#1 - "Time" from Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd [1973]
A masterpiece of production and mastering done by Alan Parsons. You can test almost everything with this track:
detail, with the sound of the clocks at the beginning, bass, sibilance, vocals, drums, resolution, dynamics, soundstage, stereo separation, headroom...
#2 - "Sultans of Swing" from Dire Straits, Dire Straits [1978]
Classic rock at its best. Guitars, warmth, drums.
#1 is a great song, I agree with many things, BUT:
- "old school" bass, so for modern hp's its nothing. If they lack lows here - big problem.
- sibilance. Actually not much space for them, and again - if you have sibilance here, your hp's are really bad.
+ soundstage. A big one. Not a huge, but you have to be sure that your gear is good, since in several parts of composition we have not only width, but depth (in front of you and behind). So good cans must reveal depth also.
#2 also is a great song, but rhythm actually is quite simple. The major fault of this track lies in narrow spectrum, so you’ll need additional tracks. So I use two other tracks from Dire Straits:
“Private Investigations” and “Money for Nothing”. The second one is especially important:
A) Guitars should sound very clean, but not too aggressive and bright. If you got such sensation it could be a problem of headphones or gear
B) The same clean guitar sound can sound “veiled”. It’s difficult to describe, but in good cans they sound detailed, but
smooth. If you have enough experience you can separate loss of details due to veil from smoothness.
C) Drums play only with a lightest punch, we have some. But perfectly infused in other instruments, so you virtually play no attention to it if not paying attention to this detail. So if you don’t get any, its one problem, take a note of punch immediately – an opposite problem. Even in Denon’s D1100 which are considered bass heavy you feel it very light and gentle.