# What the hell is an audiophile recording? **URL:** \ **Category:** Music Room\ **Created:** [February 27, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195 "2019-02-27T20:01:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Thomas](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/thomas/32/319_2.png) [@Thomas](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Thomas)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/213 "2021-02-01T18:19:20Z")
> [@Peet](#): > > Ok. Which one? I posted it on a thread, about acoustic treatment, I opened a year ago : → [The Listening Room Reality - #996 by Thomas](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/the-listening-room-reality/5761/996) ---
**Author:** ![Mechanalogue](https://community.naimaudio.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@Mechanalogue](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Mechanalogue)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 6:28pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/214 "2021-02-01T18:28:07Z")
Quite honestly from my experience, audiophile recordings are largely a waste of money. I have normal run of the mill recordings that blitz the few audiophile recordings I have. Sure, there are plenty of crap standard recordings around where an audiophile recording of the same will be better but I’m not sure they are worth the $. ---
**Author:** ![Peet](https://community.naimaudio.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f0a364/32.png) [@Peet](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Peet)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 7:09pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/215 "2021-02-01T19:09:42Z")
Well in some instances I tend to agree but when listening to the various _2L, Reference Recordings and Sound Liaison_ ,to name a few of the audiophile downloads mentioned in this thread, then I could not disagree more. ---
**Author:** ![Peet](https://community.naimaudio.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f0a364/32.png) [@Peet](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Peet)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/216 "2021-02-02T14:18:03Z")
But please post some of your favorite great sounding _non audiophile_ albums. I would really like that. ---
**Author:** ![Peet](https://community.naimaudio.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f0a364/32.png) [@Peet](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Peet)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/217 "2021-02-05T17:40:19Z")
Here is one of mine; Simply Stated is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard. The album was released on May 5, 1992, via Columbia. https://www.youtube.com/embed/qU9wdun-0vY?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&loop=1&playlist=qU9wdun-0vY ---
**Author:** ![TheKevster](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/thekevster/32/191922_2.png) [@TheKevster](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/TheKevster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/218 "2021-02-05T17:58:37Z")
Charles Tolliver’s 1979 album with Music Inc, _Compassion_, is an amazing-sounding record. Not intended as an “:audiophile” recording, I suspect, but these guys knew what they were doing back then… ![](https://d2ikyu8xyuibjx.cloudfront.net/original/3X/e/4/e4754d2c1b3afe1b4d534c5280a78983e5f0a467.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/frenchrooster/32/492688_2.png) [@frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/frenchrooster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 6:58pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/219 "2021-02-05T18:58:01Z")
That one for instance, that I bought on lp recently. ![image](https://d2ikyu8xyuibjx.cloudfront.net/original/3X/5/b/5b5fab16a04c269021fb43cc3d65547ca9096c1f.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/frenchrooster/32/492688_2.png) [@frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/frenchrooster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/220 "2021-02-05T19:11:17Z")
Or that one, live from Bill Frisell. Cd. ![image](https://d2ikyu8xyuibjx.cloudfront.net/original/3X/3/4/34a9157faeb7e32aa892bea7e19bc16577ad9f28.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Peet](https://community.naimaudio.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f0a364/32.png) [@Peet](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Peet)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/221 "2021-03-04T15:00:28Z")
Bill Frisell albums are always well recorded or if there is one that is not, I don’t have it 😀 ---
**Author:** ![jegreenwood](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/jegreenwood/32/255279_2.png) [@jegreenwood](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/jegreenwood)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/222 "2021-03-05T01:56:40Z")
![image](https://d2ikyu8xyuibjx.cloudfront.net/original/3X/7/c/7cb26b074cfc2b33c9f6ccd8eb6dcb4deb3a768c.jpeg) I took the vinyl version into a high end audio store in NYC. The salesman looked at me strangely. Then he played it, and his jaw dropped. I have since replaced it with the CD, which sounds good too. Sondheim’s next show was _Sweeney Todd_. That was supposed to be great on vinyl. However, oddly, I bought it on cassette. The first CD had edits to fit on one disc, which bothered the hell out of me. The current two disc CD is a victim of the loudness wars. Thomas Z. Shepherd was doing outstanding work in the late 70s/early 80s. ---
**Author:** ![opus](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/opus/32/217708_2.png) [@opus](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/opus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 6:27am UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/223 "2021-03-05T06:27:26Z")
I didn’t read all the posts. The simple answer is typically so-so music recorded really well. It makes your system sound amazing while you doze off in boredom. I’ll take an average recording of great players making great music any day. ---
