I think my favorite so far is Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale" and various other works by the Cincinnati Symphony under Paavo Jarvi on the Pentatone Label. The Pentatone label has some of the best sounding SACDs available right now. You might also check out K622 - The Mozart Clarinet Concerto , available from Stereophile at http://www.stereophile.com . This is a hybrid SACD that contains 2 versions of the concerto. The first is pure DSD, the second is a DSD transfer from analog tape. It definitely made me more unconcerned about whether a recording is pure DSD. The 2 versions are nearly impossible to tell apart, and if I had to state a preference, it would be for the analog transfer. It seemed to have a (very slightly) better sense of "pace". Really, the only SACD's I try to avoid are those made from 16 bit PCM masters. There are some out there, and they're no better than CD. Unfortunately, these SACDs are not labeled as such, and you will either have to do some research to find out how the disc was mastered, or just take your chances. I don't worry too much about it. If I want the disc, I'll buy it and hope for the best. The only time I really try to find out about the mastering process is when I am considering buying an SACD release of something I already own. |
