The Winners: 2025 Albums of the Year

The votes are in! Here are the winners of the NativeDSD Albums of the Year 2025. Thank you to everyone who voted, and to Senior Reviewer Bill Dodd and Technical Advisor Brian Moura for choosing the nominees. Congratulations to all nominees: with so many great albums this year, being nominated is already a mark of excellence in DSD sound.

View All Winning Albums in the Store

Solo Vocal (Classical)

Listen and fall in love as two world-class artists make this album of French art songs by Debussy and Messiaen into something magical.

Orchestral (Classical)

Wonderful, idiomatic performances from the Czech Philharmonic. The Rhapsodies are full of energy and color, and Legends is given a sensitive, chamber-like performance that is perfect. You don’t have to look any further!

Solo Instrumental (Classical)

László Borbély has virtuosity, superb technique, and the ability to show how Chopin’s works can sound improvisational. Great recording quality, too!

Opera/Vocal Drama (Classical)

Karina Canellakis brings a compelling performance of Bluebeard. It’s great drama and great music– something not always the case. The recording is excellent.

Choral (Classical)

There’s much to love here: The energy of a live performance, superb singers and orchestra, and a dialing-down of sentimentality. This is a large scale work that moves from great sadness to hope.

Chamber (Classical)

I think it could be argued that every album made by Rachel Podger over the years could easily have been nominated for Album of the Year. This one, Just Biber, has been especially praised for Podger’s virtuoso performances of Biber’s difficult to play 17^th Century music. But there’s more than just virtuosity, there’s excitement and love!

Concertos / Orchestral with Soloist (Classical)

Our colleague, Rush Paul says it very well: “The Grieg and Saint-Saens Piano Concertos may be well-trod musical ground, but it is always a treat to hear them played in such lively, fresh, and dynamic readings as brought to us here by French-Hungarian pianist Suzana Bartal in collaboration with conductor Sébastien Rouland and the Saarlandische Staatsorchestra. If these don’t bring you upright in your seat and enjoying every moment, I’m not sure what might serve you better.”

Sonatas & Duos (Classical)

This album also receives our Audience Choice Award for receiving the most votes overall, with an impressive 153 votes! Congratulations to Márta Ábrahám & László Borbély, Robert Zoltan Hunka and the rest of the Hunnia Records team.

From our colleague, Rush Paul: “This album is simply stunning. If you like the music of Bela Bartók, I think you will love this album. If you’re not sure you care for his music, or you’ve really not explored his music, you need to listen to these performances. I think you will become a convert.”

Jazz Duo

Wandering Guitarists was recorded live and then transferred from the Analog Master Tape to Stereo DSD. The album features the guitar duo of Fausto Mesolella and Michele Ascolese. It is the 10th album at NativeDSD featuring Fausto Mesolella. The music is upbeat and energetic, offering listeners a very joyful listening experience.

Jazz Trio

Albums from the Rembrandt Trio are always worth an immediate download in my book. The trio explores and performs many types of music including Jazz and World Music. On The Blue Hour Sessions, we are treated to a Pure DSD 256 Stereo recording of the trio playing 11 songs that you will all know. This album is so popular that it not only hit the number 1 Best Selling Album spot at NativeDSD for several weeks in a row this year, but it has also never left the Top 10 Sellers list since it’s release in May! That says more than what I could add here about one of the finest releases of 2025.

Jazz Ensemble

Lex Jasper is known as a Jazz pianist and bandleader. Here he assembles an all-star quartet of Jazz musicians from Europe in a Live recording at the MCO studios in The Netherlands. The quartet plays 12 Jazz standards in several different tempos that range from soft and delicate to quite upbeat. Lex Quisite, a play on words from the bandleader’s name, offers a variety of musical moments but it’s always a joy to listen to this album.

Vocals – Pop & Rock

2xHD Mastering and Resonance Records teamed up this year to bring us Wow! Live in Performance with singer Al Jarreau and his trio. The live performance was recorded to Analog Tape in 1976 and has now been moved from the vaults to release on this new album. It features the singer’s take on several favorites including “Take Five,” “Fire and Rain” and Count Basie’s “Shiny Stockings.” Al Jarreau fans will not want to miss this one.

Vocals – Jazz

When Peter Bjørnild and Frans de Rond at Sound Liaison began recording in Pure DSD 256 this year, the first question in my mind was when will we get an album in that format from Carmen Gomes Inc. NativeDSD listeners know that the wait was not long with the release of the album Bluesy May. Like their earlier albums, this one features standout instrumental performances, bluesy and passionate Jazz vocals from Carmen Gomes on songs including “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying.” The album was a # 1 seller at NativeDSD and one listen to the album quickly tells you why.

Jazz Fusion

Invisible Cities is a live recording with Jazz musicians André Mehmari (Piano & Bass Synthesizer) and Sérgio Reze (Drums & Gongs). They have performed together for 30 years and have a strong musical connection. On this album, the music was performed without rehearsal to ensure that the performances are fresh and completely improvised. Rather than talking about tracks on the album, instead it features a series of themes described as “cities”. It is a fresh approach and it yields an interesting musical change of pace.

Jazz Soloist

2xHD Mastering and Resonance Jazz teamed up to bring us Cookin’ At The Queens featuring Jazz Guitarist Emily Remler. Remastered from the Original Analog Master Tape of this Live Recording, listeners are treated to a virtuoso performance of seven familiar standards by the very talented guitarist. The performances are full of swing and energy with a recording quality that enhances the set.

Classical Crossover

In his 11th release at NativeDSD, double bass player Enzo Pietropaoli brings us an album titled Gratia. Fone describes the album as being “designed and elaborated to give life to contemporary improvisations and reinterpretations of Marian antiphons in ‘counterpoint’ or, to use Jazz language, in ‘interplay’ with the performance of Gregorian chant.” It features Pietropaoli along with Gabriele Mirabassi on Clarinet, Michele Rabbia on Percussion & Live Electronics and the Sonus Vocum Ensemble. If you are looking for something that is very unique and unexpected, this album may be just what you are looking for.

Latin Music

This is another NativeDSD customer requested album that we were able to license for release in 2025 from the DMP (Digital Music Products) music label. It is an excellent Pure DSD Stereo recording using the Ed Meitner designed Analog to Digital Converters from EMM Labs and the Sonoma DSD Workstation. Manfredo Fest was a famed Jazz and Bossa Nova pianist and bandleader from Brazil. Just Jobim was his tribute to the great Antonio Carlos Jobim, and it was his final album before his passing in 1999. Listening to the album, you can tell right away that Fest is very at home playing the Bossa Nova music of Jobim with a special energy, swing and enthusiasm, absent from other Jobim albums where the music is much more laid back in its presentation. This is easily one of my favorite albums of Bossa Nova music and I think it will soon be one of your favorites as well.

World Music

Recorded in Budapest at the church of the Bartók Béla Unitarian Parish, Why The Wings? features singer Veni (Veronika Szasz) and guitarist Péter Cseh. It is her 6th album at NativeDSD. The album features 13 original songs that are sung in Veni’s native language with beautiful accompaniment by guitarist Cseh. The album appeared on the NativeDSD Top 10 Selling Albums list when it was released. Showing that the singer and her fine singing is gaining a following among our listeners.

Thank You for Voting!

See all the nominees

The NativeDSD Team would like to thank Bill Dodd and Brian Moura for having spent an eternity listening to all of the albums released in 2025, and for selecting the albums they believe you should not miss.