Redbook

One of the most insteresting things I have noticed in my exploration of the high end audio world is the vast differences that exist in the quality of today's recordings. This was actually one of the more dissapointing discoveries I have made, as some of the high end systems I have listened to have really revealed the flaws in some of my favorite CDs. However there is a silver lining as I have discoverd some recordings that are absolutly amazing.

Now I am not talking about DVD-As or SACDs, I have heard some amazing recordings in high res formats, but that is a subject for another post.

What I am talking about are really well engineerd recordings on plain old redbook CD. I have found that there are a number of small recording labels out there that are producing some amazing stuff. The one that I am most familer with is Mapleshade Records. I have a CD sampler from them and the recordings on this disc sound better than some of the SACDs I have heard. One track in particular is a gospel piece, and I was listening to it the other day and if I closed my eyes I could pinpoint the hands of each of the choir members clapping along to the music. The track was perfectly imaged and it was as if the choir was right in front of me. I was talking about this with someone recently and they were saying that it is only now that recording engineers are getting the hang of recording for the redbook format. If this is the case, I am pretty excited to hear what they do next!