[jimbobuk]

Quite simply what do you turn to when you want to test a pair of headphones, or impress a friend with a new headphone by really showing what they can do.

I'd imagine this kind of ties in with sympathetically recorded and mastered stuff, so jazz, blues, vocals, instruments, classical, perhaps a bit of electronica if its got a special (if artificicial) soundstage effect.

Binaural stuff is an obvious choice, but only list something thats got musical content, i know field recordings can be great, hey i've spent a lot of time making (and sharing) my own, but i'm really keen to get something with musical insight.

If an album goes particularly well with one of your headphones then feel free to list the headphones that it blows you away with, though for the most part it should be universal if its really good music.

Anything for Omega IIs would be great as i'm on the hunt for stuff that sounds better than the usually fantastic sound that comes out of them with most material.

Cheers

 

[slwiser]

Check out this web site. They have demo albums for various things:

http://www.chesky.com/

 

[jimbobuk]

cool label.. i'm aware of opus3 and have an eric bibb recording on it which does indeed sound very nice, but that one is new to me.

Thanks for that.. any particular favourites amongst that for you.. I always like to know that someone somewhere really really loves an album, there is hope then that i may too.. nothing beats finding people who have similar tastes to you.. beyond that nothing beats finding a magic album when not really looking for one

 

[slwiser]

For a start I like the voice of Rebecca Pidgeon - I have her - The Raven. Check out Spanish Harlem, this hold track can be located at http://www.fix-it.org/forums/thread1699.html

Several of the tracks on this page came from the Chesky site, as I understand.

Chesky usually has a cut from most albums if you just want to test out the sounds. Using my USB out to the DAC I get a fairly nice feel for how the music will play out.

Also note that some of their albums have test tracks and have 'test' in their names, for example:
http://www.chesky.com/core/details.c...ctcategoryid=1

 

[kramer5150]

This is a partial post from an earlier thread.

As a guitar player/wanker/hobby-ist, I play material that contains sounds that I am familiar with... guitars and guitar amps.

Bryan Setzer Orchestra, Live in Japan
Joe Satriani, Live @ the Warfield
John Fogerty, Premonition Live
Dreamtheater, Live @ The Budokan

All 4 are concert DVDs with superb guitar recordings that capture the nuances of each player, their guitars and rigs...

Bryan Setzer= Gretsch hollowbodies, Fender bassheads pushed to power tube overdrive. Sweet jangly guitar tones.

Satriani = Dimarzio loaded humbuckers pushing Marshall high gain amps pushed to tube distortion. Sweet Marshall JCM900 tones, combination of preamp and power tube distortion.

John fogerty = Classic rock, marshall JCM800 tubes pushed to EL34 power tube overdrive. Variety of Strats, LPs, and telecasters.

Dreamtheater/Budokan = Petrucci / Mesa boogie tripple rectifier heaven... Dimarzio Steve's speacial pickups in a basswood guitar, pushing Mesa preamp tube circuits into distortion. sweet prog-metal thunder.

IMHO SRV's rendition of Little Wing is the epitome of guitar tone...That obscure magical tone in every gutar players head that is somewhat there sone nights and somewhat not there others.... always a hair out of reach.

Its kind of easy to see where my grado/Alessandro love comes from.

For more ambient stuff I listen to
Clapton unplugged
Tuck & Patti
Eagles Millenium concert

 

[The Actual]

I usually do Dark Side of the Moon, Blood on the Tracks, and then whatever I have been listening to a lot recently. Right now I guess that is These Arms are Snakes and Junior Boys.

 

[jimbobuk]

Thanks guys, great suggestions..

I've got a Rebecca Pidgeon album.. the raven i think. I remember a hifi shop guy raving about it, but i never really gave it a chance. will rip it and give it another go

Thanks for the other suggestions, i'll have a look out there for them.

Anyone else, or any others please just add them at your leisure

 

[sclamb]

jimbobuk

Here's what I use to show people how the Omega IIs really sing:

Digital Dreaming - Held Lampi Project
I bought this album through the Naim Audio website and it is absolutely the best album I have ever heard for demonstrating the soundstage, bass impact, musical balance and sheer brilliance of the Stax 007 system.

(On a side note, all the albums from Naim Audio are of the highest recording and production quality).

Timeagain - David Sanborn
This is an excellent jazz album with some extremely delicate and balanced jazz arrangements. This really shows how well the Stax can create the perfect balance between delicacy and powerful performance.

Mambo Sinuendo - Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban
Latin American music with strong bass and powerful rhythms, this type of music is made for the Stax.

Pulse - Pink Floyd
Nothing comes close to the way in which the Stax plays the Floyd. Musical magic.

Call Off The Search - Katie Meluha
Wow! Katie is in the room now. The Stax really brings her voice to life, so it feels like she is right in front of you in the same room.

There are many more I could mention (Pat Methany, Super Rail Band de Bamako, Mike Oldfield, Kai Eckhart, Neil Stacy, Antonio Foriccone to name a few) but these stand out.

Simon

 

[Omega]

My ideal audio presentation would reproduce a live performance...so to that end, good audition material is transparently-recorded natural instruments and vocals (seems obvious, huh?) I like hearing the timbre and attack of acoustic guitars, the texture and emotion of vocals, the grind of a good electric guitar/bass setup, the thrump-wump and decay of an upright bass, etc.

So, that's my bias

Eric Clapton - Unplugged has some really great acoustic and male vocal passages. While it is ironic that many people are more familiar with the unplugged versions of Layla, etc...there is a good reason why!

Jesse Cook - Gravity. Fantastic driving, energetic, Spanish guitar-type music. Vocals are nothing particular special, but the layering and flow of the instrumention is fantastic. This album on a top-notch electrostatic system is totally transparent--sounds like instruments are being played, not a sound system (You must try this on the Omegas! I would!). Is your system "fast" (ie, able to reproduce transient source material)? This album is great for finding out.

Massive Attack - Protection. Great ambience, and I just like it

Sarah McLachlan - Surfacing. Track #5 (I think) is simply beautiful on a system capable of good spectrum fidelity and dynamics. I find some of the songs are very well-produced...was this a husband-wife production team at the time? Great soundstage in some places.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue. A classic. Great music, good production. I usually run through a bunch of material while looking for particular aspects...then put on somethign like Kind of Blue and just listen for fun. It is surprisingly easy to find many technical advantages, and yet end up with a system that just isn't fun and absorbing...and that's really the whole point, right?

 

[saturnine]

Radiohead - Hail to the Theif
Alice in Chains - MTV Unplugged (Excellent recording! Precussion and guitars are top notch in my book)
Patricia Barber - Companion (An album Drew of Moon Audio uses to demo gear. The best recording of female vocals I've ever heard)

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saturnine Radiohead - Hail to the Theif Alice in Chains - MTV Unplugged (Excellent recording! Precussion and guitars are top notch in my book)

on my wish list!!!!

 

[jimbobuk]

Thanks again guys.. great to have a list of music to look out for

I'm sure we can squeeze out some more and be left with a shortlist for anyone to be able to get an impressive sound out of their setup.

 

[kramer5150]

Just got Dire straits "Brothers in Arms"... Holy Moly!!
Add this one to your list

Just downloaded some more of their stuff P2P, to get a taste. WOW!! not one bad recording.

Garrett

 

[Ttvetjanu]

Massive attack - Mezzanine

 

[daycart1]

Tsaikovsky's 1812 Overture is a standard, partly because of the cannon blasts.