Audiophile labels, like Reference Recordings or Sheffield Lab, have offered great technical accomplishments, often accompanying kitschy repertory and less than thrilling performances.

Keith Johnson designs equipment for Spectral Inc., a high-end audio manufacturer, and is a recording engineer for Reference Recordings, a leading audio-enthusiast record label.

Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra have also recorded the work for Reference Recordings.

Now 72, Ms. Farrell has just released her most lavish collection of standards, "It's Over" (Reference Recordings), featuring a dozen melancholy ballads.

In January 2006 Fan recorded his first solo album World Keys: Virtuoso Piano Music which was released the following June under Reference Recordings.

In fact, the only company that has regularly made new classical LP's over the last decade is Reference Recordings, which specializes in purist recording techniques.

(Reference Recordings, $17.98.)

Most recently the Symphony released Britten's Orchestra, also with Reference Recordings, in 2009.

San Francisco, California: Reference Recordings.

"They seem to have solved most if not all of the digital nasties," said Tam Henderson, Reference Recordings' president.