Best CD

depends on who i'm trying to impress. none of our friends or neighbors are impressed with hifi period.

Well, the first thing I do is ask guests what they like and try to accomodate their tastes. Nothing more boring for a guest than to have to listen to music that they neither understand nor enjoy just so you can 'show off' your system.

Most of my favorite classical recordings (not necessarily performances of music) will appear on Hyperion, Dorian, Chandos, Harmonia Mundi, Reference Research, Mercury Living Presence, Telarc, Delos, and Dorian.

Most of my favorite Jazz recordings (same caveat as above) will appear on Verve, Blue Note, and Concord Jazz.

Now, if you want some specific recommendations of specific recordings coupled with performances, perhaps you could narrow your inquiry to genre.

Mighty Sam McClain -- give it up to love on xrcd
Linda Eder - It's no secret anymore
anything from Reference Recordings

Sheffield Labs Drum track on XRCD - cranked of course - jaw dropping dynamics - perfect for people who simply do not "get" or understand the audiophile hobby and never would from listening to something nice like Jennifer Warnes or Diana Krall (remember most people don't have the ears for it so they won't get it no matter what - these kind of normal folks will typically look at you and say "yeah it sounds pretty good - but so what?").

Half of track one is enough - it takes about two or three minutes and you are done and it works everytime - people generally go "OMG that was amazing! I never heard anything like that before".

Not something I would ever listen to for enjoyment but it gets the message across about what makes an audiophile system very very different from ordinary POS.

The drum intro to "Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen is another good one for recognition factor for drums. Most people have only heard this on the radio or back on MTV in the 80's with crappy sound.

Put it in a good system and crank it to realistic SPLs + hey now!