous"

How about "ideologically agnostic"? "Agnostic" is non-committal while "promiscuous" is so... haphazard. :>)

OK, "promiscuous" can also mean "without discrimination". And when it comes to formats, the medium is not the music.

At the moment, I'm listening to McCoy Tyner's "New York Reunion" album via a 96 kHz/24 bit FLAC purchased download. (I also own a copy of the CD, which, of course, adheres to the Redbook standard. But it's in another room.)

[mjb]

I like to "own the media", so I still buy CD's, but I only spin them once - to rip. I even have to go and find the USB optical drive, as none of the computers in the house have one built in anymore.

[wkhanna]

Ry Cooder - Chavez Ravine

SeeDee ripped to FLAC

[mjb]

SeeDee ripped to FLAC

:T lol, that's what I'm talking about 8)

[wkhanna]

This HD Tracks DL has been in my library for some time, just now giving it a spin.

The SQ is quite impressive, V well miked with wonderful hall ambiance.

The performance is excellent.

The composition is heavenly, with little of the morose undertone typically associated with Mass for the dead.

[madmac]

:T lol, that's what I'm talking about 8)

What's the diff between a CD sound wise and a CD ripped to Flac??. I mean, even if Flac is better, it can't sound better than the original CD right??. I dunno......

[mjb]

What's the diff between a CD sound wise and a CD ripped to Flac??. I mean, even if Flac is better, it can't sound better than the original CD right??. I dunno......

No, a rip can never sound better than the original, but you really can't beat the convenience. My CD collection lives physically in the loft, and virtually on a Mac Mini - and has done for many years.

[wkhanna]

What's the diff between a CD sound wise and a CD ripped to Flac??. I mean, even if Flac is better, it can't sound better than the original CD right??. I dunno......

Some say that SeeDee transports can induce higher levels of jitter than a well configured computer delivering the same 44k resolution data.
But for the most part, there should be little to no audible difference between the two.

Now some DAC's will up-sample a 44k redbook (standard SeeDee format), but that is an issue that has more to do the different DAC typologies & the types of filters used.

[JonMarsh]

What CD's are you ordering?

Just got my memory jogged by an online article in Stereophile, and went all in on a big bout of nostalgia...

Releases by Warner Japan in late 2013, in SHM-CD process, newly remastered, and from what I've heard, someone finally got the right tapes and did the right job of remastering...













Looking forward to these...

[5th element]

The studio master FLAC of

http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-ella-and-basie.aspx

[JonMarsh]

Have you seen / heard this one Jon? Lovely sound.

1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 96 kHz / 7734 kbps / 24-bit
2: LPCM 2.0 / 96 kHz / 4608 kbps / 24-bit

Good photo of the band by the way.

Nigel.

I haven't seen the BD version, thanks for the heads up! I hear its sort of a must have documentary of them at their peak.

[JonMarsh]

Gosh, we need a new thread: "what audio stream are you listening to now?" to keep up with the times. Or are people still spinning red-book CD's?

Mostly spinning and ripping in my NAD M50 music server... I haven't had time to finish setting up the HD with high res audio for it yet.

[bigburner]

The Avett Brothers - "I and Love and You" (2009)

A lovely CD. I've owned it for about 4 years but earlier tonight was the first time I've listened to it properly. After that I watched the film "Nebraska". They complemented each other beautifully.

Nigel.

[Ovation]

Technically a DVD (DAD 24/96), Art Davis--A Time Remembered. Excellent music and sound quality. Art Davis on bass, Ravi Coltrane on sax, Herbie Hancock on piano and Marvin Smith on drums. This will be in heavy rotation (as will the other shiny disc I was spinning earlier--Ray Charles and Betty Carter on SACD).

[bigburner]

Eddie Boyd – “The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions” (2006)

This collection of songs from Chicago blues pianist Eddie Boyd was mostly recorded in 1967 and 1968. Eddie is in fine form but the highlight for me is the guitar work of Peter Green (from the blues incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, not the pop one). The electronics wizards in the studio have worked their magic on the audio for this CD and the quality is very nice.

Footnote: Peter Green gained notoriety when he allegedly fried his brains with an overdose of LSD at a party in Germany in 1970, which lead to a long break from playing. Whether or not the LSD was the cause of his subsequent schizophrenia we’ll never know. Fortunately this album was recorded before those days.

Nigel.

[JonMarsh]

Have you seen / heard this one Jon? Lovely sound.

1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 96 kHz / 7734 kbps / 24-bit
2: LPCM 2.0 / 96 kHz / 4608 kbps / 24-bit

Good photo of the band by the way.

Nigel.

Just may have to get that BD Supertramp- I found my notes about how to setup DVD Extractor in a way that should work with that (requires other software). As long as I can get it on my server...

[JonMarsh]

Nice playing, and a fairly nice sounding recording and mastering. Combines Jazz and Flamenco elements.


Night Dance is another well known album by them- but their favorite of mine is apparently out of print.

