Reddit mentions: The best today country music

I have one of these too--really impressive piece of kit. I was actually asked to review it as part of their launch campaign with Massdrop last year but plans changed. If anyone is on the fence about this product and want to read a wall of text, I've posted an excerpt below.

TL;DR: the DAC is decent but the amp is the real killer--super effortless and consistent. Handles some pretty complex loads at full gain without breaking a sweat and feels just fine among $3k+ gear. Headphone amp is good too, if you have high-impedance cans. $200 DAC and $1000+ Integrated amp in a little box.

---
--From Dec 2017--

...
I hooked up the Sprout II directly in place of my NAD M12 DAC/Preamp and my DIY power amps (Rod Elliott/ESP’s phenomenal Project 101). My sources were an HTPC running Foobar2000 on Windows, an OPPO BDP-93, and a Harman+Kardon T60 turntable with an AT-92E cartridge with a hyperelliptical needle. All of this fed into the Sprout, powering my pair of Shahinian Obelisks (with the sub-out feeding full-range signal to my DSP’ed sub). Now, none of this is fair to the Sprout. The NAD M12 has an MSRP of $3500, my DIY power amps can push some 250W into 4 ohms without breaking a sweat. The Obelisks are full-range floorstanders known to have punishing impedance/current demands. If the Sprout can thrive in that environment, it’s a damn good product.

I started with the classical music near and dear to me. I played Saint-Saens “Organ Symphony,” a 2015 audiophile recording by the Kansas City Symphony deserving of its hi-res format. With a full-bodied symphony and deep, powerful organ (right down to the last 16hz pipe), it’s an audio treat and an equipment torture test. Many lower-power Class A/B amps will “drop the bass” (in a bad way) when faced with hungry loads and lots of low-frequency signal. The Sprout, on the other hand, was remarkably consistent at any volume and at any passage--no missing bass, no clipping, no congestion. It rendered the orchestra fully and consistently whether the windows were rattling or not. Even with my sub off, it rendered a convincing pipe organ, driving the Obelisks down to their 28hz spec and beyond.

In a similar vein, I turned to one of my favorite pieces, a hi-res recording of Bob Chilcott’s Requiem released in 2011 on the Hyperion label. It’s a shining example of how satisfying the full dynamic range of massed chorus can sound when mastered for the hi-res market. The Sprout showed its colors immediately in the opening bars of the “Pie Jesu,” with solid, lifelike renditions of the soprano voice and woodwinds leading into third movement. The smooth, round voice showed no hint of phasey-ness, no sense of shifting timbre in the upper registers--a wonderful feat for an affordable DAC. I waited for one of my favorite moments in all of my music: when the chorus joins in behind her.

While I didn’t hear the magical, atmospheric separation of depth I’d come to love from my own gear (worth nearly ten times as much), what I did hear was unexpectedly good. The lateral image of the soloist or woodwinds never wavered despite the blooming chorus behind them, and there was no hint of grainy sibilance or high-frequency distortion in the treble voices as often heard from budget DACs. In another Chilcott track, I was ecstatic to hear--and feel--the Sprout’s amps effortlessly produce gutsy timpani hits over a climax of choir, brass, woodwinds and organ. Extra credit was given to the amps for these shows of both finesse and strength at their maximum gain.

Changing gears, I put on recent 180g presses of Jeff Buckley’s Grace, David Bowie’s Reality, and Joni Mitchell’s Hejira. Each album has pieces (“Grace,” “Never Get Old,” “Black Crow” to name one from each) with a rhythmic drive that thrives on sharp and clear transients. I was pleased to hear no self-noise from the phono amp, and while overall dynamics felt slightly limited, the Sprout delivered those snappy transients at any volume. Along the way, I was surprised by the revelation of more texture and timbre compared to the experience I’d just had via the digital inputs.

Curious, I connected my NAD M12 to the analog inputs of the Sprout. Revisiting some earlier pieces this way restored some of the depth and timbral detail that I’d missed, suggesting that the Sprout’s DAC was the weaker link in the pairing. But given that this suggestion was only clear under the spotlight of a device costing nearly ten times as much, the real story is the incredible value and potential of the amplifier.

