Ha, that's pretty cool. I think Hansen is the exact opposite of Junior Brown in every way.
Printable View
I wanted to get Porcupine Tree's Deadwing album in surround to add to my collection but it's out of print and very pricey. Burning Shed is selling an uncompressed flac copy (in stereo) for about $8. I didn't find the bit rate but the album is over 400 megabytes after the download is unzipped. The sound quality is quite a bit better than the regular cd. Highly recommended if you like the hard rock/progressive stuff.
EDIT: I think I wanted to hear a difference. The sound quality is the same. The downloaded album is the same size as the ripped one. Shoulda done a double blind test!
if you are at all familiar w/ Skynyrd & Allman Bros.
you should try CMH's Pickin' On Series
well recorded, well engineered
as i've said before the Ascend's do justice to acoustic
the series has something for everyone
from CSNY, CCR, Clapton, Petty, Bonnie, Buffett & The Dead
if you're are all so inclined ...
My newest cd for the Sierra's is: Don't Explain, by Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa. Great Blues and Beth Hart has an incredible set of pipes!
Enjoy.
Jim
I thought I would place this article here...
http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2...s-5-sound-like
Have been rebuilding my music collection. Bought an old favorite today, Men at Work. I have always liked the track Land Down Under but WOW, the towers RAAL take this song to a whole new level. I have never heard this song in such clarity and with such dynamics. Really brought out the soulful vocals and the percussion was a real treat. If you are looking for a new song to showcase the towers RAAL, give this a spin. Guaranteed jaw dropper.
Men At Work eh? Been a long time since I heard them. I was a teen when they were most popular. But don't have any of their music. Might have to go onto Amazon Prime and reacquaint myself.
My Sierra 2's and Horizon Center all with RAAL are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. So tonight I am planning to listen to Pink Floyd DSOTM on SACD and Steeley Dan Aja one last time on my Paradigm Studios, then listen again after I get the Ascends set up for my front stage. These two are always my reference discs. Then in a couple of weeks when I get my Towers with RAAL and move my S2's to surround duty I will listen again...
Other than these discs, my favorite listening in no particular order:
1) Joe Walsh - Greatest Hits
2) Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat (DVD-A)
3) Eric Clapton - 461 Ocean oulevard (SACD-Multi Ch)
4) Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation (don't laugh - it was an amazing concert in the 80's)
5) Metallica - Black Album
6) Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
7) The Black Eyed Peas - The End or The Beginning
8) Sara Bareilles
9) Supertramp - BIA
10) Beatles - Love Soundtrack (SACD - Multi Ch)
Just have to chime in... if you're enjoying the classic Men At Work stuff, you really should check out Colin Hay's solo music. I would recommend:
- Man @ Work - it has some fantastic acoustic versions of Overkill and Down Under as well as some other great tracks.
- Are You Lookin' at Me? - my favorite of his solo efforts. Stand outs for me are "Up in Smoke", "No One Knows", "What Would Bob Do?", and "Pure Love"
He's great to see live, too...
Ken
I haven't found anything that doesn't sound good on the towers, with the exception of just poorly recorded stuff. The towers deliver what you put in and over compressed music sounds as it should, over compressed. I like to use the analogy of 50 metal trash can lids rolling down the street. :D
Just last weekend I was on the living room floor all day with a bad back, and had nothing to do but listen to music. I know, sounds pretty rough, huh.
BB King, any of his earlier albums. He had such a vocal range when he was younger and his guitar never goes out of style.
Doing a roof this weekend for my mom so I will probably have some classic rock going on the job site.
Marc Cohn was an excellent choice. I just ordered his self titled CD, again. Also anything you can find with Mark Knofler and Eric Clapton together is a great choice. Two guitar legends together.
Social Distortion, Bad religion, Pennywise.
Little things by one direction :)
I've been listening to Holy Cole and Muddy Waters on 96hz/24 FLAC files from ProStudioMasters.
Now I am listening to michael jackson billie jean .. :)
That's great, Dave. I'm glad you're enjoying his music. He has more that's worth owning and he always puts on a good live show, but I'll leave the further exploration up to you.
