What CD has the best production/sound?

I second the Dan's 2AN, it is an awesome "non-audiophile" recording. I also second the Bob Ludwig mastered disks, his stuff is almost always excellent. For a little different type of sound try Allison Krause's excellent disk "Forget About It", she'll sound like she is singing right in front of you. Good post!

Produced by Patsy Cline's producer, Owen Bradley, and recorded with all tube equipment, "Shadowland" is probably k.d. lang's best sounding CD. There's nary a dud on this great collection, which features Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn and Brenda Lee on the last song, "Honky Tonk Angels." Highly recommended.

Oops! a correction is necessary to my earlier post--her name is spelled "Alison Krauss"!

re: post by kleiman421. "art for the ear" is actually a tag line used by burmester to describe its products. the cd to which you are likely referring is vorfurings-cd II (there's an umlaut over the u). there is also a "volume" 3 that is likewise stunning. (never seen vol.1) i have access to a very limited supply of both discs, tho they're expensive, just like the beautiful burmester products for which they were produced. if you are interested, email me and i'll give you the prices.

Some reference recordings sound quite nice as do most Chesky. I think Chesky has the more natural sound, while reference, which is recorded on Spectral gear, that the engineer Keith O. Johnson also designed, sounds very neutral