Pure DSD256: My Top of the Pile

This is a reposted article originally written for Positive Feedback by Rush Paul. The great team at Positive Feedback, as well as Rush himself, have kindly given us permission to repost this and you can find the original article at the link below. Thanks to Rush and the PF team! Go To Original

I listen to a lot of high resolution DXD and DSD256 file downloads. And, as you can imagine, I have my favorites—my “top of the pile” recordings for sound quality (to borrow a description from my vinyl years). I thought I’d assemble some of these personal favorites into a list for anyone interested.

To keep this manageable, I am limiting this list to Pure DSD256* albums only. Why? Because Pure DSD256 provides the most perfect audio reproduction and more people need to experience it. There are certainly many superb albums that are not Pure DSD256, but this is where I wish to focus for now. To manage the scope of this initial list, I am not including the many marvelous transfers to DSD256 from analog tape—those will come in another list dedicated to Pure DSD256 releases from analog tape. At some point, if there is continued interest, I will update and combine the lists into a single article

The criteria I applied in making this list are:

First, the sound quality must be outstanding, among the best I hear among the Pure DSD256 albums to which I’ve been listening. In this respect, I have a strong bias towards recordings that capture acoustic instruments as heard by an audience in a natural acoustic setting. Recordings made with musicians in sound booths each wearing headphones may have a place, but you won’t find them here.

Because Pure DSD256 provides the most perfect audio reproduction and more people need to experience it.

Second, I need to like the music and the performances—the music must be interesting and the performance quality must be very good, with good technical facility and good artistic sensibility. This is entirely according to my tastes, which will not necessarily align with yours. However, please be advised that this is not a “best of” list—it is list of very good music in very nice performances recorded with superb sound quality representing some of the best being achieved today.

Third, I am listing albums alphabetically, with no ranking implied, in two categories: 1) Classical Music and 2) Jazz, Popular, and World Music. A link to my review of each album is provided, so I am not adding any “capsule summary” description in this list.

Now, onto the list of Pure DSD256 Top of the Pile albums…

Classical Music

• All Things Common—Music of Tarik O’Regan, Robert Istad conducting members of Pacific Chorale and Salastina. Yarlung 2020. Review · Album
• Awaken, music for Piano Trio by Haydn, Schubert and Ravel by Yugen Trio. Eudora 2024. Review · Album
• Bartok & Ligeti: From Microcosm to Macrocosm, László Borbély. Hunnia Records 2024. Review · Album
• Bartók Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Márta Ábrahám and László Borbély. Hunnia Records 2024. Review · Album
• Beethoven Violin Concerto, Niek Baar, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. Pelle D’oca 2025. Review · Album
• Brahms: The Complete Sonatas For Violin and Piano – ‘alla zingarese’, Barnabas Kelemen, Janos Balazs. Hunnia 2023. Review · Album
• Cartografía del Mar (Maps of the Sea), André Cebrián, Pedro Mateo Gonzalez. Eudora Records 2023. Review · Album
• Celebrating Women!, The Hague String Trio. Cobra Records 2021. Review · Album
• Elegie – Works by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich for Piano Trio, Trío Arriaga. Eudora Records 2022. Review · Album
• Hans Sitt Viola and Piano Works, Alicia Calabuig, Jorge Blasco. Eudora Records 2023. Review · Album
• Hidden Voices (Mozart works for solo piano) Volumes IV, V & VI, Gil Sullivan. Hunnia Records 2024. Review · Album
• Homeland – Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor and Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Eudora Records 2024. Review · Album
• Intrigues of the Darkness, works by Scriabin, Ravel, De Falla and Mussorgsky, Anna Fedorova. Channel Classics 2024. Review · Album
• J.S. Bach, 3 + 1 Viola da Gamba Sonatas, Alejandro Marías, Jordan Fumadó. Eudora Records 2023. Review · Album
• J.S. Bach, Complete Flute Sonatas, Volume II, László Borbély, Szabolcs Szilagyi. Hunnia Records 2025. Review · Album
• J.S. Bach Complete Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord, Andoni Mercero and Alfonso Sebastián. Eudora Records 2022. Review · Album
• Mozart Piano Sonatas, Josep Colom. Eudora Records 2024. Review · Album
• Mysterium, Noelia Rodiles, Oviedo Filarmonia, Lucas Macías. Eudora Records 2024. Review · Album
• Niguliste Church Organ, Andres Uibo. APSoon Recordings 2022. Review · Album
• Open Gate Concert, De TUIN, Irene Verburg, Nemes László Norbert, Netherlands Mixed Youth Choir. Hunnia Records 2025. Not yet reviewed · Album
• Preludes and Dances from Brazil, Ricardo Gallén. Eudora Records 2025. Review · Album
• Revisiting Violin and Guitar, Animacorde (Andres Ortiz, violin & Pablo Rioja, guitar). Eudora 2019. Review · Album
• Sisters of the Moon, Susana Gómez Vazquez. Eudora Records 2024. Review · Album
• String Quartets of Haydn, Almeida, and Beethoven, Protean Quartet. Eudora Records 2022. Review · Album
• Symmetria Pario: Creation, Pekka Kuusisto, violin, Joonas Ahonen, piano. Yarlung Records 2023. Review · Album
• Takács Assad Labro. Yarlung Records 2024. Review · Album
• Tallinn Cathedral Organ, Aare-Paul Lattik. APSoon Recordings 2024. Review · Album
• Tuhú, a tribute to Villa-Lobos and those influenced by him, Gaëlle Solal. Eudora Records 2020. Review · Album
• Women and War and Peace, Katelyn Bouska, piano. Yarlung Records 2023. Review · Album
• Debussy, Preludes Books I & II (2 volumes), Ilya Itin. Wave Kinetics Records 2016. David Robinson’s review · Album

