[aclim]

 
Quote:

Audio quality isn't about frequency extension and lots and lots of bass and treble. It's about achieving the proper balance across the board. Music with crazy amounts of bass or sizzling treble may be useful to car stereo salesmen trying to impress those who don't know what good sound sounds like, But someone who is interested in the subject is going to want to use balanced music to test and adjust with, not goosed stuff.

I wasn't saying anything about audio quality or... if you got it this way... sorry for that! I do agree with you about balanced range for that suppose... but ma8... "music for car stereo"?  "impress those who don't know what good sound sounds like"? Have you heard any of them? Maybe disco with lame low strong bass yeah... but say this? It must be only acoustic music to be good? I posted some heavy bass tracks for testing headphones, like have been requested (if it wasn't meant this type of testing, then sorry again), but there is more tracks, which are incredible. He posted Crystal Method for low bass, so I meant to help with more tracks. This music isn't about just one bass like in disco clubs... this kind of bass is complex container of basses.... if headphones can play it right... they are better than other which can't (you must hear different ranges of bass, not just bumping crapty bass).

 

[Uncle Erik]

aclim, yes, I've heard a lot of the electronic music - dance, disco, house, and everything else.  I enjoy some of it, too.
 
But as Bigshot and LFF pointed out, you don't know what's gone on with an electronic signal.  The musicians change things around and so do the recording engineers.  You don't get that when you're dealing with acoustic instruments, so you can better judge how speakers or headphones reproduce them.
 
I suppose you could use electronic instruments to judge, provided that you were present when they were played and have knowledge of how they were recorded.
 
When I test, I mostly run human voices and piano.  The human voice must be spot on and piano covers seven octaves.  Further, the piano tends to go through areas where there are crossovers and multiple drivers.  That way, you can really hear how crossovers are working and how well multiple drivers are integrated and if there are any phasing issues between drivers.  I'll also put on a bit of bass clarinet and tuba since I play both and can tell if something isn't right.
 
As for recordings, a couple that I always use are Stardust, by Willie Nelson and Drag, by k.d. lang.  Willie and k.d. cover male and female voices pretty well.  For piano, I reach for Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and several Bach recordings.
 

 

[earerror]

I use anything that is well mixed and produced...specially this one: by the Beatles...rubber soul 

 

[aclim]

Quote:

aclim, yes, I've heard a lot of the electronic music - dance, disco, house, and everything else.  I enjoy some of it, too.
 
But as Bigshot and LFF pointed out, you don't know what's gone on with an electronic signal.  The musicians change things around and so do the recording engineers.  You don't get that when you're dealing with acoustic instruments, so you can better judge how speakers or headphones reproduce them.
 
I suppose you could use electronic instruments to judge, provided that you were present when they were played and have knowledge of how they were recorded.
 
When I test, I mostly run human voices and piano.  The human voice must be spot on and piano covers seven octaves.  Further, the piano tends to go through areas where there are crossovers and multiple drivers.  That way, you can really hear how crossovers are working and how well multiple drivers are integrated and if there are any phasing issues between drivers.  I'll also put on a bit of bass clarinet and tuba since I play both and can tell if something isn't right.
 
As for recordings, a couple that I always use are Stardust, by Willie Nelson and Drag, by k.d. lang.  Willie and k.d. cover male and female voices pretty well.  For piano, I reach for Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and several Bach recordings.
 

So you tried the only bad kinds of electronic music! Try another, it's not always about fixed bass... in these kinds of genre it is important to have the most clear & readable low frequencies (it's main piece of that kind of music).
I agree with you too about what you've written, but I still don't get why you all write this... I replied to first post... like 'amateur' look to testing headphones... his music plus yours (for clarity & real sound), but you need bass too, if I want to listen to that type of music, it has to be able to play it right.... just try some of them... that what called bass! And if headphones for $400 can't play... I don't want them., that the same with heads under $150... some of them don't have bass.. they have bumps or huuuuuu...if you know the rel sound of tracks, you can say the heads are not for you! That why I posted this type of music, for amateur testing (obviously I'm not that good like you professionals who listen only your kind of music). I've never wrote anything about your music, it's good for testing, but another style has another frequencies to test IMHO, you should test headphones with as most kinds of music as possible to the best results. Am I wrong?

 

[Uncle Erik]

No, I've tried good kinds of electronic music, too.  Some of which I love and in no way am I criticizing the genre.  I have a lot of synth-based music from the 1980s and a newer piece I'm crazy about is BT's This Binary Universe.  I've got another 30-40 electronica discs, too.  I was playing some Orbital on my long trip back from Arizona early this morning, too.  So while I love all sorts of acoustical, I listen to a lot of genres and I would not be surprised if you and I enjoyed some of the same artists.
 
