Sound Quality tracks

[Sythlord79 10+ year member]

can anyone recommend some true Sound Quality tracks to test my system? maybe classical or something with an orchestra. I just need some music with alot of real instruments and solid vocals. no rock or rap.

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[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

Try some Dream Theater or Venetian Snares. Metal and electronic respectively. Both have lots of instruments, but no vocals with VS.

Dunno about classical but I could recommend some neo-classical and ambient if you want. Prolly not what you're looking for...

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

dave matthews band

eric clapton

the eagles

Seal

Santana

John Mayer

Enya

Kelly Price

Jaheim

Jack Johnson

Charlie Wilson

 

[stratusrt01 10+ year member]

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

 

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

Nice. Incredible song, I'm impressed. Unfortunately he said no "rock", dunno if he wants virtuoso or not.

 

[NeverEnuffBass 10+ year member]

I like to use Hotel California by the Eagles

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

Dave matthews band x 2. And if u want EXTREME midbass action jack johson

 

[zyklonb 10+ year member]

radiohead-idioteque

 

[CRAZYCORNUTS18 10+ year member]

pink floyd -dark side of the moon:thumbsup:

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

Can I ask why no rock? That's kind of odd... The Pirates of the Caribbean II soundtrack is a good CD.

Star Wars - Duel of the Fates

Luciano Pavarotti - Vesti La Giubba

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata

Jewel - Foolish Games

Toto - Rain Down in Africa

Bruce Springsteen - Streets of Philadelphia

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Copied this from another board...

As I looked for a new set of tower speakers for my music/HT 2 channel setup I made many mix cd's to demo speakers and gear on...

This is what I ended up with and it's got quite a bit going on for 2 channel / headphones...

Wanted to share it with OT:

http://personal.ghguild.com/croso/fi...al_demomix.rar

I reccomend you use a download manager as it's 415mb.

to Burn use the nero nra file to get the track order.

All the files are seperate WMA9 pro lossless format files. All were ripped from a plextor premium burner with EAC then converted to WMA from wav... This should be bitperfect to retail CD's.

An explaination and how to use...

All the tracks on the CD are tracks from 2 channel CD's. They are all artist works, no "test" tracks like THX demos, bass demos, pink noise, etc... That's for a later CD...

I am familiar with how these tracks sound like on a B&W Nautilus setup, and a Dynaudio Evidence Reference, as well as other $70k+ 2 channel only setups.

I am also familiar with them on my current gear, Sennheiser HD650s/Xcans, and Creek 5350se/Soliloquy 5.0's and now 6.5's...

You may be familiar with them but for it to work for you you should listen to them on stuff you can't afford, then try to get close in your budget for the types of tracks you like/listen to most often.

Suggested Track List Order & My Notes

1. Peppino d'Agostino - Close to the Heart - Acoustic Fun

Great strings, though not "in tune", listen for full sound, fingers on frets, tapping in center image.

2. Dave Matthews - Live at Luther College - Ants Marching

A live performance, recording is decent but not "great". Listen for different audience voices and clarity, clapping sound be realistic and set away from music. Soundstage is a bit collapsed, that's the recording.

3. Peter Gabriel - Up - More Than This

beginning of song is right channel mainly, good to ensure hookup is correct, it's been wrong in some pro stores. Low synth bass should be strong and clear, not overpower vocals. Great dynamic range. Mixed so soundstage isn't that prevalent but the multitap background echo on the vocals should be easily distinguishable.

4. Norah Jones - Come Away With Me - Painter Song

Great vocals on center, guitar off to right in soundstage. Good for testing noise floor of system.

5. Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile - Into the Void

This is HDCD, good players will play the full 24bits and recognize hdcd.

Soundstage is amazing, requires a 3way system or very good 2-way to not fall flat with the dynamics of bass and there's just a lot going on in this track.

