What IS An 'Audiophile' Recording ?

This should be interesting as the word "Audiophile" itself means different things to different people

For me "Audiophile" recordings are
-No "over Cooking" of sound
-No Compression ie the full dynamic range is present
-all the tiny details are present (people breathing ) etc
-Solid Soundstaging


eg
Gary Karr- Kings Of Bass
Neptune- Takedake
Poems of thunder
Burmester Demo Disk -III
Manger Demo Disk

But audiophile recordings are not really the ones which are my favourite recordings toi listen to
eg:
The Wall
Brothers in Arms
Clapton-Unplugged
Queen- ..quite a few albums
Bob marley..quite a few albums
Soundtrack of Thomas Crown Affair
...and quite a few more
etc etc

i'll write about audiophile lps cos i'm into those now. cds are history

an audiophile lp is well mastered or remastered - so the sound is well presented spatially, instruments are clear, technology has been put to use to clean up things that were not possible at the time of the original recording.

the intent with which the remastering was done - decisions and compromises taken during the remastering should be to bring out the original sessions sound as faithfully as possible. eg half speed mastering which can cut the bass but results in the rest of the frequency range reproduced well or ignore half speed mastering, keep deep bass but rest of frequency suffers. which compromise comes closer to the original?

pressed at a good plant - so no or minimal defects like surface noise, clicks pops

on 180 or 200 gram vinyl - so it does not warp over time. also generally 180 gram means virgin vinyl so impurities are non existent or far fewer.

packaging - includes replicas of original inserts, sleeves, etc to take you right back in time!

label - yes most audiophile labels are pressed by the well known guys, there are just a handful of them anyway. but having a record from that label is no guarantee of it being audiophile cos the quality on that particular recording might not have been up to usual standards. can be for a lot of reasons - quality of original tapes the decisions taken while remastering etc...

Arj schrieb:

For me "Audiophile" recordings are -No "over Cooking" of sound -No Compression ie the full dynamic range is present -all the tiny details are present (people breathing ) etc -Solid Soundstaging eg Gary Karr- Kings Of Bass Neptune- Takedake Poems of thunder Burmester Demo Disk -III Manger Demo Disk

If I am agree & add a little - please....

No Over Cooking - Like Patricia Barber [burnt]
No Compression - A Meeting by the River
Details is where God lies !!!
Instrument size & placement
Air around the instrument to be comensurate with the kind of instrument it is.......
Naturalness of human voice


With regards music;;;
I do not know G.K. King of Bass
Neptune is good
Poems is over done
Burmester is great
Manger is 'ref' for sure
Mark Black - Grapevine - No Frontiers
Yello - Essential - Mercury
Dali Test Disc # 2
Tutti - RR - best classical cd ever - Keith Johnson is GOD !
Seal - Acoustic [double disc]

GTG

more later - sorry;

Hello Hindustan - David Berger

Sparks of Ancient Light - Al Stewart

A lot of the blues and Jazz recordings from the now defunct Audiquest label

Alan Taylor and other stuff from Stockfisch.

Brothers in Arms

etc,etc...

Krish schrieb:

now defunct Audiquest label Stockfisch.

Stockfish is now a B & W Label - I think
Audioquest was great too...
Channel Classics
Fone Records
Turtle Records
XRCD - I hate - over cooked - bright [to my ears]:::
Linn
Naim


Tacet - German



Few ECM's

Let me be the one to say what an "audiophile recording shouldn't be :-)

Anything but the hmv/emi india, music india stuff of old.

The one recording that has made an indelible mark on me london phil, klaus tenstedt, malher sym 2 on LP by emi.

A vocal reference was a rca victor pressing of cathrina valante with werner muller orchestra singing the classics.

Awesome ! Good old analogue stuff....too good to be true.


Manek

An audiophile recording = Sounds like the real thing
1. Convincingly captures the recorded venue = Soundstage position and focus of each sound is correctly maintained
2. No cooking (processing) of the sound = Tone, size of instrument and natural timbre of sound is maintained
3. Good dynamic levels