Best Hi-Res Audiophile Downloads Top 3


1. Carmen Gomes Inc., Thousand Shades of Blue( Sound Liaison)
[urlhttp://www.soundliaison.com/]Sound Liaison[/url]
2. Doug MacLeod, There's a Time (HD Tracks)
[url]http://www.hdtracks.com/{url}
3. Keith Jarret, Live at the Blue Note(ECM/HD Tracks)

I actually think that maybe the new Sound Liaison album from Andre Heuvelman, After Silence also could be no.1 or 2,but one album per label is maybe enough.

What is your top 3 ?
kefas
Milan60....i agree with you re: the soundliason downloads. i downloaded the
'thousand shades of blue' jazz female vocal album last night and it is
superb..thanks for the suggestion..
I agree with calloway,. The Sound Liaison downloads are a very welcome new addition to the the field of audiophile recording.
Truly outstanding recording quality.
My 2 cents ... downloads from Sound Liaison are excellent across the board, but unfortunately there isn't much to choose from. HD Tracks has the best selection, but I've found sound quality to be hit or miss. More recently, I've become a fan of Blue Coast. With the purchases I've made to date, sound quality has yet to disappoint. Range of selection doesn't compare with HD Tracks nor are the offerings mainstream, but I really like that one can preview most albums/tracks in their entirety and even when a full length preview isn't provided, the sample of a track that can be previewed is of a decent duration.

As for 3 specific recommendations, I recommend the 3 “isoMike” albums that are available from Blue Coast: Fan-Ya Lin “Emerging”, The Fry Street Quartet “Joseph Haydn String Quartets”, and Joe McQueen “Ten at 86” (the first two are classical, the third is jazz). Unfortunately, these three albums are only available in DSD, and the list price of $40 per album is ridiculous; however, when Blue Coast runs one of its “buy one get one free” sales, then the pricing is at least palatable. Of course, if one doesn’t have a DSD capable DAC, then these particular albums may not be the best choices although DSD file formats can be converted to hi-rez PCM file formats via software such as JRiver.
Incidentally, I forgot to mention in my post above, the recording engineer on the 3 "isoMike" albums that I mentioned is Ray Kimber of Kimber Kable, a fellow who I think everyone would agree knows what he's doing.
[img]http://www.soundliaison.com/images/tony-bert-300v1.jpg[/img]
Impromptu, Tony Overwater and Bert van den Brink, Live at Rhapsody. http://www.soundliaison.com/images/tony-bert-300v1.jpg
Ok, maybe there is not so much to choose from at the Sound Liaison label but each new release is a true must have.
This DSD download is one of the best recorded piano / bass recordings I have ever heard.
It is one of those recordings that just embrace you and draws you in. Spectacular audio quality.