Music to test equipment by....

I think that is aimed at me for my sheep comment, but I’m not sure. Regardless, I stand by what I said. And I doubt the sheep will mind.
 
I also would not bother testing with what I have heard countless times, I would test with something I've never heard before. Otherwise, my judgement would be subjective and skewed.
Curious. As an observationalist, I'm the diametric opposite. :)

I play familiar stuff that I'm able to play back in my head so that I can discern minute differences in tonal balance, dynamics and imaging.

I always delighted in taking favorite tunes to hear on an audio reviewer friend's spectacular systems. I would almost always hear additional detail I was never aware of. And he would introduce me to new stuff as well.
 
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This question has come a lot in the years, and most no one really seems to pick good music for testing records, they all almost use the same old music, Dire Straights or Steely Dan, hell I am surprised someone doesn't pick the Beatles "Hey Jude". :D

My response to this is one mans trash is another’s treasure. Since we all hear differently, and have different gear, it makes sense that there will be many different choices.
This reminds me of an experience I had about ten years ago. I was at a local audio store auditioning a pair of Paradigm Studio Monitor speakers which were there on consignment. I brought a few of my CDs with me, namely "The Who Sell Out" and Frank Zappa - Hot Rats (one I forgot to add to my test recording list). As it happened, the gentleman who had brought said speakers in for consignment happened to be visiting the store at the time, and when he heard me playing "Peaches En Regalia", he apparently made a remark along the lines of "Beethoven must be rolling over in his grave!" :rolleyes: I was related this after the fact by one of the employees at the store, along with a suggestion to try some more varied recordings from their own CD collection. I did end up buying the speakers in the end, and I found the experience rather interesting, if more than a tad surreal.
-Adam
"Tell Tchaikovsky the news.........."
 
I should add, that I was a bit surprised when after a few times threads just like this came up, how many times members listed almost the same titles as their reference recordings. I just expected being how these very same members have such a diversity of choices in audio equipment, and how often they disagree about things, how many millions of different artist and release numbers, yet how many pick almost the same choices in titles for their choice in what to choose as their music title to test their new equipment by.

And yet when you go to the music threads, members choices, and the huge amount of reference recordings that they list are as varied as one can imagine. I know BIA, and DSOTM were popular, but does that make them the best choices for testing your equipment, I guess in their minds it is. I would add, when you see magazines review gear they usually list the titles, and the release numbers of their picks when testing new gear, and from my memory, they picked such a diversity of music, many titles that I am unfamiliar with, and I have a very large library of music, which includes quite a range of genres, and many audiophile releases. I had expected the members of AK to pretty much mirror that sample, really high quality, reference recordings, that are quite unusual and showing of a vast diversity of taste.
 
I think when it comes down to it, we pick songs we are most familiar with. That is the reason my first two songs are Carpet Crawlers and Anytime, Anywhere. These are two songs that drove me crazy because until I got into vintage gear and found “The Sound” I heard on the best systems I heard while growing up. I couldn’t listen to either of these two songs without hearing distortion, especially when I cranked them up. So they became my first go to songs for testing gear. If they didn’t pass those two songs, they weren’t going to come home with me. The big challenge is that often, I would be limited by the other gear that was being used for the demo. So I took home gear hoping it would get me there, but rarely did. Now I’m much more particular, and have much more knowledge than I had then, so the risk is much lower.

However we should also remember that many of these songs were hits for very good reason. They appeal to many more people than more obscure music.

I enjoy these threads because they can lead me to music I’ve never tried. On Saturday, I heard my first Roy Buchanan record. I liked it so much, I bought the record. Seen his music before, but never thought I would like it.
 
For me it should be something you're familiar with and know what it sounds like in real life.

That's why I'll always default to something with a lot of acoustic guitar, piano and vocals, both male and female. We've all (hopefully) heard acoustic guitars, pianos and vocals live, so you have a frame of reference to judge your gear against.

Of course a quality recording also goes without saying.

Anything by Tracy Chapman or Norah Jones works for me.
 
Of course it depends what your musical preferences are. If metal is your thing you are not going to play smooth jazz.
Like others have said. something you are very familiar with.
 
Curious. As an observationalist, I'm the diametric opposite. :)

I play familiar stuff that I'm able to play back in my head so that I can discern minute differences in tonal balance, dynamics and imaging.

I always delighted in taking favorite tunes to hear on an audio reviewer friend's spectacular systems. I would almost always hear additional detail I was never aware of. And he would introduce me to new stuff as well.
So did I (play familiar stuff, that is) and I liked what I heard, no question.

However, in most cases, the unfamiliar stuff had material that the familiar stuff didn't. So, I wasn't able to justify the extra $$$ outlay if all I heard was what I was familiar with. I mean Miles Davis' trumpet sounded a bit sweeter, yes, but new speakers $$$ sweeter? Had to really think about this one...

It was only after I heard what the speaker was capable of doing (by listening to unfamiliar stuff) that convinced me to go ahead and buy. I now knew what the speaker can do, and if not for the new material, I would have never known.

