Thanks to everyone for this interesting topic. While I have many of the albums/songs mentioned, I have also been introduced to some fine new ones! One option I don't think has been mentioned is Sound Liaison, a Dutch company that does minimal mic and one mic recordings: Sound Liaison Music Shop I have really enjoyed the soundstage, including depth on the several albums I have purchased/downloaded from them. Two of their albums that I have played a lot lately are Carmen Gomes, Inc., "Don't You Cry," and Reinier Voet & Pigalle44, "Ballade pour la nuit."
I must report on my evaluation of the Friday Night In San Francisco. It really bothered me trying to understand why I couldn’t relate to the very positive enthusiasm for this recording. I happen to read the @SME12A evaluation of the album while reporting on his new Triangle Magellan Speakers and noticed he cranked the volume to produce around 90db output and found it fantastic like many others here. When I was checking the album the other night I was consciously trying to listen at lower volumes but when I raised the volume to around the 90db level about natural levels at concert everything totally changed and the fabulous attributes of this disc and the playing became obviously apparent. It seems this disc is at lower than average output at least on Tidal that I’m streaming it from. Sorry my bad. It’s all that is cracked up to be.
I just want to put a correction to a post of mine - re: the dog bark in the distance was on Pink Floyd - Animals album, _NOT_ Supertramp - Crime of the Century. Too much confusion in this aged brain, plus my friend and I were using those two as reference tracks while doing preamplifier modifications.
Aaah ! I'm not mad, there is no dog on Crime of The Century. I listened to the album twice to find that dog barking
[QUOTE="John Coltrane “Spiritual” (Live At The Village Vanguard, New York/1961). [/QUOTE] YES!!! Sublime on Qobuz. Each sax is swirling around and beyond the left then right speaker and projecting well into the room. Bass locked centre back, drums centre forward, piano centre left back. Amazing track
hmmm I need to listen again. Could it possibly be Roger Waters Amused to Death you’re thinking about? That has a lot of Q Sound effects …
There is also a dog barking on Roger Waters Radio K.A.O.S. album. First time I heard it I thought it was coming from outside my house!
I’m no audiophile, but Common Sense dictates you test with tunes you know very well. Nothing too complicated, such as “Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite”, just a small clutch of simple tunes with highs and lows, quiet and loud moments. Multiple genres would help, I think.
The other day I posted here about the album Impulse 60: The Best of Impulse Records 2021. The SQ was just amazing on the track John Coltrane “Spiritual” (Live At The Village Vanguard, New York/1961). I went in to check out more of this disc today and every track I listened to was fantastic. In the process I came across and downloaded from Tidal another recording: “Impulse 60! Legendary Live Performances” 2021 This is another equivalent mind blowing collection well worth your time checking it out. The sound staging, SQ and performances held me spellbound. Amazing stuff.
The “Under Stalin’s Shadow” releases of Shostakovich’s symphonies are wonderful for making me “see” the soundstage. The percussion has clear depth, 3D placement.
The new Hinged album from Maarja Nuut is a lot of fun. Below was the first single, but the whole album is very playful and adventurous, often with nicely rendered soundscapes. The jittery opening title track and a couple other songs feature Nicolas Stocker, the Zurich-born percussionist who also works with Nik Bärtsch. Ordered the vinyl on the last Bandcamp Friday so she'd get most of the money, supposed to ship the end of this week, but the digital download is very good sounding, just 44.1K 24-bit but decent dynamic range for a new album, around 9-10 on the DR meter. I'm a pretty big fan, love the last two records she did with fellow Estonian Hendrik Kaljujärv (aka Ruum), so not surprising this is becoming a big favorite too. Right now it's just from my hardrive out USB to a cheap DAC and into the Burson headphone amp to a set of Senn HD-650 phones, still a lot of fun. Album review: Maarja Nuut – ‘Hinged’: percussive and playful, free as a bird future folktronica from Estonian genius “Kutse tantsule / A Call For Dance”, was the fragile, playful, beautiful first single to be taken from the album, and saw release back in the heady days of June. And it’s. A. Cracker: what may be a gentle, thumbed guitar, fractured and reassembled through a cloudy mirror of electronics, thrums with a skeletal beat, over which Maarja part-speaks, part-sings an impressionistic lullaby, all cries from the soul, mutters, sudden lofting into crystalline, beauty, a voice absolutely free. It’s joyous, devil-may-care, occasionally has an air of a French psych/yé-yé track completely through the looking glass, absolutely given free rein to be exactly the self it’s always wanted to be. It sings of an absolute musical freedom. It’s like a glass of elderflower cordial on a hot afternoon; it brings new life. And for all its musical multivalency, it’s actually quite an open and honest invitation, she reveals. “‘Kutse tantsule / A Call For Dance’ is as simple as that – a kind invitation to join me for a little dance wherever you are, stuck in your flat, bog-walking or dreaming of a tropical sea breeze. Nature is flourishing, and so should we!”
Can I ask a favor? I was at my friend's dad's house today. He has a wonderful system consisting of PS Audio, McCormack amp (modded by Steve, just got it back), B&W 802 Diamonds, and a big, spacious room. First time I'd ever heard it, and it was awesome. One of the songs I played was Daft Punk - RAM - Touch. I believe it was streamed via Tidal, I have no idea if it was MQA or not. But at the beginning of Touch, I heard crickets. Or some sort of high pitched chattering sound. And it came from way back behind us. I restarted the song again just to verify I wasn't imagining things. When I play my local copy (high res 88.2/24) or the Qobuz high res copy (same sample rate/bit depth), I don't hear that sound at all, not behind me nor in front of me. And I've listened to that song dozens of times and never recall hearing it. Can anyone who has access to this song take a listen, and let me know if you hear that sound coming from behind you in the beginning? And my typical test track for this phenomenon is "Whole Lotta Love" during the "phasers" portion. My room produces that effect just fine. But what's really weird is that I just don't hear it at all, much less from behind me. I feel like I'm going a bit crazy here, lol.
Spectacular. My gosh...the things you miss being a Gen Z'er lol. I've always wanted to see the soul transforming live outdoor performance of Mr. Tommy Emannuel.