r/audiophilemusic

Bought "Aja" today. One of the albums that features on every audiophile "must-have" lists. Sounded great, but the music was pretty boring for my tastes. A typical "listen to your system" album? What do you guys think?

Mine forever in hi-res. Feels so good to buy albums again.

Walk On the Mild Side explores the gentle side of contemporary music, where indie folk, ambient pop, soft electronica, folktronica and modern jazz meet. This carefully curated playlist blends intimate songwriting, warm acoustic textures, subtle grooves and atmospheric soundscapes.

Featuring artists such as Tunng, Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, Four Tet, Arooj Aftab, Leifur James and Nala Sinephro, the playlist moves between contemplative folk, dreamy electronic textures, spiritual jazz influences and alternative pop sensibilities.

Designed for relaxed listening, quiet evenings, meditation, creative work or peaceful walks, Walk On the Mild Side offers a calm and introspective musical landscape where melodies unfold slowly and atmospheres breathe.

H-Music

This group is my ultimate system-testing music. It really reminds you why you paid for a subwoofer 😄. Would love to know what non-kiwis think of it, as I never see it discussed.

https://youtu.be/4fYIC6tVCEY?si=qNXKqd\_J46po9FCw

https://open.spotify.com/track/18fESR62gYvPAfurZuGS73?si=VsQtBcNhSM2ctZSeuRggZA

This is only part of it, but it tells you people a lot about what i like listening to. So do you recommend anything else? I'm always open to descover new artists and albums. I really don't want to ask chat gpt about it.

The first MJ song I ever heard growing up I think was Earth Song in the mid to late 90s, he just wasn't my cup of musical tea based on that and the fact I was only 7 or 8, but growing up obviously Thriller and a few other singles were out and about on radio and MTV and then came all the controversy, it's kinda just made me not want to go near anything MJ.

Randomly I watched a video tonight of his drummer Jonathan Moffett on YouTube being incredibly precise and super clean playing some of Michael's biggest hits with Smooth Criminal being the final track and I thought I'm going to listen to whatever album Smooth Criminal is on.

So I've sat down and played through Bad through my favourite IEMs in a dark room to really give it a go, it's genuinely incredible, the layers, the vocals, the beats. I've not got to the end of one song and thought "that could be skipped", it was absolutely fantastic start to finish.

I now have the chance to listen to his albums for the first time ever and think I'm going to have to go to Thriller next, with some research in to the musicality of his productions and how he made his music.

I look forward to the next one

Bell's Worth's first release in like 10 years - Misplaced in Malletspace. Absolutely incredible work and sounds massive on a decent pair of towers. Crazy, goofy, beautiful mindfuck. Instant purchase for me from Bandcamp for the WAV files. The whole EP is a roller coaster, and the last 1 minute 30 seconds is one of my favorite album outros I've heard in a while.

https://outtallectuals.bandcamp.com/album/misplaced-in-malletspace-outta075

Finally made a couple of halfway decent reference playlists I thought I’d share for the fellow Spotify users 🤓

General Reference: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Te8M0mhYSfFB6qnvFG3ip?si=CY79gHnBS7qhDXRo8KxM8Q&pi=pvdqHrAQRWKzU

Bass Reference: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5FEq31Qc9ja0CBvbH8hOiA?si=ix5r6dMyR2OkWErSw55OIA&pi=M7QTKmVFT9iT1

Let me know what you guys think and if I’ve overlooked any killer tunes.

Since I started making my own local "streaming service", I've downloaded some audiophile albums. Jennifer Warnes' "The Hunter" sounds brilliant. Why can't every album sound this good?

Hello,

This live recording by Pink Floyd, Live From the Los Angeles Sports Arena, was released on vinyl on April 18 for Record Store Day. It is also available on CD and on the Wish You Were Here 50th anniversary Blu-ray.

This release stands as a true recognition of the work of Mike Millard, who made numerous concert recordings at the time, including this one in 1975.This recording is a bootleg, meaning an unofficial recording made from within the audience. Its value therefore lies not in its technical quality, but in its historical significance, especially considering that not all concerts were recorded at the time.

For this recording, Mike Millard used a Nakamichi 550.

Three key aspects stand out:

• a limited frequency response, reaching about 17 kHz at -3 dB;
• a signal-to-noise ratio of around 60 dB, visible in the spectral analyses below;
• and a relatively high level of distortion, though quite respectable for a cassette recorder.

The real question is how it sounds in practice, and whether Steven Wilson managed to work any miracles through his restoration and mastering efforts which is what we will now examine.

The waveform of the CD – 2026 version shows a very good dynamic range (like vinyl record ad Blu-ray) confirmed with DR12.

The graph here (link) compares the spectrum of the CD – 2026 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Vinyl record – 2026 (blue curve).The curves of the two spectra almost perfectly overlap between 200 Hz and 5 kHz. Below 200 Hz, the CD curve is slightly higher than the vinyl version (by about 2 to 3 dB). Above 5 kHz and especially beyond 10 kHz the vinyl curve exceeds that of the CD, reaching up to 5 dB more at 20 kHz. There is also a noticeable attenuation of high frequencies between 5 kHz and 12 kHz, with very little signal above 12 kHz.

Maximum sound quality is not the focus here: the result is very decent for a bootleg recording, but still far from the standards of other albums. However, that’s not what matters most, what truly stands out is the exceptional nature of this live capture, which would not exist without this recording.
Thanks to Mike Millard for this recording.

You can also find the full analysis (including all graphs and measurements) HERE (link).

Enjoy the listening.
Jean-François