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:
