Vote

Stereophile Editor's Choice—of course!

Supertramp's "Cannonball" or Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out."

Okay, three from off the top of the ol' noggin': 1) Garth Hudson: The Sea to the North, 2) The Nits: Wool, and 3) John Kay: Forgotten Songs and Unsung Heroes.

Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited.

Jim O'Rourke: Eureka; Masada: Live at Tonic.

High-resolution sources, if possible, please. Perhaps a sample or two from one of the current offerings from Reference Recordings' HRx discs. Also, if it's not too much to ask, the high-resolution version of Sera Una Noce from MA Recordings.

Allman Brothers: "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," Blind Faith: "Do What You Like," Guess Who: "Rich World Poor World," Queen: "Liar."

In addition to the standard reference tracks, I'd like to see at least one modern, popular, over-compressed, generally poor-sounding pop recording. I like current FM radio stuff just as much as I like old reissues and audiophile recordings—so I'm always interested to know how a component will handle "junk food."

Bags Meets Wes with Milt Jackson and Wes Montgomery. This 24/96 release from HDTracks is all about music in wonderful sound. From Linn Records, Helge Lien Trio's Hello Troll is a beautiful modern recording with inspiring music.

Nils Lofgren: "Keith Don't Go (Live)"

Tool: Lateralus

The FLAC version of Robert Rich's ambient masterpiece Somnium.

El Rumbion by Chucho Valdes on Briyumba Palo.

I always like it when different kinds of music are used. Like some classical, rock, vocal, pop, jazz, etc. Like my CD-R with seven tracks that I'm using when auditioning in hi-fi stores.

1) Yuri Honing Trio: "Walking on the Moon" from the CD Star Tracks, 2) Any version of the andante movement from the Mahler 6th Symphony.

The Linn Studio Master recording of Tallis' "Spem In Alium" on Magnificat. Maybe compare it to the SACD which has also 4.1 channel. (The Studio Master files are 96kHz/24-bit).

Try Nazareth's Razamanaz. If it sounds good, the DAC isn't. :-) You should use the original, not the remastered copy.

Thomas Mapfumo: Spirits to Bite Your Ears

I'd like to see Eric Prydz song "Pjanoo" to really push the DAC's bass performance.

Mahler's 8th

Rodrigo y Gabriela. Songs like "Hanuman," "Diablo Rojo," or "Atman" could be fun.

Wilco: A Ghost is Born ("Muzzle of Bees"); Beck: Sea Change ("Paper Tiger"); Midlake: Trials of Van Occupanter ("Bandits").

Just measure the bitstream of 1s and 0s on the output side of the DAC and show us the jitter and loss of data. I could care less what music you use. I'm after quality, not the detailing of the third octave.

Kindly translate the question into true audiophile vernacular.

Woven Hand, Folklore.

Tango en Parque Central from Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin's Amparo.

Just measuring the series of 1s & 0s and reporting the success rate on the other side is good enough.

Metallica: "Battery" from Master of Puppets. I use this regularly to determine a component's attack and release.

Frampton Comes Alive!

BT Track: Antikythera Mechanism