This year we have come up with something very special for the HighEnd: we will present our equipment with the “Best audiophile recordings of all time”.
You will find us at the HighEnd in Atrium 1.4, Room E103 (1st floor).
“The best recordings of all time” is, of course, not a clearly defined list. There are thousands of excellent recordings from 68 years of stereophony. Audiophiles – even the acknowledged specialists – cannot even half agree on any particular selection. The subjective influencing factors are too great.
Lists of the best recordings are mainly published by the established American and British hi-fi magazines. This results in a certain preference for American or British labels. By its very nature, it takes several years, if not decades, for an album to make it onto such a list, so most albums on such a list tend to be older. Also, within the four walls of one’s living room, certain genres of music sound better than others. And so it happens that in the end classical, folk and jazz music from the 60s to the 90s are the most represented in these lists.
In addition, the recordings in a representative list should also be musically interesting and not just inconsequential (like so many albums recorded specifically for audiophiles), and they should also be widely available. Leading publications such as Absolute Sound, Stereophile, What-HiFi or High-end Audio publish lists of the best recordings of all time from time to time. From these lists we have compiled our list of the “Best Recordings of All Time – The Canon”. They are – according to general consensus – the best recordings there are.
Apart from the recordings published in the lists of the best recordings of the leading audiophile magazines, there are thousands of excellent recordings. We have compiled a further list, encompassing all those excellent recordings that are not in the official lists: the “Best Recordings of All Time – The Apocrypha” as an alternative list and present it at the HighEnd alternating with the canon.
Those interested in the list of the best recordings of all times (Canon & Apocrypha) can download them here:
The Best Audiophile Recordings of all Time – I. The Canon
The Best Audiophile Recordings of all Time – II. The Apocrypha
