List: Songs To Use For Evaluating System Capabilities?

[Drizt]

Hi All,

Since I'm having a bit of fun evaluating some gear at present I thought it might be a good time to start a list of songs that you use to evaluate systems. Please give specific points in the song and describe what it is that you are listening for.

I.E.

Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session - 1. "Mining for Gold": This whole track has what sounds like an air conditioner that is very prominent and easy to pick on a high resolution system. When I was at Tony C's house I could have sworn there was an actual air conditioner turned on by someone when that track was put on... quite erie. Without being told where the airconditioner is in the recording location I can not be certain, but at Tony C's house it sounded like it was well into the room in front of the speakers and above my head. If we knew where the air conditioner was actually situated this would be a good track to test a systems ability to resolve depth.

Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin - 6. "Nadia": At about the 1 minute mark (and throughout the track) there is what sounds like an electronic rolling wave of bass that digs very low. This is a great track for testing out a systems ability to handle bass. If it can handle this track it will handle most things (well maybe not woofer cooker ). You should be able to hear all the bass frequencies clearly (its a rolling bass generation) without it sounding boomy or one noted.

Do people have some specific songs they use to gauge the following:

1. Depth (front and back)
   
2. Soundstage width
   
3. Soundstage height
   
4. Transient ability
   
5. Dynamics
   
6. Imaging
   

etc.

Thought this could be something that we add to over time that will help others when evaluating systems.

[JA]

Hello Drizt,

As cliche as it will sound, a good start would be Chesky's Ultimate Demonstration Disk. One of my favourites on this is:

Track 19: I Love Paris - Johnny Frigo (not sure about Bucky on this 1)

Best

JA

[Drizt]

Hello Drizt,

As cliche as it will sound, a good start would be Chesky's Ultimate Demonstration Disk. One of my favourites on this is:

Track 19: I Love Paris - Johnny Frigo (not sure about Bucky on this 1)

Best

JA[/b]

Yeah I have that CD, gave it a run before. Thought it would be good to expand my horizons and see what everyone uses Thanks for the suggestion JA, ill have to go re-listen to track 19. What is it on that track you look for specifically?

[Kevin]

The recording I have most utilised over the years is the Thomas Tallis Spem in Alium - the forty part motet. Ther are eight five part choirs beginning with a solo voice, polyphony, homophony on the crescendoes and unbelievable counterpoint at the end. A system that can recover the forty parts, not fall apart on the crescendo and place the choirs in space with the reverbration from the church will do well with everything else bar thunderous bass.(Tallis Scholars Gimell 006)

Piano for tonal purity - is the same instrument playing from top to bottom?

Mahler 2 Third movement and one of the quintessential moments in western music the solo voice at the start of the fourth movement Haitink/Berliner Phillips 438 935-2

I guess this will not help a lot if you do not listen to choral music but I find choral and symphonic music reveal the foibles of a system very swiftly.

Kevin

[Drizt]

They sound intriguing Kevin. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Kevin]

I have to get the Trinity Sessions - it seems to often come up in peoples recommendations.

Kevin

[JA]

Yeah I have that CD, gave it a run before. Thought it would be good to expand my horizons and see what everyone uses Thanks for the suggestion JA, ill have to go re-listen to track 19. What is it on that track you look for specifically?[/b]

Hello Drizt,

Head bop and foot tap etc...You should feel good after hearing it.

Let me know if you feel the same.

Best

JA

[Drizt]

Hello Drizt,

Head bop and foot tap etc...You should feel good after hearing it.

Let me know if you feel the same.

Best

JA[/b]

Sounded really good when they really got into it. Not really my usual type of music, but I could get used to that

[JA]

Sounded really good when they really got into it. Not really my usual type of music, but I could get used to that [/b]

Hello Drizt,

That was quick- via SB3 or the old fashioned way?

Best

JA

[Drizt]

Hello Drizt,

That was quick- via SB3 or the old fashioned way?

Best

JA[/b]

Old fashioned way through the mini droplet

[warnsey1]

I use a bit of a mix of things.

