52 Essential Albums for Audiophiles

Rocker · December 2019

https://www.stuff.tv/features/52-essential-albums-audiophiles

Skimming down the listing, I have 8 albums in my collection. Surprised to find Joni Mitchel 'Blue', which I have, included. In my book it is nowhere near 'audiophile' quality but there it is.

Discuss.

horse · December 2019

Some unusual choices in there for "audiophile" in my view too

TheMarlin · December 2019

I have a good few of these, and largely agree. Though a few exceptions, the production on listed Nirvana and Flaming Lips albums is not that great. Great albums non the less.

Love Boards Of Canada, fantastic through my system.

I have some albums that I mostly listen to to check out new gear (interconnects, pre amp, speaker cable etc). These are albums I know intimately, every note.

Some of my favourite test albums include Eric Clapton - Unplugged, Brian Wilson - Smile, Pil - Album, Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun, Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha, George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice, Gotan Projecr - La Revancha del Tango, Joanna Newsom - Divers, The Magnetic Fields - I, Mbongwana Star - From Kinshasa, Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazwood, Nancy and Lee, Paul Simon - Graceland, Prince - Sign o the times, Robert Cray - Strong Persuader, Rufus Wainwright- Want 1 & 2, Sparks - Hippopotamus, St Germain - Tourist, Tori Amos - Little Earthquake, Turin Breaks - Ether Songs, U2 - Achtung Baby,

Some bands that I love I can struggle to listen to on a good hifi. Appalling production values is a main culprit. I mostly listen to 70’s punk (especially The Damned, my favourite) on a good Bluetooth speaker. Simon and Garfunkel albums are dreadful too

Philly_Q · December 2019

I've got 6 of them, I think, but I couldn't care less whether they're for audiophiles or not.

axisus · December 2019

Horrible site to navigate with my trackpad. I skimmed through, looked like tons of obscure stuff that I have no interest in finding out about and then a spattering of 'obvious' albums later on. Meh.

drofluf · December 2019

I’ve got about half of them. But I’m no audiophile: my listening is either AAC (Or whatever Apple Music is) to a Bluetooth speaker or headphones on a tube/train/plane. Otherwise I’m in the car.

stickyfiddle · December 2019

It’s Stuff.tv, the list is basically “Xmas present ideas for anyone with a turntable”.

Though personally I’m more interested in songwriting, arrangement and performance than whether or not the recording quality meets the approval of the Russ Andrews brigade. I have 20 of those that I listen to fairly regularly, but it’s always via mp3 on my phone, through headphones, in the car or on the Marshall Bluetooth speaker in my kitchen

drofluf · December 2019

Agree; it's more like someone's idea of the "52 best albums ever"

Freebird · December 2019

Funeral by Arcade Fire is one of my favourite albums. However, I am not overly enamored by the mid-00s limiting craze, and I would like to see it get a remastering makeover!

fields5069 · December 2019

A strange choice of wording, for sure. From my collection, I would have included "lifeforms" by FSOL. So it's really "52 albums which you should own for their musical merit".

CHRISB50 · December 2019

What is an audiophile album?

drofluf · December 2019

CHRISB50 said:

What is an audiophile album?

It's a term that you concoct in a brainstorming meeting when you're a few hours away from the deadline and need one last article to fill the space

Freebird · December 2019

CHRISB50 said:

What is an audiophile album?

Albums that sound good when played on high-end audio equipment. Any store specialising in the top brands will have a carefully curated selection on hand. Reviewers of said equipment also have their personal favourites.

DannyP · December 2019

Freebird said:

CHRISB50 said:

What is an audiophile album?
Albums that sound good when played on high-end audio equipment. Any store specialising in the top brands will have a carefully curated selection on hand. Reviewers of said equipment also have their personal favourites.

It's usually Talk Talk and The Blue Nile and other stuff that's as a bit more dull than folk care to admit.

ten77guitar · December 2019

Not fussed about the audiophile part but some good selections there. Might have to dig a few of those out again.

Litterick · December 2019

CHRISB50 said:

What is an audiophile album?

A term invented in the seventies to identify long-playing records that justified the expense of buying a Bang & Olufsen Beocenter.

Tubular Bells is the audiophile album above all others:

Glockenspiel
Bass guitar
Double-speed guitar
Two slightly distorted guitars

Freebird · December 2019

Litterick said:

CHRISB50 said:

What is an audiophile album?

A term invented in the seventies to identify long-playing records that justified the expense of buying a Bang & Olufsen Beocenter.

Tubular Bells is the audiophile album above all others:

Glockenspiel
Bass guitar
Double-speed guitar
Two slightly distorted guitars

Some albums are recorded, mixed & mastered better than others, so the term audiophile album is referencing the production values that went into the making of the record, at least that's what I have always thought it meant

RustySpanner · December 2019

A good production is nice, but the music is the thing.
I don't read a book and go away thinking 'Wow, that typeface was amazing'.

I do have a very pleasant Hifi system, which helps me get the best out of recorded music, but I listen to music because I like it, often despite the quality of recording and production.

Freebird · December 2019

RustySpanner said:

A good production is nice, but the music is the thing.
I don't read a book and go away thinking 'Wow, that typeface was amazing'.

I do have a very pleasant Hifi system, which helps me get the best out of recorded music, but I listen to music because I like it, often despite the quality of recording and production.

I would argue that sound quality has more influence than typeface quality when it comes to evaluating creative works. Music is more like film, where you get to experience the final creative vision, whereas the vision from a book would be constructed from our imagination, and your literary vision of Peter Pan would be different to mine if we both had only read the book

Johnnyseven · December 2019

I'm doing pretty well with 32!

Sesh · December 2019

I have 10, but seeing I do most of my listening to ripped mp3s with the free headphones that came with my phone I wouldn't consider myself audiophile.

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52 Essential Albums for Audiophiles

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