Outstanding Pure DSD256 Downloads with some DXD thrown in...

[Audiocrack]

To start things off, I will recommend this album from Eudora Records. It was was recorded to DSD256 channel trackings and then mixed entirely in the DSD domain. It would be categorized as a Pure DSD256-Direct Mixed album. No PCM, not even a trip to the analog mixing board. Entirely in the DSD domain. And the sound quality is exceptionally pure and transparent.

Review HERE, with a free sample download to compare the same file in both Pure DSD256 and in DXD. You can listen in your own system and decide for yourself which you prefer.

After your ‘rave review’ I bought this pure dsd recording by Eudora Records and it is absolutely lovely, in particular Manuel de Falla’s Noches en los jardines de Espana. Great music and a splendid recording!

 

[ferenc_k]

Frerenc, your first few releases on My Reel Club were an eye-opener. And I loved your concept of inviting a small audience to these live performance recordings and then providing each audience member with a copy of the recording that they could then re-play at home. What an educational process!

Thanks a lot. You should come to one of our sessions.

I have another idea, which we hope to try until the end of this year. I would call it “The Recorder's Club.” A limited number of visitors (fewer than 20) may come and bring their own tape or digital recorders to record a live session — concerts featuring young, very talented musicians from music schools or from the Music Academy. The admission fee will be around the price of an empty tape, so it’s not about profit, but education.

I do not want to go into details, as this is your very nice topic, and I do not want to derail it, but I think it could be an interesting experiment.

 

[Rushton]

After your ‘rave review’ I bought this pure dsd recording by Eudora Records and it is absolutely lovely, in particular Manuel de Falla’s Noches en los jardines de Espana. Great music and a splendid recording!

This is the kind of orchestral release that makes me hopeful for more recording engineers to get on board making Pure DSD256 releases. Many are now doing their channel tracking in DSD256 and this is a very "doable" next step to even better sound quality if the recording session doesn't have to excessively "sliced and diced" to create a full track.

 

[Rushton]

I wonder if some day, we'll ever get to see DSD's of rock/blues albums...?
There are so many great albums with great dynamics that deserve a tape transfer.

This will likely never happen unless one or another of the LP remastering labels figures out a way they can make some money from DSD downloads. I can't imaging you'll ever see it on an SACD. But, given how many are making DSD256 transfers for archival purposes and/or mastering purposes, they certainly have the ability if the label would license it. Chad Kassem tried this for while, but at the time he just couldn't make the financials work and he pulled the plug. Today's environment of high speed internet and more people with DACs that can play DSD256 and DXD may allow a different dynamic.

 

[Rushton]

Bela Bartok is of those composers I am sometimes ‘struggling’ with: for example I find some of his string quartets (still) hard to ‘understand’ although at the same time very intriguing cq fascinating. However, I really love Bartok’s four Orchestral pieces as well as his Concerto for orchestra.

Bartók Concerto for Orchestra and 4 Orchestral Pieces, Karina Canellakis, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Pentatone 2023 (DXD)

Review HERE

Agree completely with this recording recommendation. I've enjoyed many of Karina Canellakis' recordings. This performance of the Concerto for Orchestra just knocked me out of my socks.

And, still, the iconic Fritz Reiner performance holds a place in my heart that is very hard to displace. The Canellakis performance is one of the few that might. Here is the Reiner in an HDTT release from a 15ips tape that betters any other digital transfer of this recording that I've heard:



Bartók Concerto For Orchestra - Fritz Reiner Chicago Symphony Orchestra. HDTT (Redux) 1955 2024 (DSD256, DXD)

Review HERE

 

[Rushton]

So, speaking of Karina Canellakis and Bartok... Have you listened to her outstanding recording of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle?



Bartók Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Karina Canellakis. Pentatone 2025 (DXD, DSD256) [Edit to correct format resolution, available from NativeDSD]

Review HERE

It is simply outstanding. I only regret that Pentatone's team here recorded in 192kHz.

(I'll not count this towards my 10 for my fictious gathering of audio friends because this is decidedly an acquired taste, unless you're just a bit nuts like me. And I'm not even fond of opera. Just Bartok.)

 

[ferenc_k]

This will likely never happen unless one or another of the LP remastering labels figures out a way they can make some money from DSD downloads. I can't imaging you'll ever see it on an SACD. But, given how many are making DSD256 transfers for archival purposes and/or mastering purposes, they certainly have the ability if the label would license it. Chad Kassem tried this for while, but at the time he just couldn't make the financials work and he pulled the plug. Today's environment of high speed internet and more people with DACs that can play DSD256 and DXD may allow a different dynamic.

Look for Djabe recordings on natvided.com. There are two of them there, one of them was live recorded as direct to disc. We digitised the original first generation tape in DSD256, without any further processing. It is really the first generation tape as the "master" was the disc, the tape only a security copy, recorded simultaneously with the copper disc. It is a prog rock, jazz and world music mixture, with Steve Hackett playing the guitar on one track. The whole album was made live in an all analogue studio, no digital tools were used, not even a reverb (it was analogue too).

