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Favorite Test Tracks for Audiophiles


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I have always loved music, but never really had a good setup until recently.  I have my favorites of course, but am curious what long-time audiophiles like to listen to when testing out a setup they haven't heard before.

 

Please share you top track or a few tracks or an album if you have a personal preference.  

Apologies in advance if this thread exists, I didn't see it if it did.

 

 

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Stealy Dan's aja or the royal scam , alan parson's tales of mysteries & imagination , dire straits dire straits or making movies , king crimson larks tounge in aspic, & genesis genesis archive the shrine auditorium recording of the lamb lies down on Broadway.

Edited by dirtmudd
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You have to make sure it plays lousy recordings acceptably.  Probably the most important thing it will ever have to do.   :)

This is a tall order. Like many have said "the better, more accurate my system gets the worse bad or even mediocre recordings sound". Or something to that effect.

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"Fanfare for the Common Man" on Sonic Spectaculars by Crystal Clear recordings.  The direct-to-disk is best, but even the chrome cassette is good, probably the only cassette I would say that about.  Any other selection on this album is also great. 

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Yes, it's been asked and answered before but always a fun read. I am not an audiophile, more like upper mid-fi!

My go to songs when I get new speakers or modify old ones are usually ones I listen to on a regular basis and know what I "think" they should sound like.

Stevie Ray Vaughn - anything upbeat - Crossfire, Pride and Joy, Tightrope etc.

Stevie Ray Vaughn - Lenny (to slow things down)

Fanfare for the Common Man - ELP

Sweet Home Chicago - Blues Brothers

Masquerade - George Benson

I got a crush on you - Linda Ronstadt

Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull

Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson / Bruno Mars

Keep on Tryin" - Poco

While my Guitar Slowly Weeps - Santana / India Arie / Yo Yo Ma

etc.

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Norha Jones, Come Away With Me for female vocals

 

Nick Colionne for deep bass and male vocals, Born Again, on Influences 

 

Sheffield Lab stuff for kick drum and drum solos

 

Trina, It's Your Birthday for Hip Hop

Edited by derrickdj1
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I suspect that a very good recording doesn't tell you much unless you can use it to compare excellent speakers to mediocre ones. This is because only the A-B test will reveal what you're missing with the mediocre ones.

Long ago the local UHF channel upgraded to (high-tech for the time) stereo which had some attention paid to the audio. I'd just been hearing TV through a Trinitron. So I hooked up an EV building block set which I'd built which was almost a CW. Don't laugh, they showed an animated Batman which was quite sophisticated. Music and dialog were excellent.

This sort of thing was repeated in my new abode. The HP-Sharp flat screen had okay audio. But hooking up the Quartets made an astonishing difference. My favorite: in Star Trek Next Generation there is sometimes engine noise which is probably just 40 Hz band limited noise. But you don't hear it without a good system.

Anyway. If you want a demo, I suggest Symphonic Star Trek on Telarc. No all people like classical but most like Star Trek. Another is Songs of West Side Story. A lot of genre covered there.

WMcD

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I like to use Alice Cooper's "welcome to my nightmare" album. It has some decent bass and some horn instruments which broadcast very well with my belles.

 

I realize this is a 2 channel thread but if you like this album, my guess is you would really like the DVD-A of Welcome to my Nightmare, and I like slightly better, Billion Dollar Babies. Both multichannel versions sound crisp and the low end on I love the dead, really thumps on our HT below.

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I like to use Alice Cooper's "welcome to my nightmare" album. It has some decent bass and some horn instruments which broadcast very well with my belles.

I realize this is a 2 channel thread but if you like this album, my guess is you would really like the DVD-A of Welcome to my Nightmare, and I like slightly better, Billion Dollar Babies. Both multichannel versions sound crisp and the low end on I love the dead, really thumps on our HT below.

I do have that dvd-a and it's awesome. I love how you can distinctly hear the individual kids voices in the surround speakers during "department of youth". I need to check out billion dollar babies

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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