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  1. Yet it starts with The Nightfly at number 1, an album that has all the sonic delight of a cat sliding down a blackboard.

    Ordering purely by Dynamic Range is just plain weird, there’s a lot more to good sound than DR figures.

    There are hundreds of jazz and classical recordings that are much better sounding than any of that lot.

  2. Interesting list. Always loved the Masakela, though I had no idea it was audiophile heaven.

    Listening to the recommended Mad Dogs on Apple lossless. I have to say it sounds a lot better than it used to on my knackered old warped vinyl. The drums are very forward in the mix – I’ve no idea at any given moment which Jim I’m listening to (or both) but they certainly add to the fun.

  3. There is token jazz and classical on the list. Why those particular albums have been selected as token offerings smacks of randomness as does the rest of their choices imho. Click bait.

  4. What constitutes ‘good sound’ is subjective of course, and also changes over time. I really love The Nightfly, but it sounds like an 80s idea of HiFi now, which was all about clear treble and no noise. Then Wildflowers (another great album) is maybe the 90s idea of good sound, which was all about engineering/mic placement etc.

    Not sure where I’m going with this other than that I think the DR numbers stuff is a bit silly. People used to joke about audiophiles buying expensive gear and then listening to The Birdie Song on it. Now, they don’t even have to listen to anything.

  5. I’d be more interested in what contributors on here use to decide on their audio set ups. I have a number of go-to albums and a mini disc compilation that I used while revamping my den set up over the last year – at zero net cost. It probably wouldn’t impress total audiophiles but to my damaged hearing (Motorhead circa 1995!) and those of my friends, it’s as good as it’s going to get..

    I use Folk – Howie B, Memories of a Colour – Stina Nordenstam, the Taking of Pelham 123 soundtrack, Arbor Zena – Keith Jarrett, the first Blaxploitation compilation, Aretha Franklin – Today I Sing the Blues and Yello – a 12 inch really long version of The Race among others.

    If they don’t sound good, it’s not good for me.

    • I use CSN’s Daylight Again and Find the Cost of Freedom.

      I couldn’t care less about DR numbers, and wouldn’t have a clue about the numbers/ranges of any of my favourite albums. If the music sounds clear and (pretentiousness alert) “present”, ideally so the musicians sound like they’re in my room, that’s OK by me.

      • I used to take selected discs along to bricks & mortar shops but as I never frequent such places nowadays the whole idea of utilising specific recording when accessing kit has become redundant. Now I just play whatever I want to listen to. If it sounds good I’ll play it again, if it doesn’t I write it off to experience and never bother with it again. It’s not as if there is any shortage of music, if anything there is far too much of it.

        • Well, quite. The ‘audiophile’ recordings which hi-fi shops keep to show off their kit are rarely musically satisfying. Most of them sound like lift musak to me.

          Why would anyone listen to something just because it sounds good, rather than because they enjoy it?

          Louie Louie sounds like it was recorded down a well, but I love it. Ditto Surfin’ Bird by the Trashmen.

    • In the last couple of years I’ve become almost completely a headphone listener. I am not an audiophile really, but somehow I think I’ve started to really ‘hear’ music after years of practice. I know that sounds weird; but I enjoy everything much more than I used to, and I always loved music! I can’t really explain it.

      Conversely… as a guitarist, I can’t handle those amp modellers at all, through headphones, speakers, anything. The sound is just wrong, and I have no idea why.

      Is it possible that my hearing just improved? It does seem to have started when I had major surgery, but that wasn’t anything hearing-related.

      • In absolute hi-fi terms, headphones are always the best bet. No room acoustics, no speakers. A pair of cans will always outperform a pair of speakers at the same pricepoint.

        Unfortunately I’ve been conditioned and I don’t ‘get’ music unless it is in front of me (and makes my trousers flap in the breeze) = big speakers = big amp = big bucks. Oh well, I’ve got to spend it on something and it’s better than booze or fags.

  6. I was intrigued to see a 2LP edition of Spilt Milk by Jellyfish on the list, as its one of my favourite albums. No mention of it on the website for the record label stated, Intervention Records, and also no mention of it on Discogs that I can see.