To find a more sensible pairing for the Sprout, I visited my friend, who owns a pair of Totem Dreamcatchers. The Dreamcatchers are spiritual sisters of the Sprout: tiny boxes with physics-bending power and extension. In previous listening sessions, we’ve noticed that the degree of physics-bending bass you can pull out of the 4” drivers depends greatly on the quality of amplification.

We went to two familiar albums, Glass Animals’ ZABA and Hiromi’s Spark, both great benchmarks for bass slam and control, with the latter serving up a rich palette of detail as well. Immediately, my friend said, “I’ve never heard these speakers do that before!” There was bass, and there was a lot of it--wild and aggressive. The original Sprout was known to have a bass boost built in, and if it was welcomed (or demanded) by my power-hungry Obelisks, it was a punch in the face with my friend’s near-field Dreamcatchers. The sound was clearly tonally skewed, but on closer listen--it was hard to stop listening--nothing was being overwhelmed or lost by the extra bass. We weren’t sure what to make of it, until we swapped back to his normal setup: a Parasound Z-DAC and Z-AMP.

The mini-Parasound combination, though clearly more balanced, seemed lazy and indifferent by comparison. They rendered everything more or less faithfully, but the Sprout made you feel it in your chest (even via a pair of 4” drivers). The Sprout also made the most of Totem’s fine tweeters, presenting a more spacious image and smoother high-frequency extension...

---

So after I figured out from MD how to disable the bass boost, I got to try again with my Shahinians and later, a pair of older KEF floorstanders and Triangle Titus e monitors. It's implemented before the power amp, makes a significant difference to the bass (but just the low bass), and very much depends on what you're pairing it with. For the older KEF and Shahinians, which weren't engineered to squeeze fat bass out of thin air, the boost is welcome. For premium compact monitors that have that sort of magic already built in, it can be a bit overwhelming (ironic, since that seems to be its target pairing). It doesn't affect the rest of the tonal balance (midrange/treble, etc), nor does it affect other aspects of performance like detail and imaging, unless you're totally stressing out the speakers (e.g. my Triangles). With the boost disabled, I'd call it a bright and lively overall tone (bright, but not lean or harsh)--with the boost, punchy and dynamic (can be overly heavy depending on speaker). Luckily you get a choice now by holding down the power button for 6 seconds.

The music attorney in me is very curious as to whether you realize that obtaining music via
>downloadble links

so that you
>could listen

to an album
>without buying it,

absent the rights holder's consent, is the same as stealing the album, and is most likely against the law to some degree, regardless of whichever country you are located in. Sorry, but I'm not going to help you accomplish that one. But hey, thanks for the job security!

That said, the Taylor Swift fan in me has a few additional responses to offer you:

1. Have you had a chance to read the op ed she wrote for the Wall Street Journal last summer?
   
   
2. Did you know you can purchase her previous four albums on Amazon for a combined cost of $33, which includes a new physical copy of each CD and an instantly downloadable MP3 version of each album? That's a pretty good deal, considering there are around 60 songs between those four albums, and iTunes charges $1.29/song. Here are the links for each one, for your convenience:
   LP 1: Self-Titled;
   LP 2: Fearless;
   LP 3: Speak Now;
   LP 4: Red
   
   
3. If that's out of your budget right now or you don't want to invest before you know if you like her older material, you can go to Beats Music, sign up for the free 14 day trial and stream her entire back catalogue for free over the next two weeks. That should give you some time to save up to purchase the albums that you decide you enjoy.
   