Thanks to the store owner for handling this audition from a different angle and thinking outside the box. He also suggested I take his records home and have a go at it on the speakers I was planning on replacing. It worked. I didn't hear what I heard on the new ones, at least not to that detail. Listening to the unfamiliar stuff convinced me.

I'm now a very proud owner (and very happy one) of a pair of speakers that are for life (my life, that is). My Devore Gibbon Nines. They replaced a pair of ProAc Studio 125 on my main system. Both great sounding speakers, but the Devore's are a notch up on the ProAc and on some material maybe two notches.

:)
 
However, in most cases, the unfamiliar stuff had material that the familiar stuff didn't. So, I wasn't able to justify the extra $$$ outlay if all I heard was what I was familiar with. I mean Miles Davis' trumpet sounded a bit sweeter, yes, but new speakers $$$ sweeter?
It seems your previous content was not particularly demanding. I prefer using more complex and dynamic content than jazz quartets. Would you care to share some of the new music you heard?

As a season ticket holder at the symphony, I use live unamplified music as the ultimate arbiter of what an audio system can do. Listening to familiar symphonic scores I've heard live always convinces me. In current rotation is the 192/24 master recording of John William's score to The Last Jedi. I'm looking forward to hearing some excerpts from that and other of his work in two weeks at the symphony. We have center seats in row O which provides wonderful dynamics. :)

Good luck on the Devores!
 
It seems your previous content was not particularly demanding. I prefer using more complex and dynamic content than jazz quartets. Would you care to share some of the new music you heard?

As a season ticket holder at the symphony, I use live unamplified music as the ultimate arbiter of what an audio system can do. Listening to familiar symphonic scores I've heard live always convinces me. In current rotation is the 192/24 master recording of John William's score to The Last Jedi. I'm looking forward to hearing some excerpts from that and other of his work in two weeks at the symphony. We have center seats in row O which provides wonderful dynamics. :)

Good luck on the Devores!
I bought my Devores in 2008. :)

As for the music, some were new discoveries, others were records I already had but decided to get the audiophile pressings of them (my post #41). I have also grown a liking to classical and especially some opera in the last couple of years, something which I thought would never be possible. Never say never!
 
I bought my Devores in 2008.
Then you know well how that worked out!

As for the music, some were new discoveries, others were records I already had but decided to get the audiophile pressings of them (my post #41). I have also grown a liking to classical and especially some opera in the last couple of years, something which I thought would never be possible. Never say never!
I know the ASO version of The Firebird quite well as I played a minor part in the recording. Another large scale choral work with the ASO and Robert Shaw is Orff's Carmina Burana with explosive dynamics of the raise-the-hairs-on-your-arm type.

My long term mentor, friend and former TAS reviewer is part of the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and performed in both (along with getting me that minor part in the FB recording).
 
Then you know well how that worked out!
Indeed.

I know the ASO version of The Firebird quite well as I played a minor part in the recording. Another large scale choral work with the ASO and Robert Shaw is Orff's Carmina Burana with explosive dynamics of the raise-the-hairs-on-your-arm type.

My long term mentor, friend and former TAS reviewer is part of the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and performed in both (along with getting me that minor part in the FB recording).

Amazing sounding record. Just played it recently and posted it on the Classical Music forum:


IMG_5384_zps7rzovj4v.jpg


Same with Orff's Carmina Burana, I have it on CD, looking to find a nice copy on vinyl.
 
So, I wasn't able to justify the extra $$$ outlay if all I heard was what I was familiar with. I mean Miles Davis' trumpet sounded a bit sweeter, yes, but new speakers $$$ sweeter? Had to really think about this one...

I play familiar stuff that I'm able to play back in my head so that I can discern minute differences in tonal balance, dynamics and imaging.

Both of you are kind of getting at what I have been saying all along. Play something familiar so you can determine what "difference" is there (if any)--and remember that different does not equal better--just different--it is your call as to whether it sounds better, worse, or the same, to YOU.
 
Amazing sounding record. Just played it recently and posted it on the Classical Music forum:
What an incredible experience for that 21 year old observing the recording process, meeting Robert Shaw, Jack Renner and... Dr. Stockham. He was there with his then ground breaking Soundstream 50/16 digital recorder. Shaw was very picky about getting some parts exactly the way he wanted them. I recall going downstairs between takes to review newly recorded sections and for him to use that towel to wipe off the sweat (AC was turned off and it was pretty toasty). With the clarinet solo in Polovetsian Dances, he carefully instructed the performer how he wanted that to sound differently - who nailed the final take.

JWC had just reported of Telarc's first recording of the Cleveland Symphonic Winds two months before performing the Holst Suites and steered them to Atlanta. Most folks are familiar with Holst' The Planets (another of my favorites), but the Suites (and other content) are very tasty and also highly recommended. The good doctor even endowed the ASO with a new concert drum.

I made it to the "Special Thanks" section on the back cover. That was only the year after I got my Acoustat X full range electrostats. :)
 
Hate to break it to you, unamplified electric guitars aren't going to reveal anything about how I want my system to sound.

Unamplified electric guitars wouldn't be my choice either.
 
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