Jazz for aficionados

@audio-b-dog 

Have sent PM 

stuartk, I don't know what a PM is. Sorry, although I worked in the computer industry for many years, I left it around 2,000, and I fall behind.

Spotify is streaming and has a lot of music. Qobuz has more classical music and jazz, I think, but I don't know for sure. I don't know how good your audio rig is, so I don't know if you'd hear the higher quality of Qobuz. On my stereo it blows away CDs and anything else but vinyl. If you don't care about that, then see if you can find all the jazz and classical you want on spotify.

I am now listening to Wayne Shorter's last album "Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival" at 96 khz, more than double the resolution of a CD. I chose that Wayne Shorter album because it has Esperanza Spaulding, a force of nature. It's quite abstract and I don't know how abstract you like music. I have a feeling you might like this. Does spotify have it? If you wanted to dabble in Qobuz, you can buy a D/A converter at Schiit (in California) for $119. Pick up an audio USB cable and hook it to your computer with Qobuz. A pair of interconnects to your receiver or preamp or whatever and you're in business. At $10 a month you can see if you like it.

Listen to Mitsuko Uchida playing Schubert's Impromptus on youtube, and if you like it you can pick up the CD. I have heard so many pianists play it I can't count them all. To me, Uchida is the best. She can touch the keys with such a light, sparkling stroke it's amazing.

See if you can find Bartok's String Quartets. The 5th and 6th are his best. If you can get into Bartok, you've found a whole new universe. 

Stuartk, try to find Debussy's Preludes and Images for piano. Many people think that Arturo Benedetti is the best pianist for this. He is brilliant and exacting. Pierre-Laurent Aimard has a bit more emotion. Phillipe Entremont leans into emotion. Perhaps the best interpreter is Walter Gieseking, but he died long ago before modern recordings, yet I find his CDs to be fine. You can even buy a CD of Debussy playing some of his own music which he recorded on piano roll. If you could find an inexpensive set of Gieseking playing Debussy's piano works (5 CDs), I'd go for it. I don't think anyone is considered to be better than him. He may have even studied with Debussy. I can't remember.

stuartk, Cambridge Audio also makes a Dacmagic 200 for $399. It is both a headphone amp and will plug into your stereo. You can't do both at once, but who wants to? Again, you could use your computer as a front end interface for spotify, Tidal, or Qobuz. I don't know how many CDs you buy, but depending on how good your CD player is, you probably won't need to with this rig.