Having tried about 150 DVD-A`s from different labels, I would recommend the following DVD-A`s
MODERN / ROCK
Steely Dan - Two Against Nature
Steely Dan - Everything Must Go
The Doors - LA Woman (prefer the 2-ch mix, but Riders on the Storm awesome in 5.1)
Buena Vista Club
Neil Young - Harvest (2-channel)
Donald Fagan - The Nightfly
JAZZ
Latin Jazz Trio - Aix Records (Probably the best overall DVD-A I own, due to Recording, Mixing and Mastering being at 96/24)
Cannonball Adderley - Something Else (Actually a DVD-V with a 2-channel 96/24 PCM mix. Only difference is MLP is not used for compression. Far superior to Redbook CD)
John Coltrane - Blue Train (Also 2-channel 96/24 DVD-V)
Sonny Clark - Cool Strutting (Also 2-channel 96/24 DVD-V)
Jazz at the Movies - Especially Track 5, but also 2, 7, 8 and 9 mainly. (Music is ok, but does show what DVD-A is capable of)
CLASSICAL
Stravinsky / Firebird Suite and Ravel / Bolero on Aix Records (Again sounds superb, as everything being done at 96/24)
Nikolaus Harnoncourt - Dvorak - Symphony Number 9 - From the New World
Nikolaus Harnoncourt - Bach - Matthaus Passion
Gershwin - All the Works for Piano and Orchestra (2-ch 96/24 PCM on DVD-V)
Furthermore, I would recommend most 2-channel 96/24 mixes on DVD-A`s as being superior to the equivalent on Redbook 44/16. Therefore, I would strongly recommend buying the DVD-A version where available. E.g. “Rumours” DVD-A costs �13 versus �9 for the Redbook CD. This comes to $20 versus $14. For a difference of $6, there is simply no comparison when it comes to musical performance. When one considers how much we all spend on upgrading and enhancing our systems annually, this $6 difference is more than worthwhile!!
As I have stated previously, I think that DVD-A should be considered as a High Resolution 2-channel format, which offers significantly superior performance to Redbook CD`s. The fact that it also offers Multi-Channel 5.1 High Res mixes, should be seen as a BONUS, not as it raison d`etre.
I believe that many DVD-A`s are dismissed by people because they do not sound great in Multi-Channel and are too aggressive in the surrounds.
Recognizing and Supporting DVD-A as a High Res 2-channel format (v`s 2-ch SACD) will lead to even better sounding 2-ch and Multi-Channel mixes in the future.
[This message has been edited by RHurley (edited 10-14-2003).]