Would appreciate your help… I am working on an article of “My Favorite Pure DSD256 Albums of the Past 12 Months” for publication in Positive Feedback in August 2025. Note, the article will be limited to Pure DSD256 albums, with no PCM in the recording or mastering process. I have some candidates in my mind, but I’d value some input. My immediate list includes:
I’d also welcome thoughts about whether this should be a listing of 3, 5 or 10, should be ranked in some way, should be in categories (e.g., jazz, classical, vocal), or some other formatting? And, should this article be limited to the past 12 months since this is the first such listing? Perhaps it should not be time limited. Your thoughts welcome!
Let’s assume that any album you would consider for this list has excellent sound quality. I would focus on albums that really speak to you, that draw you in because of their emotional or interpretive qualities. If these are the albums that make your list, you will be able to write convincingly about them and describe to readers why you like them so much. That’s what will make for a great article. I’d say between five and 10 albums. (Do you have a word limit for the article? If so, that might help you determine how many to include.) Other things, such as how to organize the albums in the article, will fall into place as you winnow down the list.
Thanks, magister. Excellent thoughts. For the listing, I will draw from the reviews I’ve been writing for Positive Feedback over the past 5 years, focusing on the albums I come back to again and again in my listening. So, I’m right there with you on that score.
I am drifting towards making this a list that gets added to over time as new recordings show up that meet my criteria: I like them, the are in superb sound quality, and they are excellent performances (technically and musically). So, it would get updates over time.
The initial list will be limited to recordings made within just the past 2-3 years, then expanded. This is just to keep the candidate list manageable.
I’ve also decided to initially exclude transfers in Pure DSD256 from analog tape. This excludes many excellent Pure DSD256 transfers from analog tape such as the HDTT Miles Davis Kind of Blue or Cootie Williams in Stereo or Reiner’s Prokofiev Lt. Kije (among many others), and the wonderful Jonathan Horwich transfers from his 15ips master tapes, and the Yarlung Records releases from their master tape archives, such as David Fung’s Evening Conversations or Percussion Ensemble’s Smoke & Mirrors. The first outing needs to be manageable. But, I have 200 others to draw from.
I appreciate your suggestions and hope you will keep 'em coming as this project evolves.
I have completed my initial list of outstanding DSD256 albums. For this list, I limited it to Pure DSD256 albums that I consider my “top of the pile” for sound quality. Albums processed in DXD are not included in the list.
For an explanation of why Pure DSD256 files are my go to reference for absolute best sound quality, this following article may shed some light:
I’d love to hear your thoughts about any albums should additionally be included in my “Top of the Pile” list, or any thoughts you’d share about your listening experiences with DSD256.
one was an Octave Records album. already have the SACD, but my Oppo205 will not send the DSD to my DAC (licensing thing); expect better SQ via my DAC rather than aged Oppo DAC)…in any case, will be able to compare)
This thread is perhaps a good place to post this but I’ll also repost it over on the HDTT thread. This list is “My Top of the Pile” from analog tape for sound quality. It is probably 80% HDTT albums, but also IPI, Desmar, DTR, and Yarlung recordings from their master tapes.
And, in case you missed it, here is My Top of the Pile list for more recent albums directly recorded to DSD256:
Continuing with more Pure DSD256 recordings that really achieve audio excellence and transparency. This is what I’m listening to today as a preview. To be released very soon at NativeDSD, perhaps as early as next week. Teaser ads are already appearing, otherwise I would not post this.
Edit: Apologies, but I’ve just found out that the “early” release date at NativeDSD is likely to be September 5.
Two masters together in superlative performances. The sound quality is just to die for – Utterly transparent – Perfectly captured in a hall with excellent acoustics – Recorded and mixed in Pure DSD256-Direct Mixed. Audio life just doesn’t get more true to the live performance than this.
Recorded in 2008 to 15ips 2-track analog tape. Transferred to DSD256 from the master tape and released in 2015. A nice set of performances of these works by then then younger Nigel Armstrong. Nigel graduated from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia in 2004, then in CA, then as concert master for the Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2023, and now performs as a soloist in concert tours.
The album opens with a very nice performance of Bartok’s very challengingSonata for Solo Violin. moves to Bach’sViolin Sonata No.3 in C Major, BWV 1005, and concludes with Korngold’s romanticViolin Concertowith The Coburn Orchestra conducted by Sir Neville Marriner in Royce Hall.
As always, Bob Attiyeh’s recording of both the solo instrument performances and the orchestral performance are beautifully done – very natural sound, perfect positioning of microphones, excellent soundstage capture.
From Yarlung Records, released in 2023, some excellent Karnatik music in the classical tradition with an entirely acoustic performance captured in Pure DSD256. The performance occurred in the excellent acoustics of Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. Bob Attiyeh used a single AKG C24 microphone (loaned by a friend of the label and previously owned by Frank Sinatra) with vacuum tube microphone amplification and directly to a Merging Technologies HAPI A/D converter. And to your ears.
Performers: Aditya Prakash voice, with Kamalakiran Vinjamuri (violin), Rajna Swaminathan (mridangam), and Vini Sundaram (tambura).
The album is another Pure DSD256 tape transfer included in my Pure DSD256 from Analog Tape: My Top of the Pile listing. But while it has long been a reference (one of the great late 1950s Decca recordings), I’ve never prepared a review. I’m working on that now and revisiting this old friend as I do so.
Among the many factors that makes this a favorite recording of mine is that the performance uses chorus and vocalists in the production. And truly excellent ones at that. The combination of female chorus and soprano soloists (Jennifer Vyvyan and Marion Lowe) help create the fairytale atmosphere with vivid, pointed, and colorful singing. So much more complex a musical experience than just the orchestral selections by themselves. The chorus sings with the best of English choral tradition: exceptionally clear and precise diction, and superb ensemble.
Recorded by Decca 27-28 Feb 1957 at Kingsway Hall, London. Producer James Walker, engineer Cyril Windebank. Transferred from a 15ips 2-track tape.
Milestones is more than the title of this album. It marks the beginning a major shift in jazz that will make Kind of Blue possible just a year later. This album marks the shift from bebop and hard bop to the modal explorations that will define jazz for years to come.
Transferred from a 15ips 2-track tape, and it is a great reissue.
Djabe, Unplugged at the New Orleans (Budapest).** My Reel Club 2002, 2025 (Pure DSD256, transferred from the analog master tape, Stereo)** Edit Master Sourced
In 2002 Djabe gave a series of concerts in the then most famous jazz club in Budapest, New Orleans. For eight nights the group played almost totally different sets. The last two nights were unplugged gigs. On November 19, 2002 Saïd Tichiti joined Djabe. These 9 tracks are taken from that show. The set covers the whole career of the band from their first album Djabe to Sheafs are Dancing creating a new and fresh approach of many classic and previously live unplayed Djabe tracks.
In Essence, Iman Spaargaren (saxophone & clarinet) and Peter Bjørnild (double bass).Sound Liaison 2025 (Pure DSD256, Stereo, single-mic recording)
If you know the superb sound quality and small ensemble performances that Frans de Rond specializes in releasing from Sound Liaison, you may be delighted to hear (as I was) that he has become a convert to the sound of Pure DSD recordings. This is his first. More will be coming.
