Captain Crunch decoder ring for findind audiophile quality CD recordings

 Although the prima Luna CD player is high razz, it is also tubed and should offer some forgiveness of bad recordings.
The trouble with finding good clean recordings… Is trouble finding good clean recordings.
The CDs offer a scarcity of information in terms of the resolution offered, whether it was transferred from tape, the original tapes, or digital remaster’s. 

The frustration you describe is shared by many of us. It takes more work in time to search on the Internet to find reviews or ESA Tarik information that will give us the answer we are looking for. Unfortunately many times I can’t even find this information.

 But what you can do, is go to the loudness wars website. It is a consumer driven website where people analyze CD recordings and rate the recordings and post them on the website for every album. 

Loudness Wars website referenced above - http://dr.loudness-war.info.

Search for the recording you are interested in and make note of the UPC and date released (in general, dynamic range began to suffer after 1998). Take that info to eBay or Discogs, which are my main sources. Acoustic Sounds is a good place for 24-bit FLAC or DSD, but these also need checked out before purchase.

You can obtain your own dynamic range meter to test your own recordings, the DR website provides instructions. 

"Talking Timbuktu" is a good one.

Hadn’t listened to it for a while, discovered it again the other day.

Get some CDs from Reference Recordings and also look for HDCD

From The Polarity List, sample CDs

R = Reverse Polarity
From George Louis’ the Polarity List

Analogue Productions R
Analogue Productions – FI The Magazine of Music & Sound R
Deutsche Grammophon R
WARNER BROS. Records, Inc (Phonogram Ltd.) – Dire Straits – Love Over Gold R
Proprius R
Proprius – Jazz at the Pawnshop R
Proprius – Contate Domino R
Opus 3 R
Opus 3 – Depth of Image Test Record 1 R
Mercury Living Presence R
Chesky R
Clarity Recordings R