Rodrigo Y Gabriella- Live in Manchester and Dublin - FOC

John Williams- Romance of the Guitar- Concierto De Aranjeuz

Massive Attack- Collected - Teardrop

Bernard Fanning- Tea & Sympathy- Watch Over Me

Dire Straits- Brothers in Arms- Latest Trick

That's pretty much my base test disks.

[Drizt]

I use a bit of a mix of things.

Rodrigo Y Gabriella- Live in Manchester and Dublin - FOC

John Williams- Romance of the Guitar- Concierto De Aranjeuz

Massive Attack- Collected - Teardrop

Bernard Fanning- Tea & Sympathy- Watch Over Me

Dire Straits- Brothers in Arms- Latest Trick

That's pretty much my base test disks.[/b]

Nice list.

If you can, could you give us a bit of a description of what you listen for on each track (maybe track position if at all possible). Basically whatever you listen for that tells you that the system is working as it should.

[warnsey1]

Nice list.

If you can, could you give us a bit of a description of what you listen for on each track (maybe track position if at all possible). Basically whatever you listen for that tells you that the system is working as it should.[/b]

Rodrigo Y Gabriella- Live in Manchester and Dublin - FOC- Speed and timbre. There is a bit towards the end where they are hitting the guitars that is amazing for this.

John Williams- Romance of the Guitar- Concierto De Aranjeuz: Big Orchestral wide sound stage that comes around 8mins in, alot of cd players and speakers crumble with it.

Massive Attack- Collected - Teardrop- One word, BASS. This is the ultimate test track for bass response.

Bernard Fanning- Tea & Sympathy- Watch Over Me: This is a really well recorded track. I generally look for imaging and the fine details of the strings being struck.

Dire Straits- Brothers in Arms- Latest Trick: On the right system the saxophone sounds amazing. I listen to this one just to hear that sexy saxophone smoothness.

Hope that helps a little.

[nfi42]

I don't have a set list, but it will consist of

Large choral - Mostly to test dynamics

Large orchestral - staging, timbre

solo instrument recorded acoustically - tonal accuracy

solo female voice - tonal accuracy

and usually Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb - I just like it, PRAT, bass quality.

I also bring some crappy recording along to see how that sounds - I'm looking for something which is listenable (but still crap)

[Mr_Gimlet]

Mine's mainly classical too, with a few 'popular musicians'. Any complex choral is a test on imaging, clarity and separation. Spem in Alium (mentioned above) can sound muddy and terrible quite easily.

Mozart, 'The Magic Flute': overture, the Queen of the Night's aria, and 'O Isis und Osiris'

Widor, Symphony number 5: last movement, shows me how the speakers respond to bass pedal arpeggios and move between drivers. If I use my favourite recording ('Sounds of York Minster') you should be able to hear the air in the organ stops

The Chieftains, 'Long Black Veil': track 3, 'Foggy Dew'. I like this because there is fantastic imaging, the vocal should snap into place in the centre and the system has to tease out the layers of instruments building up through the song.

Leonard Cohen, "I'm your man", title track. Should just be foot tappingly rhythmic.

Ben Harper, Live on Mars, disc 2, track 4 'Power of the Gospel'. The scratching on the fret, the breathless playing, the pluck of the strings. Then toward the end the rhythm kicks in. This is gorgeous.

[davidsss]

I'd say some of your favourite current records, listen to what you like and see if you get lost in the music. Also listen to familiar music and see if it sounds better or you hear new things in music you have played hundreds of times.

I often use Keith Jarrett's Staircase as I like it and piano is hard to reproduce, and this is solo piano.

Ted Hawkins - The Next Hundred Years, particularly the track Biloxi - it has such emotion and if the hairs don't stand up on the back of your neck, buy better equipment.

For deep base I inflict U2's Discoteque on people. However, I must say the repressing of Aqualung goes much deeper than I've heard that album before (it's definitely a better balanced pressing, but I'm not sure if I have had a really good listen since replacing the speakers so that is probably a factor too).