Jazz, Popular and World Music

• Autumn Rain in a Secret Garden, Csaba Pengó. Hunnia Records 2023. Review · Album
• Black Crow, Ágnes Lakatos and Tibor Csuhaj-Barna, with Balint Gyemant (guitar). Hunnia Records 2020. Review · Album
• Cool Jazz Reload, Gabor Varga. Gabor Varga Jazz Trio. Hunnia Records 2021. Review · Album
• Gold Rings of the Wounded Stone, Gabor Varga. Hunnia Records 2022. Review · Album
• In Essence, Iman Spaargaren (saxophone & clarinet) and Peter Bjørnild (double bass). Sound Liaison 2025. Review · Album
• Karnatik Roots, Aditya Prakash voice, with Kamalakiran Vinjamuri, Rajna Swaminathan, and Vini Sundaram. Yarlung Records 2023. Review · Album
• Midnight Breeze, Tõnu Naissoo Trio. APSoon Records 2023. Review · Album
• Numinosum, Karttikeya. Outer Marker Records 2024. Review · Album
• Sacred Trance Music from Taos Mountain, Habib Chishti, Michael Rosell, Salman Hanuman Lee, Shawnina Good Road Woman. Yarlung Records 2020. Review · Album
• Sangam, Paul Livingstone, sitar, and Pete Jacobson, cello. Yarlung Records 2022. Review · Album
• The Art of Traveling Light, Angelo Verploegen, Wim Bronnenberg, Jasper van Hulten. Just Listen Records 2020. No review · Album
• The Blue Hour Sessions, Rembrandt Frerichs, Rembrandt Trio. Just Listen Records 2025. Review · Album
• The Contemporary Fortepiano, Rembrandt Frerichs Trio. Just Listen Records 2017. Review · Album
• The Duke Book: The Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Angelo Verploegen, Jasper van Hulten. Just Listen Records 2019. Review · Album
• The Sweetest Sound – Angelo Verploegen, Ed Verhoeff & Eric Van Der Westen. Just Listen Records 2018. Review · Album

Notes and Recommended Articles about Pure DSD256

* Pure DSD256 is a DSD file that has been created from an analog input signal and has not experienced any processing in PCM. No trip out for a DXD project session in your digital audio workstation of choice to mix and sweeten it. No conversion from a PCM original recording. If the file has been converted to DSD from DXD or some other resolution of PCM (44.1kHz, 96kHz, 192kHz, etc.), it is not a Pure DSD file. Pure DSD256 is one originally converted from analog to DSD at 11,289kHz, also referred to as 4x DSD or Quad DSD. For my listening, DSD256 is where the magic starts to happen.

I encourage you to explore the following articles here at Positive Feedback:

Pure DSD256—What We Hear

Choosing the Best Sounding File Format, with Free Sample Downloads

Mixing in Pure DSD—No PCM Allowed, with Free Sample Downloads

Reprinted with kind permission of Positive Feedback and Rush Paul. We have done our best to credit all photographers and rights holders; if a credit is missing or incorrect, please let us know.