How do I find audiophile quality music?
Let me start by defining what I mean by “audiophile quality music”— it’s music with distinct highs and lows, with enough detail so that I can tell apart the different instruments and appreciate the musicians talent rather than just listening to a “wall of sound” with a catchy tune. I have tried several different things over the years and at least in my experience its not easy to find quality music recordings.
The problem
With the advent of music streaming services and devices where you can listen to music on the go by streaming music from your favorite streaming service to your headphones or Bluetooth speakers, the quality of sound isn’t a top priority anymore. Music these days is engineered to grab your attention by being loud, rather — a “wall of sound”.
Classic example is the band Oasis, I love their music, but the quality of recording is miserable. Sound stage is horrible, the musical nuances are totally lost. Why they couldn’t pay attention to recording their music better — I don’t get. Perhaps they were after the distorted sound..
On the flip side is Steely Dan. I am not a great fan of their music, but pick up any of their albums in any format — they sound great. Their albums can make an average music system sound great.
Recording companies have learned that there is a market for high quality recordings, so they started repackaging existing music and offering it as downloadable 24 bit or high resolution files so that they can charge more for it. Does that sound good — it depends. Most of these offerings are just over sampled copies of bad original recordings. But, if the original master recordings capture the detail, then yes the high resolution lossless audio files can provide better quality rendition of the music. Several online sites like 7 Digital make these files available for purchase, but they provide no detail about the source of the recording or the metadata. So there is no guarantee of the quality. Jeff Beck’s album Morning Phase got quite a bit of stick because of the same issue.
Dynamic Range
From Wikipedia — In music, dynamic range is the difference between the quietest and loudest volume of an instrument, part or piece of music.
An alarming trend that started in mid to late 90's and has been used widely since is dynamic compression. Technology helped music studios figure out a way to make the lows in music sound louder while keeping the highs at the same level. This made music sound louder when played by the radio stations, there by catching the attention of prospective buyers, you get the picture…
Here’s a great article from NPR about his topic that made a lot of sense to me — https://www.npr.org/2009/12/31/122114058/the-loudness-wars-why-music-sounds-worse
So where do I find great music that actually sounds good?
Classical music has always had good recordings, because its not mainstream music and gimmicks like compression don’t have to be employed. But, if you are like me I love rock and its variants. Here are some places where you can find great quality records:
- Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab — These guys go thru the pain of getting the Master tapes and creating legit sound enhanced versions. They sell them as CDs, SACD and Vinyl. They are not cheap, but you can find good deals.
- Audio Fidelity Recordings — Same as MoFi, but they recently closed down their site. So, you could try to find some of their recordings online, like AcousticSounds.
- Japanese SHM-SACDs — I’ve heard some of these recordings and they sound amazing. I got mine from MusicDirect and it was legit.
- You could also scour the internet to find articles on albums that sound great. But its a daunting task.
Practical Audiophile’s guide to high quality music
I’ve spent a lot of time and money trying to find good music that also sounds great when I listen on my modest audio system. I am going to create a list of albums each week that make it easier for you to get more out of your audio system. So, take a look at my list and try a few of these albums before you drop a few thousand dollars upgrading your system to get the sound you are looking for.
My methodology
I am primarily a rock/prog rock fan who also delves into pop and metal. So, most of my recommendation are in those genres. I have tested each of my recommendations on my music system via flac files, SACDs and regular CDs. I have also measured their Dynamic Range using Foobar2000 plugin.
I am only going to consider albums with over a Dynamic Range of 12. I am also going to highlight the sound engineers for working hard to capture the amazing sound on these records.
