List your top 5 SACDs (1 Viewer)

[Yohan Pamudji]

I'm getting a Sony DVP-NC650V in the mail (thanks Steven Simon), and I have a 10% off coupon for music/movies from Best Buy ready to roll for this weekend. So I figured I'd use the coupon to buy 5 SACDs. All you SACD experts out there, help this guy out and list your top 5 SACDs in terms of sound quality. KeithH, I'll be disappointed if you're not in on this I see your very informative posts in just about every SACD-related thread.

 

[Justin Doring]

Rebecca Pidgeon's The Raven (Chesky)

Jerry Goldsmith's Film Music (Telarc)

Gottschalk's A Night in the Tropics and Gould's Latin American Symphonette (Vanguard)

Bernard Herrmann's Film Scores (Sony)

Gustav Mahler's 2nd Symphony (Delos)

 

[John Tillman]

I've only a dozen, but:

Dylan, Blonde on Blonde

Keb Mo, The Door

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue

Brubeck Quartet, Time Out

Santana, Abraxas

one more for good measure...

Blood, Sweat & Tears

 

[EricK]

In no particular order -

1 - Roger Waters "In the Flesh"

2 - Billy Joel "The Stranger"

3 - Celine Dion "Greatest Hits"

4 - Iseley Bros "3x3"

5 - Michael Jackson "Thriller"

and for 5 more

6 - Alice in Chains "Greatest Hits"

7 - Journey "Greatest Hits"

8 - Destiny's Child "Survivor"

9 - Footloose soundtrack

10 - Billy Joel "52nd Street"

Enjoy! Let us know what you think about your selections...

Eric.

 

[Yohan Pamudji]

How cool is this! Justin comes through with the classical selection, John provides some jazz/folk, and Eric comes in with the pop/rock. That's some good variety right there. I'm almost positive I'll pick up Kind of Blue and Time Out because a) they are great albums and b) I own those CDs, which will make comparing SACD to CD much more apples-to-apples. Abraxas is a fantastic album too, but for whatever reason I don't own a copy on CD (note to self). Jerry Goldsmith's Film Music and Gustav Mahler's 2nd Symphony caught my eye from Justin's list.
Eric,
Do you know if any of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits albums are in SACD? I'd probably pick one of, if not all of, those up if they were available.
Keep those recommendations coming!

 

[Emil Stoica]

Here are mine (in no particular order) Sorry can not only pick 5:
1) Wham "Make it Big" (Japanese only) - stereo
2) Chris Botti "Night Sessions" - multi-channel
3) Sopranos "Peppers & Eggs" - stereo
4) Earth Wind 'N Fire "Gratitude" - multi-channel
5) Duke Ellington "Blues in Orbit" (OOP but can be found) - stereo
6) Frankie Goes To Hollywood "The Sonic Collection" (from www.ztt.com) - multi-channel
7) Isley Brothers "3 + 3" - multi-channel
8) Kenny Loggins "Greatest Hits" - stereo
9) Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells" (import) - multi-channel
10) Sarah "Starlight Dinner" (import) - stereo
Of course, musical taste plays a part. But all of these I feel are very well done and a big improvement over their Redbook versions.

 

[Michael_T]

Search out anything on the Audioquest label or the Opus 3 label - they seem, IMHO, to be the best sounding SACDs.

Audioquest is a blues label, with my favorites being Doug Macleod and Joe Beard.

Opus 3 - the only releases I have are by Eric Bibb, and they are all good - folk blues with a touch of gospel mixed in.

Also, I really like the Wild Child Butler release on APO.

As far as Sony is concerned:

Santana - Caravanserai (a Japanese SACD)

Miles - Kind of Blue

Brubeck - Time Out

Mingus - Ah Um

Santana - Abraxas

Miles - Miles Smiles

Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

Monk - Straight, No Chaser

Blood Sweat and Tears

James Taylor - Hourglass

Alice in Chains - Greatest Hits

Miles - On the Corner (A Japanese SACD)

On Telarc:

Monty meets Sly and Robbie

McCoy Tyner, Al Foster and Stanley Clarke.

There are so many more - but this might give a real good start. Also alot of other great discs were also mentioned by others adding to this thread already.