   Hope that helps and hope you have a fantastic week! :)

39 here. I grew up in Texas (and still live here), where it was once said by a certain Texas country singer that you get a copy of George's greatest hits cd when you get your driver's license. I was always a fan, but it ramped up in earnest my senior year in high school, about the time the first box set came out. As I put it elsewhere, I was pretty naive musically once upon a time, as I remember thinking that he was not far from hanging it up back then, as he had been at it for 15 years at the time. I was thinking that the box set was his swan song. I honestly never would have guessed that some of his greatest artistic and commercial achievements were ahead of him, including several more multi-week No. 1 singles, a couple of debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and that very box set becoming the second-biggest-selling box set of all time in any genre of music.

A fair amount of people would probably tell you he was better in the '80s, but I just don't know how that could be, because he was in-fucking-credible when I saw him. And he's still making great music even now. Radio just doesn't see fit to play it anymore, and that's their failing, not his.

You're lucky they stopped there. Back in the '60s, if you were the star of a hit TV series, they'd make you put out a record. Because if you loved watching them play Rowdy Yates or Doctor Kildare on TV, surely you'd love to hear them sing too!

Clint Eastwood, when he was Rowdy Yates on Rawhide

Richard Chamberlain, when he was Dr. Kildare

Adam West, when he was, well, Batman

And I probably don't need to remind you of the musical adventures of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.

Mind you, it could very well have happened. Joe Pesci did release an album as his character from My Cousin Vinny. It wouldn't have been hard to talk him into recording "Harry Lime Sings Songs of Love" or something.

I always think about the Whose Line Is It Anyways Drinking Songs when I think of Irish music. Definitely my favorite.

This album would be pretty awesome to have.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Thanks for the contest. Eire.

Ha, what a coincidence. So I've had a crappy mp3 of this song on my hard drive for over 20 years, but it's not this version, It's this one.

His voice is smoother, less gravely. Instruments are a little more subtle, as are the backup singers.

Anyway, I've been trying on and off to figure out which album this came from. Finally figured out yesterday it's off his 1990 greatest hits album "The Very Best Of Kenny Rogers"

Definitely one of my favorites of all time!

Just bought him a copy of WWE: Macho Madness on DVD and Johnny Cash Live at Folsom Prison on CD. Included the note:

Your nephew Sean told me you love Macho Man Randy Savage and Johnny Cash, so I got you some of their best stuff! Hope you like it!
Your (new) friend, Nick


Should be there in 3-5 days. Tried to send it faster but to no avail. Thanks for sharing this opportunity to do something nice for someone!

I think I read somewhere that Trent Reznor said Johnny's cover was better than the original. Quite a compliment I think! If you don't already know, you can find Cash's version of Hurt on "The Legend of Johnny Cash" compilation. It's a pretty solid intro to Cash for the new or casual fan. You'll probably recognize a few of the songs. Also, look for "American Recordings." A great CD produced by Rick Rubin.

Some links for you:
The original "Hurt" by NIN.
American Recordings.
The Legend of Johnny Cash.

Viva bacon!

Edit: I suck at formatting (and apparently punctuation).

| | |
|-:|:-|
|name|Sons of Sylvia|
|about artist|Originally from the small town of Rocky Mount, VA, Adam, Ashley and Austin literally grew up on the road playing music. Their father was a traveling evangelist preacher and the whole family traveled when their dad did. As each child became old enough to play an instrument he taught them whatever instrument was needed for the family band. He didn’t teach them to read music notes and charts – instead he taught each of the children to play by ear. And play they did – in church, at bluegrass festivals, family gatherings and wherever else they could jam. ([more on last.fm](http://www.last.fm/music/Sons of Sylvia))|
|album|Revelation, released Apr 2010|
|track|Love Left To Lose|
|about track|According to the Love Left to Lose Songfacts, this song was co-written and produced by the brothers' second cousin, OneRepublic frontman and songwriter Ryan Tedder.|
|images|album image, artist image|
|links|lyrics, wikipedia, discogs, official homepage, myspace, track on amazon, album on amazon|
|tags|country, rock, experimental|
|similar|Colton Dixon, To Have Heroes, Vaeda, Casey Weston, Low Level Flight|
|metrics|lastfm listeners: 4,027, lastfm plays: 63,989, youtube plays: 431,498, radd.it score: 11.25|


Please downvote this comment if this data is incorrect!
I am a bot by radd.it data services. I have been requested to post these reports.

Not a real country fan but found this on google for you. http://countrymusic.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/Best-Country-Songs-For-Weddings.htm

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001CY2EM0/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

You'll probably want to play stuff like Rascall Flats and Lady Antabellum.
Good luck

My dad didn't listen to much music, but he had a copy of Marty Robbin's Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs that I must have heard hundreds of times growing up. It was a very strange feeling hearing that song, which I very strongly associate with my dad, in a video game. The Master's Call is another awesome song from Robbins.

>Then remember that ever since “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” announced Red in 2012, the mission of the first single released ahead of any Taylor Swift album has been to disrupt and mislead: to disrupt whatever Swift doesn’t like about what’s been said about her since the previous album and to mislead the press and public that the album to come is a more radical departure than it will turn out to be. Of course Swift’s albums do differ from each other, as she develops as a writer and performer and adapts to changing styles. But ultimately they turn out to be collections of Taylor Swift songs, aka evocative details squeezed into catchy melodic cadences. The job of the lead single is to thrill or scare or outrage us by hinting that this time it’ll be something else.

This is probably the best write-up on the song I've seen so far. It celebrates what works about the song, acknowledges what really doesn't work about it without catastrophizing and then puts it all within the wider context of Taylor's career so far (and the pattern she has followed every release cycle). Give it a read if you can.

I'm absolutely dying to have My Head Is An Animal by Of Monsters & Men or Red by Taylor Swift on vinyl.

My favourite movie-linked song is Send Me on My Way in Matilda! One of my favourite songs of all-time anyway, and Matilda is such an awesome movie.

P.S. I haven't been to the cinema in ages! So excited for all the new movies coming out this summer.

For anyone interested, the song is El Paso by Marty Robbins. Here is a great album if you like these classic western tunes.

Theres an album that is a tribute to Robert Earl Keen, almost all of the songs are like these by some of the best artists out there.http://www.amazon.com/Undone-A-Musicfest-Tribute-Robert/dp/B001L5F1UC

This seems like a fun contest, I'm in! :) Thank you and Here goes:

1.https://www.amazon.com/Tervis-1146628-Octopus-Water-Bottle/dp/B00KY3YYDC/ref=sr_1_3?s=sports-and-fitness&ie=UTF8&qid=1527743703&sr=1-3&keywords=octopus+water+bottle

2.https://www.amazon.com/Hibiscus-Swim-Trunks-Pokemon-Pikachu/dp/B07CK3CP9H/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1527743811&sr=8-8&keywords=pokemon+swim+trunks

3.https://www.amazon.com/Pokemon-Beach-Towel-Featuring-Character/dp/B07BK8RYV3/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527743859&sr=8-1&keywords=pokemon+beach+towel

4.https://www.amazon.com/BigMouth-Inc-Inflatable-Included-Octopus/dp/B078T5DCRT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527743927&sr=8-1&keywords=octopus+floatie

5.https://www.amazon.com/AO-Eyewear-Original-Sunglasses-OP55S-BA-TC/dp/B000LJJAF6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527743970&sr=8-1&keywords=american+optical

6.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DUFXGTI/ref=sspa_dk_detail_6?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01DUFXGTI&pd_rd_wg=80h14&pd_rd_r=6ZPJEAYHEWW825VB5NVW&pd_rd_w=YDiCD

7.https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Fiction-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/0785834206/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744064&sr=8-22&keywords=cthulhu

8.https://www.amazon.com/Oldboy-English-Subtitled-Min-sik-Choi/dp/B003AKLFAG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744110&sr=8-2&keywords=old+boy

9.https://www.amazon.com/Hawaiian-Shaved-Ice-S900A-Electric/dp/B004UBMRKG/ref=sr_1_6?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1527744143&sr=1-6&keywords=ice+shaver+machine

10.https://www.amazon.com/Evergreen-Garden-Painted-Polystone-Outdoor/dp/B004Q8GSYO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744221&sr=8-6&keywords=ceramic+frog

11.https://www.amazon.com/OTS-NHL-Philadelphia-Challenger-Adjustable/dp/B0722QNCNP/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744269&sr=8-5&keywords=flyers+hat (My real dad isn't so special to me, but my step dad has sacrificed alot for me!)

12.https://www.amazon.com/American-Flag-Bullets-Tumbler-Sticker/dp/B06Y4FHSPQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1527744338&sr=1-4&keywords=american+flag+gun

13.https://www.amazon.com/Thundershirt-Anxiety-Jacket-Heather-Large/dp/B0028QK6EY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744395&sr=8-3&keywords=thunder+buddy

14.https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Souls-The-Board-Game/dp/B01MXLB67B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744429&sr=8-1&keywords=dark+souls+the+board+game

15.https://www.amazon.com/At-Folsom-Prison-Johnny-Cash/dp/B000028U0Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1527744456&sr=1-1&keywords=johnny+cash+folsom+prison+cd

16.https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Bond-Medicated-10-Ounce-Containers/dp/B001G7QSS4/ref=sr_1_5_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744482&sr=8-5&keywords=gold+bond

17.https://www.amazon.com/Nickelodeons-SpongeBob-SquarePants-Pineapple-Aquarium/dp/B0026GXXMS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744523&sr=8-2&keywords=spongebob+pineapple+house

18.https://www.amazon.com/50-Assorted-Chrysanthemum-Seeds-Gardens/dp/B00QVZ8LS6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744562&sr=8-2&keywords=mums

19.https://www.amazon.com/World-Nintendo-Splatoon-Splattershot-Blaster/dp/B06XP5GYS5/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1527744609&sr=1-1&keywords=splatoon+squirt+gun

20.https://www.amazon.com/Polyester-Costume-Accessory-Elastic-Straps/dp/B00B1TJ31G/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&qid=1527744643&sr=8-34&keywords=shark+goggles

You might like ["Gold" by Britt Nicole] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u_TcXJIbcA).

I would love to have [this] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BD4K1PQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2E6OCJR5FWUO0&coliid=I30V22JAC3PIES) album.

Some that I can listen to from beginning to end:

• Willie Nelson - Redheaded Stranger
  
  
• Blonde Redhead - Blonde Redhead
  
  
• Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
  
  
• XTC - Skylarking
  
  
• Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane over the Sea
  
  
• Daft Punk - Alive 2007
  
  
• DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
  
  
• Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
  
  
• Chameleons - Script of a Bridge
  
  
• Slowdive - Souvlaki
  
  
• New Order - Substance
  
  
• PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
  
  
• Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup

The original album had two different cuts of "El Paso" (tracks 11 & 15), one with this verse and one without. Weird.

(I wonder if the tape that Walt finds has the short or the long version of "El Paso" on it? This is the best reference to that album I could find online, but it doesn't mention song lengths.)

For every Okie From Muskogee and God Bless the USA there is a First Mrs. Jones from Porter Wagoner... in fact, check out that entire album The Cold Hard Facts of Life... or how about Willie Nelson's concept album Red Headed Stranger (amazon link) which is at the very least more interesting than that crappy Merle Haggard tune.

Even if you want to go main-stream there are many examples of interesting lyrics about (death, destruction, drugs, more death etc... You can't just pick out one silly tune and make so many presumptions about the whole genre. It's kind of bigger than that, and more encompassing.

"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be." -Pink Floyd

Meaningful. Sometimes I think I want it tattooed on me.

Oh, and link.

Thankfully it doesn't appear there's an official vinyl release. However, there is an unofficial 12" of remixes from the Czech Republic.

Weirdly, Taylor Swift does appear to have vinyl albums.

The band perry! I want their new album

this is the response that i received


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Marty Robbins literally wrote the album on it.

https://www.amazon.com/Gunfighter-Ballads-Trail-Songs-Robbins/dp/B0000296J9