**Author:** ![jegreenwood](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/jegreenwood/32/255279_2.png) [@jegreenwood](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/jegreenwood)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/224 "2021-03-05T14:52:32Z")
Well, the Miles Davis audiophile albums (MFSL etc.) I own include: Cooking Relaxing Working Round About Midnight Milestones Porgy and Bess Kind of Blue Sketches of Spain Someday My Prince Will Come My Funny Valentine Four and More Sorcerer Miles Smiles Nefertiti Filles de Kilmanjaro In a Silent Way Bitches Brew Jack Johnson On the Corner (And Something Else if you want to call that a Miles album) That’s a lot of so-so music. I have a few so-so albums by Coltrane as well. And many more. ---
**Author:** ![jegreenwood](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/jegreenwood/32/255279_2.png) [@jegreenwood](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/jegreenwood)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/225 "2021-03-06T20:21:12Z")
Thought I’d write a little more on this from a totally subjective perspective. When I was quite young (age in single digits) the two albums played most in my house were Sinatra’s _Songs for Swingin’ Lovers_ and _A Swingin’ Affair_, My dad had purchased them when they were released. I loved them - on my dad’s record changer with a homemade speaker someone had made for him (horn speaker I think in retrospect). I loved them almost as much as he did. When I left home, I bought copies myself, but I rarely played them. Not just because my tastes had change (which was true) but because they didn’t sound like I remembered. Sinatra’s voice was less dimensional, thin. I replaced them with CDs, but had the same experience. It was maybe seven years ago that MFSL released remastered SACDs of those two albums - from the master tapes. I bought them immediately, put them in my player, and WOW - I was hearing Sinatra again, the richness of his voice, the three dimensionality. The Nelson Riddle arrangements were great too. This was what I remembered from childhood, but sounding even better on my stereo (although both albums are in mono). That is what an audiophile release can do. ---
**Author:** ![Beachcomber](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/beachcomber/32/10656_2.png) [@Beachcomber](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Beachcomber)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 12:33pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/226 "2021-03-07T12:33:21Z")
I always thought that Supertramp’s Crime of the Century was really well mastered and recorded. ---
**Author:** ![frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/frenchrooster/32/492688_2.png) [@frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/frenchrooster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 12:43pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/227 "2021-03-07T12:43:57Z")
You have doubts today? ---
**Author:** ![Beachcomber](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/beachcomber/32/10656_2.png) [@Beachcomber](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Beachcomber)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/228 "2021-03-07T12:44:46Z")
No, not at all. ---
**Author:** ![frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/frenchrooster/32/492688_2.png) [@frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/frenchrooster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 12:47pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/229 "2021-03-07T12:47:18Z")
Because you said: I always thought. In France, it means: I always thought til today, when I don’t think it anymore.😄 ---
**Author:** ![Beachcomber](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/beachcomber/32/10656_2.png) [@Beachcomber](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Beachcomber)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/230 "2021-03-07T12:48:34Z")
It can in British English, and it might have been better to have said “I have always thought that…” To get your meaning, I might say “I had always thought” or possibly “I used to think” ---
**Author:** ![frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/frenchrooster/32/492688_2.png) [@frenchrooster](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/frenchrooster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 12:54pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/231 "2021-03-07T12:54:23Z")
Thanks, it’s more my inner not accurate translation than of course your English 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Beachcomber](https://community.naimaudio.com/user_avatar/community.naimaudio.com/beachcomber/32/10656_2.png) [@Beachcomber](https://community.naimaudio.com/u/Beachcomber)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195/232 "2021-03-07T12:59:33Z")
Don’t put yourself down. It’s far from obvious, and somewhat prone to interpretation. Also, I think, English has some fairly nuanced ways of expressing tense, which are not always present in other languages. I’m not sure about French (I learned French at school, but only to ‘O’ level, which is not at all advanced), and I wouldn’t be surprised if some other languages have even more ways of expressing past and future actions. “I would have been going to school at that time” - not too easy, I suspect, to pick the bones out of that one. “I would have been about to go to school at that time” - I’m no grammarian, so I don’t know what tense that is… [Previous page](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195.md?page=10) [Next page](https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-the-hell-is-an-audiophile-recording/1195.md?page=12)