 

[John Beavers]

Jay McShann "Wonderful World"

Doug MacLeod "Whose Truth"

Benny Waters "Live at the Pawnshop"

Stevie Ray Vaughan "Texas Flood"

Stevie Ray Vaughan "Couldn't Stand the Weather"

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Here are my five:
1. Rebecca Pidgeon The Raven
2. Keb Mo The Door
3. The Coronation of King George II (Hyperion)
4. Sopranos: Peppers and Eggs
5. Ana Caram: Blue Bossa Nova
Also good...
Anything recommended by Ric P or KeithH. They are reliable sources of opinion...
McCoy Tyner: New York Reunion (Chesky)
Charles Mingus Ah Um
and
Most Sony Classical Titles...
Most Chesky Titles...
Most Acoustic Sounds (Analogue Productions) blues discs, particularly Nancy Bryan...
It really is super audio!
Lee

 

[Peter Luna]

Not in order of preference

1 Rebecca Pidgeon: Raven

2 Blood Sweat and Tears

3 Stevie Ray Vaughan: Couldnt stand the weather

4 Stevie Ray Vaughan: Texas Flood

5 Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde

 

[RicP]

I'll offer up a few that haven't been mentioned yet.

FIM's Audiophile Reference disc IV - This disc is incredible and a real demo quality disc for Super Audio CD.

FIM's River of Sorrow - Authentic Chinese Instrumentals. This is a direct to DSD recording. The quality is absolutely stunning. The music is authentic Chinese traditionals played on Chinese instruments. A really beautiful recording.

Jazz at the Pawnshop - A 2-disc SACD set from FIM, this is the famous Pawnshop set that's been an audiophile standard for years. Suffice to say that this is the best that it's ever sounded.

Appalachian Journey - Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor. Wonderful American string band music that really sings. Guest vocalists including James Taylor make this one a must have for neo-classical fans.

Des'ree - Supernatural - This is a Japanese only SACD but sounds great, crisp, clear vocals, great music.

 

[Yohan Pamudji]

Oh, Best Buy. Thine SACD selection doth truly lack variety.
I went there tonight and they had about 60 or so SACD titles that were almost exclusively from the Sony label. So here's what I ended up getting:
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Santana - Abraxas
James Taylor - Hourglass
Sopranos - Peppers & Eggs
Considering the meager selection I think I did pretty good. The next step once I wear out these discs (or once I listen to these and catch SACD fever) is to hit some online stores. I did a search and found a thread from a week ago with links to some great online sources for SACDs. I didn't find any of the classical titles mentioned above at Best Buy, otherwise I would've bought at least one of them. That's definitely next on the list.
RicP,
What does FIM stand for? That's a recording label, right? Your suggestions, particularly River of Sorrow and Appalachian Journey, really piqued my interest. I'll be looking into those for sure.
Anybody else care to give me any suggestions? Sure, I've bought the 5 discs I said I would buy, but now I only have 5 discs and need more to round out the collection Keep the suggestions coming!

 

[KeithH]

Yohan, FIM stands for First Impression Music. I have the FIM SACD that Ric referred to. The SACD layer sounds great (it is a CD/SACD hybrid disc), but the music isn't my favorite. Here are a few of my favorite SACDs in terms of music and sound quality (in no particular order):

* The Isley Brothers 3 + 3 (Sony)

* Rebecca Pidgeon The Raven (Chesky)

* Chris Botti Night Sessions (Sony)

* The Sopranos: Peppers & Eggs, Music From the Original HBO Series (Sony; two discs)

* Keb Mo The Door (Sony)

* Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble Couldn't Stand the Weather (Sony)

* The Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out (Sony)

* James Taylor Hourglass (Sony)

The Isley Brothers, Taylor, and Botti discs have multi-channel tracks, which are good, but I prefer the stereo tracks. I just picked up The Isley Brothers 3 + 3 on CD, and the SACD is much, much better. The CD sounds flat and uninvolving. By comparison, the SACD is much deeper and layered. The SACD is enveloping in stereo.

The Brubeck title recently came out as a multi-channel SACD, but I only have the stereo version.

Enjoy the SACDs you just bought. You got some good stuff there.

 

[Jim_F]

Omnibus Wind Ensemble-Music by Frank Zappa

Spyro Gyra-In Modern Times

These are both hybrid discs, but I have only listened to the stereo SACD tracks on each.

Santana-Caravanserai (Japanese import) is another favorite of mine.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I just want to second RicP's FIM SACD recommendations. All of these are good. I especially like Jazz at the Pawnshop and the Sampler.

I forgot about Dave Brubeck Time Out. This really should have been on my Top Five - another superb effort by Sony.

I also will second the Chris Botti disc - wonderful recording and great jazz by a new name to me for trumpet. I also like Miles Davis Kind of Blue but felt it could have been a bit better. This is simply due to my familiarity with all the various recordings and I expected the SACD to be a bit more transparent.

Enjoy!

Lee