Since I previously talked about what I look for in a good recording, and why; here are a few examples.
These first few are mid to late 20th and 21st century classical, and tend to be atonal, angular, and kind of "thorny" sounding, so musically, YMMV. But the recordings have a soundstage that you can easily imagine, you can walk into among the musicians.
Ernst Krenek - Static and Ecstatic (there is also a fairly recent digital recording of this piece by the Cleveland Chamber orchestra, that is also great).
Charles Wuorinen and Donald Martino
Einar Torfi Einarsson - Quanta
But I could list almost anything on the Kairos classical label. Everything I've bought on Kairos has been great sounding. Quite avant-garde stuff.
Here are some great recordings on the ECM jazz label.
ECM has always been known for their great sounding jazz recordings, from their dead quiet vinyl, to their current releases on CD.
Expect to hear each musician occupying their own space in the acoustic space, and the air around them.
Some people say ECM's 80's output had too much echo on percussion.
The nice thing is, that since they've always had the reputation among audio enthusiasts of good sound, their albums tended to be collected by people who took care of them, so finding good sounding copies in used stores is not that tough.
Gallery - S/T / wonderful chamber-jazz, with open 3d soundstage.
Azimuth with ralph Towner - Depart
Great ensemble playing, with the wonderful wordless vocals by Norma Winstone.
Craig Taborn - Daylight Ghosts