[r100gs]

Soundgarden "King Animal". Very nicely recorded. Gotta love that era of music that came out of Seattle.:T

[bigburner]

Big Head Todd and the Monsters - "Black Beehive" (2014)

This is my new favourite CD for 2014. It contains well crafted songs with nice guitar hooks and meaningful lyrics written from the heart. The title track "Black Beehive" is a touching tribute to Amy Winehouse. "Hubert's Dream" is a tribute to the great Howlin' Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin (who was well supported by Eric Clapton in his later years with invitations to play at the lucrative Crossroads Guitar Festival concerts). "Fear Greed and Ignorance" is an insightful song about modern day America. The last time I listened to this song I thought of wkhanna (Bill) and hoped that he would re-join this group. If the opening track "Hey Delila" doesn't immediately get your attention you might as well go back to Michael Bublé.

Nigel.

[Chris D]

Huh... I haven't heard from BHT since college.

[mjb]

[JonMarsh]

Heard "What I am" on the radio on an "80's flashback weekend", recognized the lead guitar work as Jerry Garcia (though not some of his best work), but the overall composition and song crafting really appealed to me.



The brief description of this album is:

FIRST CAREER RETROSPECTIVE FOR EDIE BRICKELL -&- NEW BOHEMIANS FEATURES BEST-LOVED TRACKS AND SEVEN PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED RECORDINGS

Some say it's missing some of her best album work, but I suppose if you find this to your liking, you'll go back and dig those up, as I likely will....

I also ordered their new CD release, The Live Montauk Sessions, but this is fairly hard to get hold of, and expensive, and I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet... sort of threw the dice on this one...

[mjb]

Nice one Jon. I like Shooting "Rubberbands At The Stars", and I have an albums or three from Edie Brickell, but I never realised they'd done so much. I'll have to check this out some more.

[jim1961]

[Ovation]

Found a disc I thought I'd lost (and it's one of my all-time favourites). Matthew Sweet's Altered Beast. Been in heavy rotation for the past week or so since I found it.

[wkhanna]

Curtis Stigers - Lost in Dreams

Just arrived from amazon tonight.

I do not normally pursue male vocal recordings other than classics like Mel Torme or Tony B. & the good Dr. John.
But I recently heard a cut off of this album on the radio & was compelled to give it a try.

The musicianship of all the artists is exceptional as is the recording quality with an average dynamic range of 13.
The guy is apparently popular but not on my radar, being the hard-core classic jazz fan I am.
But Curtis has played with some of the best including Elton John, Eric Clapton, Prince, Bonnie Rait, Rod Stewart, The Allman Brothers Band & Joe Cocker before launching his solo career.

This is a mix of some old standards & new (to me) stuff that has both The Wife & me pulled in.

My favorite track is Dirty Water.
A piece that shows off Curtis' chops on the sax.

A surprisingly good album with a fresh, clean sound that got even my attention.





foobar2000 1.1.6 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2014-11-25 20:32:12

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Curtis Stigers / Lost in Dreams
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR11 -0.25 dB -15.31 dB 5:48 01-Cold
DR14 -0.32 dB -17.11 dB 3:48 02-You've Got the Fever
DR13 -0.30 dB -17.06 dB 4:18 03-Medley: Vera/We'll Meet Again
DR13 -0.39 dB -19.68 dB 4:18 04-The Dreams of Yesterday
DR12 -0.06 dB -15.23 dB 5:09 05-Jealous Guy
DR12 -0.26 dB -17.74 dB 5:58 06-My Funny Valentine
DR13 -0.28 dB -16.19 dB 4:11 07-Daddy's Coming Home
DR12 -0.28 dB -16.13 dB 3:58 08-Bye Bye Blackbird
DR13 -0.39 dB -18.50 dB 3:23 09-Reason for Our Love
DR11 -0.02 dB -15.19 dB 4:48 10-Dirty Water
DR13 -0.29 dB -17.14 dB 3:30 11-Feels Right
DR12 -3.96 dB -20.84 dB 4:33 12-In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 12
Official DR value: DR13

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 624 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================== ==============================

[mjb]

[Ovation]

N

Just arrived from amazon tonight.

I do not normally pursue male vocal recordings other than classics like Mel Torme or Tony B. & the good Dr. John.
But I recently heard a cut off of this album on the radio & was compelled to give it a try.

The musicianship of all the artists is exceptional as is the recording quality with an average dynamic range of 13.
The guy is apparently popular but not on my radar, being the hard-core classic jazz fan I am.
But Curtis has played with some of the best including Elton John, Eric Clapton, Prince, Bonnie Rait, Rod Stewart, The Allman Brothers Band & Joe Cocker before launching his solo career.

This is a mix of some old standards & new (to me) stuff that has both The Wife & me pulled in.

My favorite track is Dirty Water.
A piece that shows off Curtis' chops on the sax.