 

[Rushton]

And, continuing with Bartok, let me nonetheless posit an excellent modern traversal of his complete String Quartets. No, I don't understand them, either. I just love them nonetheless. Of the many alternatives in the catalog, this two volume set from Ragazze Quartet is just superb. It rivals the grand past sets from Julliard Quartet (60s), the Talich Quartet, and the Takács Quartet.



Bartók Bound, Volume 1 - String Quartets 1, 2, 4, Ragazze Quartet, Channel Classics, 2019. DSD256, DXD

Bartók Bound, Volume 2 - String Quartets 3, 5, 6, Ragazze Quartet, Channel Classics, 2021. DXD

Review HERE

And now I am at number 9 out of my planned set of 10 for this gathering.

 

[astrotoy]

This is such a great idea! I love it. First a few introductory comments...

First... Yes, I do have access to more high resolution recordings of the DXD and DSD256 variety than many people. And, full disclosure: as an active reviewer, I get free sample files as long as I crank out reviews and articles. I pick and choose what I want to write about. And I will write only about stuff I like. There are too many excellent albums out there, and too little time, to waste ink on something that is not that great or that I don't really like. So, if you read any of my reviews, you will not find me talking about things to avoid, you'll only find be talking about things I like and think you might like as well. I try to cover original DXD and DSD256 recordings coming out of NativeDSD, TRPTK, Spirit of Turtle, and HDTT. I'll add some lower resolution PCM recordings when they are really nice performances of good music and are well engineered.

Second... I like a lot of recordings that often duplicate other performances of the same work that I also like. To me, each performance has something unique to say and I can enjoy many of them, just appreciating and learning from the differences. I often have favorites, but that favorite may change next week. I do not like making "best of" lists because different recordings bring different things to the party. I value the variety of interpretation. At the same time, I'm pretty intolerant of badly miked, poorly produced recordings. And I do have a preference for sonic excellence in recordings.

Third... my tastes are about as eclectic as one gets when it comes to "classical music". So, you will see my reviews hopping from orchestral, to chamber, to solo instrument, and from renaissance to baroque to romantic to modern. And Audiocrack and I share similar appreciation for the large orchestral works of Bruckner, Mahler, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Bartok, etc. I also enjoy jazz, particularly from the '50s and '60s, but this has been a "later in life" coming to appreciate. Classical is my mainstay.

Fourth... In the next few posts I'll share some of the recordings I love that I would probably pull out for some audiophile friends coming over for a listening session this week. Next week, the recordings selection might be different.

Finally... I will start off with an album you might not expect. Recorded by Westminster in Carnegie Recital Hall on May 25, 1956 in stereo. And it sounds, to my ears, as if it could have been recorded last week, it is so transparent.

View attachment 156114

Pure DSD256 transfer from a Westminster Sonotape 2-Track. My review of this album can be found HERE. And you can download for free the first track of this album using the download link provided in this Positive Feedback article:
Pure DSD256 from Analog Tape: My Top of the Pile

This album is a favorite of mine. And when I play it for others, there is confusion, stunned silence, then smiles all around. Enjoy the sample track.

This is one of my favorite old albums. I first bought Bob Witrak's hirez download (HDTT) and then found a copy of the 2 track original tape. Larry

 

[astrotoy]

I've enjoyed so many of the reviews you have done on Bob Witrak's HDTT website. I started buying his downloads well before he got into the super hirez DSD and DXD files he now offers. We began to trade 2 track 15ips tapes from our respective collections. I made tape copies of his tapes for my collection and he made digital copies of my tapes. I believe that the Somethin' Else digital file he released originated from my 15ips 2 track safety master. Larry

 

[Rushton]

I've enjoyed so many of the reviews you have done on Bob Witrak's HDTT website.

Thanks, Larry. I try to review all of Bob's releases on Positive Feedback in articles covering 6-8 at a time. The review snippets I post on his HDTT webpages are extracts of those as I write them, knowing there will be some lag time before the PF article appears.

Those of you who collect and share these tapes are a godsend to the rest of us. I hope you all keep feeding a steady supply of candidates to Bob!

 

[Audiocrack]

So, speaking of Karina Canellakis and Bartok... Have you listened to her outstanding recording of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle?



Bartók Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Karina Canellakis. Pentatone 2025 (192k, DSD64)

Review HERE

It is simply outstanding. I only regret that Pentatone's team here recorded in 192kHz.

(I'll not count this towards my 10 for my fictious gathering of audio friends because this is decidedly an acquired taste, unless you're just a bit nuts like me. And I'm not even fond of opera. Just Bartok.)

Yes I have listened to it regularly and I like it a lot. This album was - like many of Bert van der Wolf’s outstanding recordings of large orchestral pieces - recorded in the sonically outstanding studio 5 in Hilversum (Holland) by Everett Porter.