Since you enjoyed Colin Hay, I'll put two more "folk-rock" recommendations out there:
1. Gary Jules - Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets
Gary's version of "Mad World" off this CD got some radio play after it was featured in the movie Donnie Darko, but there isn't a bad track on this one.
2. Ellis Paul - The Day After Everything Changed
Ellis is a musician out of Boston who has had some close brushes with fame but never quite made it. He had some songs featured in Farrelly Brothers movies, most notably "The World Ain't Slowing Down" from Me, Myself, and Irene. He's another one that I never miss when he's doing a live show in the area. This CD is my current favorite of his.
For those of you with younger kids, Ellis has two fantastic kids CDs with music that you'll enjoy, too. Pick up The Dragonfly Races and you won't be disappointed.
Ken
Hi
I am listening to 'all about that bass' by Meghan Trainor!
**SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT**
For those who enjoy Jazz.....specifically piano in a trio group, a cousin in my family has several CD's out and is due to release another. Peter Zak
Ok, end of shameless plug!
I'm listening to The Beatles Love album, DVD-A 5.1. ☺ makes me glad I have Sierra's for surrounds.
I'm listening to some Jackson Browne on my towers, sounding sweet! Totally immersed in the sound.
Just got Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here 2011 remaster SACD. Love this in surround! This will get a lot of replays.
Cranking some best of Bob Marley on the towers. As always, amazed with the clean, tight, deep bass the Ascend towers put out.
I lamented selling off an SACD about five years ago, and now it resells for crazy prices, but I forked out 100 bucks to get it back in multi-channel SACD.
Sibelius Violin Concerto - Akiko Suwanai, CBSO, Sakari Oramo. It's the best Sibelius Violin Concerto recording in existence with superlative artistry and superb recording engineering. Just an amazing recording .. probably in my top 5 of all classical recordings for combination of artistry and recorded sound. I own over 3000 classical albums. This one is special.
http://www.amazon.com/Sibelius-Conce...C+Sakari+Oramo
MP3 version for $6. Wonder if it is worth it. I am sure the SACD surround sounds better but this is so affordable
Yep. The problem is that I don't trust MP3's on the internet. I have no idea what the encoded bitrate is.. .whether it's constant bit rate or variable bit rate. But more importantly, I assume it was encoded with burststreaming (inaccurate transfer from the CD to wav before conversion to MP3) which introduces small amounts of degradation in order to speed up the ripping process. I also don't know what program was used to encode the MP3. I insist on ripping my own MP3's to ensure that my library contains only transparent quality music indistinguishable from the original CD. Exact Audio Copy in secure mode (not burst mode) is used to transfer an error-free copy from the CD to a wave file, and then Lame Encoder (LAME is the best MP3 Encoder in the world) (V2 setting or better) is used for conversion to a variable bit rate MP3 which yields a transparent quality MP3. It is indistinguishable from the original CD in blinded ABX testing. If a song sounds like crap, I have confidence that it's crappy from the original CD and not because it's a crappy quality MP3.
Thanks. I have bought several mp3s from amazon. On the rock ones it didn't seem to matter. But on a Sibelius collection it didn't sound as good as the cd I later bought. They usually have decent bit rates but they can vary. And if they use a faster process it might not sound the same as eac and lame which I also use for cd to mp3 transfer.
The set I bought - with rave reviews for sound quality on these mp3s - but I don't recommend this.
http://www.amazon.com/Sibelius-Compl...dp/B004Z4ZN4A/
Steve Earle's new album Terraplane. I love his bluegrass album and this blues album is just as solid.
Better off Alone
Attachment 1183
Not an audiophile CD, but with the mastering engineer Bob Ludwig at the helm, the sound is open, clean and engaging. Party on!
Freddie Hubbard "Straight Life" LP
http://list.dincom.co.uk/images/131541f.jpg
I recently discovered Trevor Hall, who has a style similar to Jack Johnson with a reggae flare. I'm really digging his stuff - especially the earlier albums. "The Rascals Have Returned", and "Well I Say.." sound great on my Sierra 2s.
Can't have too much Reggae.
Try Peter Rowan's "Reggaebilly" album. A wonderful fusion of New Grass and Reggae.
http://www.amazon.com/Reggaebilly-Pe.../dp/B0000646UA