My point is that I don't have a baseline for comparing a synthetic sound that BT produces.  That has nothing to do with the quality of the music, which is high.  But when he hits a low note, what do I have to compare that against?  I can't make the same sound at home easily and I wasn't there when it was recorded.
 
So, without the baseline, I don't know if the headphones or speakers are reproducing BT's notes as he intended or as they were recorded.  There's no way to tell unless you were there during the recording session.
 
On the other hand, I spent years with a bass clarinet or tuba in my hands.  I was in a community orchestra for a couple of years and know how those instruments sound.  Spent even more time in several marching bands.  I've attended hundreds of hours of concerts with live acoustic instruments, too.  I know what a piano sounds like in the flesh, so if a headphone is reproducing a piano correctly, I can hear it.  If the tonality of a tuba is off, I know.
 
On the other hand, I have no idea what BT intended while recording.  If a headphone gets his tonality wrong, how would I know?  I don't know how his specially tuned instruments sound and I don't know what he intended them to sound like.  That has nothing to do with whether his music has artistic merit, it just means that I have no idea whether what I'm hearing is accurate to the intentions of the artist and recording engineer.  BT or his engineer could listen to a pair of headphones and tell you whether they get the music right because they know what it's supposed to sound like.  But I can't do it because I wasn't there for the recording.
 
This is why acoustic recordings are better, generally, for people to evaluate headphones or speakers with.

 

[aclim]

Quote:

No, I've tried good kinds of electronic music, too.  Some of which I love and in no way am I criticizing the genre.  I have a lot of synth-based music from the 1980s and a newer piece I'm crazy about is BT's This Binary Universe.  I've got another 30-40 electronica discs, too.  I was playing some Orbital on my long trip back from Arizona early this morning, too.  So while I love all sorts of acoustical, I listen to a lot of genres and I would not be surprised if you and I enjoyed some of the same artists.
 
My point is that I don't have a baseline for comparing a synthetic sound that BT produces.  That has nothing to do with the quality of the music, which is high.  But when he hits a low note, what do I have to compare that against?  I can't make the same sound at home easily and I wasn't there when it was recorded.
 
So, without the baseline, I don't know if the headphones or speakers are reproducing BT's notes as he intended or as they were recorded.  There's no way to tell unless you were there during the recording session.
 
On the other hand, I spent years with a bass clarinet or tuba in my hands.  I was in a community orchestra for a couple of years and know how those instruments sound.  Spent even more time in several marching bands.  I've attended hundreds of hours of concerts with live acoustic instruments, too.  I know what a piano sounds like in the flesh, so if a headphone is reproducing a piano correctly, I can hear it.  If the tonality of a tuba is off, I know.
 
On the other hand, I have no idea what BT intended while recording.  If a headphone gets his tonality wrong, how would I know?  I don't know how his specially tuned instruments sound and I don't know what he intended them to sound like.  That has nothing to do with whether his music has artistic merit, it just means that I have no idea whether what I'm hearing is accurate to the intentions of the artist and recording engineer.  BT or his engineer could listen to a pair of headphones and tell you whether they get the music right because they know what it's supposed to sound like.  But I can't do it because I wasn't there for the recording.
 
This is why acoustic recordings are better, generally, for people to evaluate headphones or speakers with.

 
In this way, I couldn't agree more with you... everything you wrote is damn truth & I accept it but I was only defending myself cause of... I just posted tracks for amateur feeling testing, not for this perfection testing. It just for the feeling that it sounds better than from another pair of headphones, you know? It's impossible to know how it should sound according to artist who made it with synths & stuff... but you know if it sounds for you ears better (more enjoyable) than others, that's only thing I meant when I posted those tracks! They have complex baselines cause of you can easily recognize, that some headphones plays it muddy or clear & you can hear all (more) different basses in one moment... just try some, you'll see what I mean by this...
 
so I'm glad you've cleared up it for me, now I know what you meant & I agree with you, but I've just been defending my point
 
BTW: Orbital are my most favorite band ever ;D so You can be sure we share some same Artists cay R  

 

[XiB3R]

My Benchmarks Tracks
 
A good cross section of well recorded music covering most genres, Hope these help.
 
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror
Lil Jon - Get Low
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Tearjerker
Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall Pt 2
Guns N' Roses - November Rain/Welcome To The Jungle
Goldfinger - 99 Red Ballons
Queen - Bohemian Rapsody
AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long

 

[Nilesh Rahinj]

just listen to Bohemian Rhapsody.... It has all the highs and lows