6. The White Stripes - Elephant - Seven Nation Army

Very weird track but I like it. it's really rather weak, but it's my test of how revealing the system is... The "faker" and harsher it sounds the better the stereo it seems. However this will tell you how revealing the system/speakers are and you may not want superdetailed superrevealing sound if most of what you listen to isn't a reference recording

7. Talking Heads - True Stories - Papa Legba

Fun with sound... The swooping should go WAY out in the room and come through your head if you are in the sweet spot... soundstage is excellent then fades as the song goes on...

8. Roger Waters - Amused to Death - Three Wishes

Great soundstaging all the way through, lot more subtle than talking heads though... The lady talking should be to your 10'oclock or even 9'oclock position (left and to side) Listen for the "genie" at 1:50 or so, should be deep full and clear 2 voices, and should swoop over your head, forward. This goes LOW.

9. Seal - Best 91>04 Bsides - Waiting for You

Acoustic set done in a studio, but they mix in some fake clapping which should sound "out of place" lot of detail in the instruments.

10. Rebecca Pidgeon - The Raven - Spanish Harlem

This is how to tell if you have distorted bass... the bass in the background should not overbear the vocals, and should be tight and clean. No woofer flutter when played loud. this will make you turn down the crossover/volume on your sub if you have it set too high. Piano should sound real. This is sweet on tubes or B&W's, etc...

11. Robbie Robertson - Music for the Native Americans - Ancestor Song

Good noise floor test in the beginning, soft voices should be clear and set in different positions in the soundstage. Drums... you can hear the fingers/hands slapping off the drums on good setups. otherwise it's pretty muddy.

12. Alison Krauss - O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Down to the River to Pray

In a big hall, should hear the acoustics of the room. should hear background voices as seperate voices, very clear.

13. Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones - Easy Money

Another great recording, listen for the vocals here should be dead center, music all around but frontal.

14. B.B. King - Blues on the Bayou - Blues Man

Gotta have love for the king. Full warm sound = good IMO... some speakers are too dry on this one and BB sounds white.

15. Eric Clapton - Unplugged - Malted Milk

Live Clapton, great soundstage. Great recording. Hate the song.

16. Muddy Waters - Folk Singer - Feel Like Going Home

Excellent recording from mofi gold disc... should hear all little details of strings/instrumetnts. voice is amazing. low midbass strong.

17. Utah Symphony Orch - Reference Classics - Symphonie Fantastique

Listen for the choir voices... There is a pipe organ in the background playing low notes. it's low volume but you should hear different low notes in the background on Full Range systems... you won't hear it on most systems as different clear strong notes, with 0 distortion when turned up. This tortures my klipsch sub but the 6.5 towers excel. Velodyne servo sub is perfect.

18. London Philharmonic Orch - Adiemus II - Song of the Trinity (shortened)

Mixed recording but should have silky highs, should not be too bright. Klipsch horn speakers are unlistenable on this. Center soundstage, fill echo.

19. Hilicon Ensamble - Reference Classics - Concerto in D (shortened)

Bach... a Telarc Reference recording. an orchestra recording that is outstanding. I don't care much about classical but this is amazing.

Most of these tracks/albums have been used by other reviewers for stereophile, absolute sound, and other high end audio reviewers. Others I just like, others are just to test the system.

Hopefully most of you can appreciate these tracks and how they sound even if you don't listen to those artists ever. Low end sennheisers (497) and PC soundcard will do pretty well on this test, considering everything. Low end speakers can't come close. Not even Klipsch/logitech pc speakers.

Feedback please

edit: try to burn at 4x on good media, turn VariRec on if you have it...

nG

 

[WhoSayWho? 5,000+ posts]

dave matthews banderic clapton

the eagles

Seal

Santana

John Mayer

Enya

Kelly Price

Jaheim

Jack Johnson

Charlie Wilson

Damz, every single one that immediately jumped to mind is on this list.

 

[Sythlord79 10+ year member]

I guess rock is acceptable. I just wanted tracks I can hear each instrument being played and not a bunch of noise. you guys have picked some good ones tho.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (the whole CD)

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

Copied this from another board...


nG

Downloading right now. Thank God for "down them all" firefox extension. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif