Albums specifically mixed/mastered for headphone listening.

Most of my music listening in the past year has been in less than optimal circumstances.

Namely, listening to high bitrate MP3s decoded by a Cowan iAudio 7 portable music device, presented to my ears by some $110 Shure e2c isolation earphones, and played over the sound of electric drills, table saws, routers, and lawnmowers for a years long remodelling project. I know that the hardware combination (at least) is about 300% better than any Apple consumer product, but its still far from audiophile.

It nonetheless has been apparent that some albums are mixed with the standard audiophile setup in mind (with the listener situated at the apex of a small equilateral triangle between studio monitors), whereas others play liberally with the between the ears soundstage of headphones.

The question occurred to me, and I don't think its been asked here before: What albums in your collection take most advantage of inside your skull headphone acoustics? I'm not talking binaural "you are there" nature walks, I'm talking headphone mindfuck.

The one that stands out for me is Oval 94 Diskont. I have never quite figured out what is going on with the surging bass stuff in "Do While", some kind of phasing effect, but it's really something loud on headphones.

I've gotta try that out! My record player/receiver is pretty far away from where I sit when I listen to music, so I don't normally use headphones with it. Some rearranging might be in order.

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s26590.jpg

Gui Boratto's site is sponsored by Sennheiser :-)

I'm talking headphone mindfuck.
http://www.miladorec.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/metal_machine.jpg
From the liner notes:

STRICT STEREO SEPARATION
No panning
No phasing

Gui Boratto, interesting. I wonder what they use when demoing their new $1,300 cans.

I just got an amp for my AKG K701 and am in the process of ripping whole CD collection to FLAC. I've got Squeezeboxes in living room and bedroom and am spending more time on headphones when my better half is asleep. I'll report on any that stand out.

After hearing the video again, sounds like some smooth jazz crap. Audiophiles have the worst taste!

"Some Great Reward" by Depeche Mode surely applies here. Well, several albums by that band, but that one album in particular.

Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" specifically recommended headphones for its binaural recording. I owned it for years and never tried it, dunno why.

Rundgren's "A Wizard A True Star" is a trip.

Revive.

Surely there's more than this — help a brother out, Shirley.

I don't have massive extensive mix/master experience but I have only ever known people to mix and master using speakers. admittedly if you're sitting in the right position in front of good mixing/mastering speakers then it's comparable to headphones only better, but I don't think I know anybody who listens in headphones when they're mixing or mastering.

i just take this question to mean "what are albums that have crazy panning and stereo effects"

It's real, my brother, headphone albums exist. Pa-leeeze.

...and "Crazy panning effects" is not the alone distinction — it's..... in yer HEAD!

Please reference here Good headphones albums