OK, I am trying to help someone out there find some jewels.
The COBRA label has an album I bought off of nativedsd called "Sounds of War". With music from Poulenc, Janacek, and Prokofiev.
Hanna Shybayeva and Maria Milstein won lots of awards and recognition for their stellar playing on these three pieces all written in times of WAR.
Your head is between a violin and piano in super well recorded Hi Res DSD sound.
I bought the 64fs Binaural stereo recording, getting the normal stereo recording for free with it.
This is artistry off the charts, but modern, sometimes sweet, but often jarring and reminiscent of well, war. So I would not recommend this as bed time music, but I would recommend it, without hesitation for anyone who has a more modern classical bent.
Or just as audiophile violin and piano ear candy of a sort. Not available on SACD, this is a download you really may want to get.
+++++HOWEVER++++




Let's say you want to hear some BEAUTIFUL music in Hi Res, DSD. I mean beautiful, try Rachmaninov Symphony #2 by the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Ivan Fischer. I bought this album in 64fs Stereo, though it is available in Multi-channel (I have no clue how to play multi-channel DSD files?).
The Adagio here is considered one of the most beautiful in classical music.
The sound here is WARM, FULL, LUSCIOUS. WELL founded in the basses when they get rolling. But the clarinet gets the love in the Adagio. Oh Man, this is HEAVENLY MUSIC!!!!
This is a 2004 Channel Classics multi award winner, even the Absolute Sounds' Golden Ear award. Gramophone Editor's Choice award.
So, yes, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
For my taste, if you came over and I wanted to show off my system with some Hi Res music, I might well play you a demo with the Sounds of War, but after you are gone, I would put on the Rachmaninov to enjoy and warm my soul. It is ear candy too, but ear LOVE.
I hope this helps someone out there looking at Hi Res recommendations.
God Bless,
Wayne

Sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet, and sometimes the bullet bites you.
I was wanting some more music for my DAP to carry with me as I exercise, perhaps some Wagner would get the juices going.
And I was wanting to check out DSD music files to see if I can further enjoy music by it being Hi Res, better recordings.
So I went online and found this recording on the Pentatone label (a really good one for classical I find) which has the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra of Amsterdam led by Yakov Kreisberg playing Wagner's famous and rousing, wonderful Preludes and Overtures. I mean they are nearly all here, superbly played and recorded in 64 fs stereo dsd sound. AWESOME!!!!
The sound is powerful, full and seemingly played with vitality.
Great stuff. All my favorites, EXCEPT the one Prelude that I REALLY wanted Prelude to Act 1 of Lohengrin. I mean, Act 3 is here, but not Act 1. And the Reinzi is here, I had never heard it before, bombastic and fine, good one!!!!!
So overall I am pretty happy with this purchase, just missing the one piece I wanted, and that is becoz of my own ignorance, I should have noticed.
Still all in all, RECOMMENDED for those who love beautiful, powerful MUSICAL classical stuff that will give your speakers a run for their money. Crank it up and have a listen. Also available as a Hybrid SACD, which might be the way to buy this one, not sure.
I did download the multi-channel DSD version (BIG) and have no idea at this time how to play multi-channel DSD files on my system? Anybody?
God Bless,
Wayne

I use audirvana on my mac to play both "normal" files and DSD files. I syncs with itunes for normal files, and you can point it to one or more directories containing DSD to play those. Overall it's better than itunes for sound quality etc.

Wayne,

I see you like Wagner too! He has always been one of my favorites.

An interesting experiment would be to buy the CD equivalent of the DSD recording. You could rip the CD (or the CD layer on the SACD). Then, you can compare the DSD file to the 16/44 ripped file and see if you can hear a difference. I've done this kind of comparison when I started ripping CDs just to make sure things were really the same; I compared the original CD to the ripped version. (They sounded the same to me.)

I'd really like to know if you can hear a difference between the DSD and CD equivalents and what differences you hear.

Charlie

Pbgalvin, does your program play MULTI-CHANNEL, like 5.1 DSD files?
Does it also play on Windows computers?
Charlie, I hear you about the comparisons, but not really sure how to make an apples to apples comparison that is meaningful.
Often the tracks on hybrid SACDs were recorded differently, the DSD track and the redbook stereo one.
Then how to play them back the same, how to only play two channel back with the surround track?
It could be done, let me think about it some more.
What little I have been able to make comparisons, and never in a really controlled way, it seems to me (this is very subjective and might WELL be influenced greatly by the fact that I know when I am listening to Higher Res and by the price difference--it cost a lot more so it surely sounds better sorta thing) seems to me that Hi Res files are more musical, less "digital" edginess or glare, are more refined sounding, perhaps have a little more "air" in the treble area.
But not willing to put any real money on any of these impressions.
What about you Charlie, and the rest of you guys? What differences have you heard?
What music do you recommend to hear those differences?
God Bless,
Wayne

Hi Wayne,

If you want to ease into Wagnerian opera, I recommend starting with Die Fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman). I have two recordings, both old. My favorite is with George London singing the role of the Dutchman. It is available on London.

Die Fliegende Hollander is full of wonderful solo and choral singing and is relatively short as Wagnerian operas go.

Enjoy!

Art