I am somewhat confused after your remark about the 192kHz recording though: they claim on the Native dsd website that this is - like the other Pentatone Bartok recording by the same team - (an original) dxd recording. See:

Bartok: Duke Bluebeard's Castle - NativeDSD Music

The Transient Beauty of Life, Painted In Dark Orchestral Colors The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and its chief conductor Karina Canellakis continue their Bartók journey with the composer’s only opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, starring mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham (Judith) and...

www.nativedsd.com

Because of this I downloaded it in dxd / 24 bit. But maybe they made a mistake on the Native dsd website?

 

[Audiocrack]

Please allow me to list one ‘guilty pleasure’ for (primarely) sonic reasons. ‘Guilty pleasure’ because the music on this 2L SPES album is imho ‘so so’. However, the recording quality is - to my ears - stunning: it belongs, sonically speaking, to my best sounding choral music (in its original recording format: dxd / 24 bit): the massed voices sound so refined and pure! Here is a link:

Spes - NativeDSD Music

This album is now available in 5.1.4 Channel Auro3D 96k Immersive Audio.

www.nativedsd.com

 

[Rushton]

I am somewhat confused after your remark about the 192kHz recording though: they claim on the Native dsd website that this is - like the other Pentatone Bartok recording by the same team - (an original) dxd recording.

Ah, thank you, thank you. I am downloading the DXD file of Bluebeard's Castle from NativeDSD now. I received a preview download link for this album from Pentatone about 6-weeks ahead of the release date, and the highest resolution for preview was 192kHz. Apparently I failed to recheck at NativeDSD on the release date since I had the review already queued up. I will have to be more careful about checking in the future.

 

[Rushton]

However, the recording quality is - to my ears - stunning

Nice recommendation! Morten Lindberg always does excellent work with his many choral music recordings, and Spes is a sterling example as are his other recordings with the choral group, Cantus.

For anyone wishing to delve further into some of the recordings from 2L, both choral and orchestral, I talk about both Spes and several other albums from 2L in this article from 2023:
2L and Morten Lindberg - Recordings with Exceptional Clarity and Air

 

[Rushton]

For my number 10 spot, I'm going to shift to some jazz with this 2018 recording by Jared Sacks on Just Listen Records. It's good music, well performed and with excellent sonics. Its a crowd pleaser, for sure. And the Pure DSD256 sound quality is a listener's delight.



The Sweetest Sound - Angelo Verploegen, Ed Verhoeff & Eric Van Der Westen. Just Listen Records (Pure DSD256, Stereo, MCh)

My review HERE

 

[Al M.]

Please allow me to list one ‘guilty pleasure’ for (primarely) sonic reasons. ‘Guilty pleasure’ because the music on this 2L SPES album is imho ‘so so’. However, the recording quality is - to my ears - stunning: it belongs, sonically speaking, to my best sounding choral music (in its original recording format: dxd / 24 bit): the massed voices sound so refined and pure! Here is a link:

Spes - NativeDSD Music

This album is now available in 5.1.4 Channel Auro3D 96k Immersive Audio.

www.nativedsd.com

For a stunning vocal recording that satisfies both musically and sonically, try this:

J. Eybler, Wolfgang Helbich, Harry van Verne, Harry van der Kamp, Alsfelder Vokalensemble, Barbara Schlick, Isolde Assenheime - Requiem in C - Amazon.com Music

J. Eybler, Wolfgang Helbich, Harry van Verne, Harry van der Kamp, Alsfelder Vokalensemble, Barbara Schlick, Isolde Assenheime - Requiem in C - Amazon.com Music

www.amazon.com

Talking about refinement.

 

[Rushton]

For a stunning vocal recording that satisfies both musically and sonically, try this:

Thanks for joining the conversation, Al M.

Do you happen to know where this might be found in a high resolution download?

 

[Audiocrack]

De

For a stunning vocal recording that satisfies both musically and sonically, try this:

J. Eybler, Wolfgang Helbich, Harry van Verne, Harry van der Kamp, Alsfelder Vokalensemble, Barbara Schlick, Isolde Assenheime - Requiem in C - Amazon.com Music

J. Eybler, Wolfgang Helbich, Harry van Verne, Harry van der Kamp, Alsfelder Vokalensemble, Barbara Schlick, Isolde Assenheime - Requiem in C - Amazon.com Music

www.amazon.com

Talking about refinement.

thanks for this recommendation.

 

[Rushton]

Since we've gotten onto vocal music, here's one that landed in my Top of the Pile list of recommendations for sonic quality. It is yet another of Bob Attiyeh's stunningly good, minimally miked, Pure DSD256 recordings on his Yarlung Records label. And it is not only a sonic delight. The music by Tarik O'Regan is very good, very engaging, well worth hearing.



All Things Common—Music of Tarik O'Regan, Robert Istad conducting members of Pacific Chorale and Salastina. Yarlung 2020 (Pure DSD256, Stereo, MCh)

My review HERE