Beethoven's 7th, Karajan either the '63 or the '77 tests speed and the excitement of the music should shine through. Anyway, it's my favourite piece of classical since Keith played it to me months ago.

Then find some crappily recorded bootleg to see how it copes with bad quality recordings, we all have some music which ain't recorded real well but we like so when assessing equipment it's worth putting it on.

Enjoy the music and spend less time testing. You've made your choice Drizt, do a bit of testing but sit back, relax, crack a 15yo bottle of red and enjoy the music, that's what it's all about.

DS

[Drizt]

Enjoy the music and spend less time testing. You've made your choice Drizt, do a bit of testing but sit back, relax, crack a 15yo bottle of red and enjoy the music, that's what it's all about.

DS[/b]

Its a general thread... not intended for me.

[davidsss]

It applies to everyone :biggrin:

DS

[GorgeousGeorge]

a couple of tracks i use for testing a subs capability is Chemical Brothers under the influence which is track 2 on the surrender album which just took me about half hour to find cos i couldn't remember which album :biggrin: you could use just about any CB track for testing a sub but this particular track has what i could best describe as a space ship coming in to land which cycles down very very low about every 30 seconds on the track, not everyone's cup of tea but good for a bass test none the less, my old sub would basically go silent through these transients

another one is Groove Armada's opener Suntoucher on their Goodbye country hello nightclub album, it has a very funky bass line throughout which goes real deep another good tester :wink:

[GorgeousGeorge]

I use a bit of a mix of things.

Rodrigo Y Gabriella- Live in Manchester and Dublin - FOC

John Williams- Romance of the Guitar- Concierto De Aranjeuz

Massive Attack- Collected - Teardrop

Bernard Fanning- Tea & Sympathy- Watch Over Me

Dire Straits- Brothers in Arms- Latest Trick

That's pretty much my base test disks.[/b]

i use the massive attack track too, great song

also the brothers in arms album was a frequent test disk in a lot of HiFi store years ago, don't seem to see it around much anymore but like you say latest trick is a great smooth track

[Keith_W]

I don't have a set list, but it will consist of

Large choral - Mostly to test dynamics

Large orchestral - staging, timbre

solo instrument recorded acoustically - tonal accuracy

solo female voice - tonal accuracy

and usually Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb - I just like it, PRAT, bass quality.

I also bring some crappy recording along to see how that sounds - I'm looking for something which is listenable (but still crap)[/b]

Mine is very similar to this.

Solo female - if the system cannot do this properly then I stop listening, regardless of any of its other qualities. The midrange is where my music is at, and if the mids are not done properly I probably won't like the system.

Large orchestra - on a good recording of a well conducted work you should be able to hear what each musician is doing. A good test of soundstaging and seperation. A large orchestra will also tax each driver in a speaker - in large multi-driver speakers I use this to pick out problems with coherence. On some speakers you can hear that the sound produced by seperate drivers isn't "tied together" properly.

Pipe organ - I use this to test for bass.

Jazz - I use this to test for colorations in the top end, and to get a sense of the rhythm of the system. I listen for natural sounding high-hats, check that the double basses are actually audible as seperate notes (and not just one bass note with a few missing), and that saxophones sound normal and not shrill.

Solo violin - test for soundstaging.

After 3-4 CD's I usually get a good idea what is happening with the system. Any CD's I spin after this is for fun

[seano]

Groove Armada 'Goodbye Country, Hello Nightclub' - George has already pointed this one out but it is worth reinforcing.....the opening track 'Suntoucher' has a series of magnificent descending basslines in the intro before switching into a vinyl derived sample with a fast sounding drum beat - the combination of sounds in under a minute is the test......bass and detail and speed all in one go. Beware though....if hiphop ain't your thing!!!