  7. That entry for Holst’s The Planets is a bit odd – they list three different recordings, yet they’ve used the cover for yet another one! Presto have 162 different albums in their catalogue containing that work – although some may be duplicates, and others could be re-arrangements for piano or smaller ensembles.

    • Then it couldn’t have been released on Virgin then. Surely no physical product has sounded worse than pre-recorded cassettes released on Virgin in the 80s. They even ruined No. 1 in Heaven by Sparks. That was produced by Giorgio Moroder.

      Actually, blank cassettes sounded pretty good. A vinyl album recorded on a decent stereo onto a TDK didn’t sound bad at all.

  10. These days I use my clock radio. I run two bits of bell wire to two biscuit tins. Sounds like shite – but, by the Gods, no one can accuse me of putting sound before content, like some (gulps) “audiophile”…(rinses mouth out). Authentic, man…

  12. A few years ago, I was looking for a new deck. (I went for the Rega Planar P3 in the end). I took a handful of records I know well to the demo session, and also tried a few of their recommended great-sounding LPs.

    Mine were : Charles Mingus, – Mingus-Ah-Um (remastered from the original 3 track master – one of the best sounding LPs I own), Miles Davis -Kind of Blue (Mono), Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band – Clear Spot (recent-ish re-mastered re-issue), Alice Cooper – Killer, and Alice Coltrane – Journey in Satchidananda. All of them blossomed on the new deck (and very expensive speakers, there, too).

    They offered Kate Bush – Hounds of Love, which sounded great, and a couple of other LPs which I can’t remember – they did not stick with me.

    I just remembered that a neighbour of ours in the early 70s bought a new stereo hifi and loved to invite people round to hear his stereo demonstration discs – things like Steam Trains huffing and chuffing past you, motorbike races doing the same. I don’t remember him playing any actual music when we were there.

    • They must have had a good system if Hounds of Love sounds great. I’ve always thought it sounds very dense. If anything, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes are even worse.

      • It’s a tale I’ve told before on here that I went AWOL during a show, popped to the room next door at lunchtime, and found myself listening to Hounds of Love on a Linn LP12, Naim amps & Linn Isobarik speakers. It was both ribcage-rattlingly loud and fab.

        It came as no surprise to be told Kate had the same setup at home.

        A good system should be able to pick out the individual strands from the dense mass.

  13. I’m thinking this is a more a list of “Albums You Should Own On Vinyl … To Show Off Your Eclectic Taste”

    When I did visit places to do audio-testing of kit (more to see what the kit was like, rather than actually buy), my usual choice was The Who – Quadrophenia. My thinking was if when the bass kicks on on The Real Me, does it sound superb?
    (Audio-dullard rather than Audiophile, I think you’ll agree”)

    I do own a couple of audiophile pressings (heavyweight vinyl too) but must admit they’re a nice to have rather than a listening revelation.
    Then again … I do have the first 3 Metallica albums on Direct Metal Mastering 2 x 45RPM. They sound better than the original single album pressings, and better than the CDs
    (but it’s the CD versions I reach for )

  15. Last time I went to a shop and auditioned kit with a view to buying was in the late 1980s – The Music Room in Glasgow. I’d already settled on a Croft valve preamp and was listening to power amps.

    I took along Station to Station, Night Passage and the Karajan/BPO Sibelius 4th – all on LP (don’t think I’d bought a cd player at that point). I don’t know if any of those would be classed as audiophile recordings – but I knew them well and they had “3-D” soundstages that you could almost walk around in…

  17. A benchmark album for me is Weather Report’s “Heavy Weather”. Probably not perfectly recorded, but it sounds glorious on a good system. Also Burning Spear’s “Marcus Garvey”. Again not a perfect recording but a lovely listen.

  19. I own three, and I’m seriously depressed about that (relatively small) association with such a list.

    Not as depressed as someone paying good money for the Man. Utd. – Man. City game today, obviously, but depressed nonetheless.

    I reckon ‘Audiophile’ is on a par with voting to leave the E.U.
    No, it’s worse.

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