Ascend Acoustics Official Music Recommendation Thread

[RPM]

Great Thread!

Great Jam on ANY Ascend speakers "Elephants on ice skates" Brian Bromberg.

[movieNmusic]

Hello Everyone,

Some really amazing recommendations here which have kept me busy since quite some time! I have ordered my Sierra Ascend 2's last week and will able to use them this Wednesday when they arrive .
I have a question about source of music, I have a huge classical music library in Spotify and as I am a spotify Premium member I have them at 320kbps (when available in original recording). I was wondering whats the best way for me to play it?

I have a Yamaha 775BL with a bluetooth adapter. Using that option would be easiest but I am unsure how much compression takes place.

Thanks for taking a look, also I am sorry if this post is in the wrong forum subsection.

[Mag_Neato]

My primary source is Spotify as well. I, too, am a premium member and get the best they have available. I stream via iPod and iPhone connected to a Cambridge Audio id100 digital dock which bypasses the built in DAC of the Apple device and sends the digital bitstream to my receiver. Sound quality is surprisingly good.

[movieNmusic]

Thanks for the reply Mag_Neato(ha! I just got it). The solution I am currently using is playing it via Spotify Connect. The data transfer rate suggests it is slightly less than 320kbps input feed into my Receiver via wifi but I cannot tell the difference between this and plugging my phone in.

The song which I found useful for this test is Brothers in Arms from the movie "Mad Max Fury Road" and Brahms Serenade No.1 by Riccardo Chailly(excellent).

[Mag_Neato]

Thanks for the reply Mag_Neato(ha! I just got it). The solution I am currently using is playing it via Spotify Connect. The data transfer rate suggests it is slightly less than 320kbps input feed into my Receiver via wifi but I cannot tell the difference between this and plugging my phone in.

The song which I found useful for this test is Brothers in Arms from the movie "Mad Max Fury Road" and Brahms Serenade No.1 by Riccardo Chailly(excellent).

Thanks for recommendations, I will have to check those out. I would offer this suggestion: Tok Tok Tok. The fidelity and dynamics are excellent. I had one of their tracks playing with the master volume of my Marantz AVR set at -5, connected to a 200 watt/channel Adcom amp. During some dynamics with the sax playing I could see the RAAL ribbons MOVING! It looked as if someone was blowing across the foil making it sort of ripple. It never distorted though.

[dtsequoia]

Hey guys, I picked up a new album from Jeff Oster this week: It's called Next.

Here:
http://www.amazon.com/next-Jeff-Oste...rds=jeff+oster

It's smooth jazz I would say. I am not normally a jazz kind of guy, but this was produced by Will Ackerman and Jeff Oster and sounds amazing. That makes me very excited for my future upgrade!

Hope you guys enjoy.

[DeliciousSounds]

Found a cool song on a random spotify audiophile playlist to listen to on the towers (bass needed):

Ein fin liten blome by bjorn eidsvog

Enjoy!

Edit: holy moly the soundstage on the remastered version of fly me to the moon by Sinatra is the best I've heard yet

[davef]

Hey guys, I picked up a new album from Jeff Oster this week: It's called Next.

Here:
http://www.amazon.com/next-Jeff-Oste...rds=jeff+oster

It's smooth jazz I would say. I am not normally a jazz kind of guy, but this was produced by Will Ackerman and Jeff Oster and sounds amazing. That makes me very excited for my future upgrade!

Hope you guys enjoy.

I just listened to the preview on Amazon -- disc now ordered

Thanks for the recommendation.

[donaldekelly]

Some quite good theorbo music - for something different

Bach by Stefan Olof Lundgren http://www.luteonline.se/trollsuite_...n_mus.htm#bach

de Visee by Jonas Nordberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeUc...KV4bCzWNe7cE9i

Hard to find too much of either guy on cd but there are other good theorbo players. Lundgren's Bach pieces are on DVD and he has other stuff on CD.

Wikipedia: "Notable living theorbists include Eduardo Egüez, Michael Fields, Catherine Liddell,[2] Jakob Lindberg, Rolf Lislevand, Robert MacKillop, Andreas Martin, Pascal Monteilhet (fr), Nigel North, Paul O'Dette, Bruno Helstroffer (fr), Christina Pluhar, Lynda Sayce, Stephen Stubbs, and Axel Wolf,[3] among others."

[MusicHead]

If you like his music, I recommend Sting's "...all this time" DVD or CD. It is a live concert he performed for a small audience at his villa in Tuscany. Besides being staged in my native Italy, the recording has a nice "small venue" quality. The arrangements are also very good, lots of acoustic instruments. The DVD has a documentary too, journaling the preparation of the concert. It also has a high emotional charge, the concert had been schedule for 9/11, THAT 9/11, and they ended up playing just few hours after that horrific event.

For something off the beaten path, if you like film music scores, try Dave Grusin's "Cinemagic" a collection of some of the most famous scores he authored. Great recording, good music and talented "guest players", like Lee Ritenour, Tom Scott and Ian Underwood.