The Knife 'Silent Shout' - The title track to this album is an electro stunner. All created on computer and impossible to 'play' this tests out bass (as you'd expect) with what seems (feels?) like single digit frequencies at high levels in the closing 30 seconds. It also demonstrates speed as the harmony (?) is delivered using a clear rounded tone played at guitar like speed but each note starts and stops very fast. This is counterpointed by a sharp stopped bass beat throughout. Then there is the detail in the background - little drum fills and the like. Outstanding track from an outstanding album - electro equivalent of Van Halen's 'Jump'

KCRW Rare on Air Volume 1 - a compilation with many many great tracks, all done live with no overdubs . The test track I most often use is Lindsay Buckingham's revisit of the Fleetwood Mac track 'Never Going Back Again' which he does solo on twelve string acoustic...everyone knows how how a good guitar should sound

Steve Vai 'The Ultra Zone' - a loony guitar album but the opening track is a hard rock hoot and brilliantly produced - very high and hard sounding....detail and midrange tests are here in spades. Multi-tracked to within an inch of its life this is a tough track to play without sounding muddy and lost........but the best thing is that it TOTALLY annoys the hifi salespeople because it is just so bogan

.......and there are just sooooooo many more

[mondie]

l don't really have a set list at all. l tend to take a mix of various styles from my current play pile and sit back, relax and see what grabs me and what l notice as different or better. Is the emotional connection there, is it better or worse? l then tend to home in on what it is thats improved and if those improvements are isolated or noticeable across all music styles.

Cheers

[Tweaky]

For speed of recovery on deep bass notes while playing finely/delicate upper mids and high frequencies-Theme track to American Beauty

For female vocals and sound staging [smallish sound stage]-The Patsy Cline Story-American double LP.

For opera [large sound stage] Callas-Pavarotti 1972 covent gardens " Lucia Di Lammemoor" LP

For phase coherence and staging [medium] Sting-Dream of the Blue Turtles.

For staging [small] and midrange/bass timing-Tom Waits -Heart attack and Vine.[one of the best recordings EVER]American Asylum LP pressing.

For checking Cartridge/tonearm tracking ability-Tears for Fears- 'Songs from the big chair"LP,they foolishly put the highest modulated cut on the innermost track of this LP,if your TT can master this it can track anything.

OR

Original 45 Single of "Live and Let Die"-James Bond theme-can be true horror of a disc to get tracking correctly,but when you do.....wow!

I would love to see this disc as a 12" 45rpm,it would be far easier to track.

[sound engineers in this present time of over compression/loudness wars should listen to how it CAN be done without squashing the dynamics,"Live and Let Die" proves the point]

For checking everything,a one disc does it all,well it would have to be this.

"Mellow Mood"-Oscar Peterson,I've got it on LP and it is sublime,you can get it on SACD.

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/76731

This is the baby to KNOW if anything is amiss with your system,you only have to play "Who can I turn to"-Truly amazing.

The power of this recording is brilliant,so is the finesse,It has the soundstaging really second to none and the piano is not in the room with you,you are in the room with him.

Even if your not a Peterson fan.you owe it to yourself to at least listen to the brilliant disc.

[THOMO]

I can't see any point in listening to heavily processed electronic music to asses a system.

Most of us have a fair idea what a guitar,piano,clarinet,violin ,acoustic bass and voice sounds like because we have heard the real thing.Who knows what an electronic derived and processed noise should sound like?

I like Massive Attack and Groove Amada but this is not the sort of music to use to asses the subtleties that go into making a good system.There are all sorts of problems with this music -but most of all timbral information is virtually non existent.

Dire Straits -Brothers In Arms is an apalling thing to listen to.It is a classic example of a highly processed unnatural sounding recording.It is the audio equivelent of silicone boobs.This is real punters stuff.

Two recordings I have been using lately are.......

Willie Nelson........You Don't Know Me-a gorgeous sounding recording with a very organic sound and fantastic musicianship. Backing vocals by the Jordanaires [ ex Elvis] are very special. Anybody who thinks that CDs don't sound good needs to hear this.

Flying Bulgars ....Tsirkus -A group of gifted classically trained musicians infusing jazz,classical,middle eastern,Klezmer and circus music in a dense but joyous musical extravaganza-and stunningly recorded.