A surprisingly good album with a fresh, clean sound that got even my attention.





foobar2000 1.1.6 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2014-11-25 20:32:12

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Curtis Stigers / Lost in Dreams
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR11 -0.25 dB -15.31 dB 5:48 01-Cold
DR14 -0.32 dB -17.11 dB 3:48 02-You've Got the Fever
DR13 -0.30 dB -17.06 dB 4:18 03-Medley: Vera/We'll Meet Again
DR13 -0.39 dB -19.68 dB 4:18 04-The Dreams of Yesterday
DR12 -0.06 dB -15.23 dB 5:09 05-Jealous Guy
DR12 -0.26 dB -17.74 dB 5:58 06-My Funny Valentine
DR13 -0.28 dB -16.19 dB 4:11 07-Daddy's Coming Home
DR12 -0.28 dB -16.13 dB 3:58 08-Bye Bye Blackbird
DR13 -0.39 dB -18.50 dB 3:23 09-Reason for Our Love
DR11 -0.02 dB -15.19 dB 4:48 10-Dirty Water
DR13 -0.29 dB -17.14 dB 3:30 11-Feels Right
DR12 -3.96 dB -20.84 dB 4:33 12-In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 12
Official DR value: DR13

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 624 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================== ==============================

Looks quite interesting. May have to get a copy.

[wkhanna]

Just my standard Xmas fare as I wrestle with this 9 foot Douglas Fir.

[wkhanna]

Forgot one of my absolute favorites:




Oh, and that match with the pine ended in a draw......

[r100gs]

One of my favorites during the Christmas season. Bob James "Rameau". Very nice recording to top it off. Merry Christmas everyone!

[Ovation]

Christmas with the Rat Pack, Ella Sings a Swinging Christmas, Christmas with Dino and Diana Krall's Christmas album were in rotation just a little while ago.

[madmac]

What CD am I spiining now??. I'm spinning THIS ONE!. I am, and have always been a HUGE fan of vocal Jazz. The title to this album is right on the mark! It's full of rhythm and sumptuous percussion. Daria has a serious set of pipes to be sure. Samba, Brazilian, African and Cuba rhythms abound in this piece of work. All I can compare her to would be the musical sound of Carol Welsman, who I love as well.

For us audio snobs, all I can say is this is an Excellent recording in every sense of the word! Vocals are recorded nice, up front and center. Crank this CD up on your excellent audio system and I Guarantee results! There's nothing missing in this album. Lots of background singers, luscious bass and piles of wonderful percussion.

Honorable mention goes to the songs "Under the Moon" and "Feel the Rhythm" (Personal favorite!). This is an Album I typically will spin back to front with no desire to skip tracks (How many CD's can we say that about??!!)

[Ovation]

Finally installed my Oppo BDP-83 into the home cinema (I ordered a hardware mod to make it region free but only got around to installing the mod a couple of days ago. It works flawlessly.). Tonight was dedicated to music as I have an empty house for a couple of more days and finally some time to spend sampling some of my long overlooked high-resolution multichannel shiny discs. I also had a couple of new ones on hand. I spent some time in the 70s (except with Gabriel), listening to multichannel SACD releases by George Benson, Genesis, Bread, Peter Gabriel, along with a DVD-A by The Eagles. It had been far too long since I had been able to play my music at the volume level that I like without fear of disturbing anyone else. I used to get to do that rather regularly until last June when my wife changed jobs. Since she's had her new job, she has spent a lot more time working from home which involves quite a bit of time on the phone with prospective clients. Consequently, blasting symphonic music or classic rock or big-band jazz or any kind of music, really, has become a rare occurrence. The same applies to movies, as I used to spend one morning a week, sometimes two, watching something that might've involved loud sci-fi or action near reference levels. Perhaps this year will see her working away from the house more frequently so that I can get back to my A/V routine. However, as I am about to embark upon full-time studies in the pursuit of a PhD, it's quite likely I won't have nearly as much free time as I used to, empty house or not. But, as my fun time earlier this evening demonstrated, even if it's less often the quality will still be quite nice.

Oh, I guess I should specify which shiny discs I was playing, in keeping with the spirit of this thread. Each disc was either SACD or DVD-A. All music was in multichannel except for a few moments of comparison with the two channel mix, made quite simple with the thoughtful inclusion of a dedicated button on the remote for the BDP-83. The George Benson title was Breezin' and the Bread title was Best of Bread. Each is a new SACD from Audio Fidelity. The Peter Gabriel title was Up the Genesis album was The wind and the Wuthering, the Eagles title was Hotel California. Each in high resolution multichannel glory. Looking forward to spinning a few more such titles while I still have an empty house.

[Chris D]

Awesome, man. I'm doing my own revisiting of my best titles right now too, including SACD and DVD-A. Been above reference volumes, and times when the family's been home, they've said a thing or two. And hey, you might not have to abandon your music during your doctoral studies. I found I studied best while listening to music!

How much did your Oppo region mod cost?

[Ovation]

The mod cost about 140$ with shipping (Canadian dollars). As a hardware mod, it cannot be canceled by a firmware update.

I can listen to a bit of music when I do my marking but not for reading complex material, so I'm afraid the music listening won't grow for some time.

[mjb]

Currently very into Lisa Hannigan, and her new album: