[analogbox]

Some of my benchmark albums are:

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out (Always been my reference album as it has great sense of space and separation.)

Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train (As with Time Out, this too has a great sense of space and separation.)

Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto (Wonderful album to listen to female vocal, guitar and saxophone. This is my go-to album for soundstage along with Time Out.)

Pink Martini - Sympathique (They use all kinds of instruments and it gets pretty complex at times but with quality phones you'll be able to single out every instruments used. Also, they are great for listening to female vocals. Really, you can't go wrong with any Pink Martini albums.)

Beaux Arts Trio - Beethoven Piano Trio (Recorded throughout 1979-83 but still surpasses the SQ of many modern recordings. Great album to listen to strings as well as piano.)

Osmo Vanska / Minnesota Orchestra - Beethoven Symphonies (Symphonies are great to test the complexity of music and these recordings are superbly recorded.)

Sir Charles Mackerras / Scottish Chamber Orchestra - Mozart Symphonies (You won't find much better sounding classical recordings, new and old. Period.)

Rage Against The Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles (They have great details across all instruments, from plucking of bass guitar to resonance of kick drums.)

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon (3D imaging is great in this album as well as the details of the instruments.)

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (Think of it as modern version of the dark side of the moon in terms of 3D imaging and details.)

Ray LaMontagne - Trouble / Gossip In The Grain (Great to listen to male vocal and acoustic guitars. The Gossip In The Grain received the Grammy's best engineered album this year.)

Jeff Buckley - Grace (Subtle details in the Buckley's voice and his ability to move up and down the registers are one of the few ways you can use this album to test your equipment.)

Sorry for the long post. I tried to make it as compact as possible.

 

[JoeyRusso]

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbox /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry for the long post. I tried to make it as compact as possible.

Don't apologize, that's exactly what I was looking for.. Thanks for your input.. Everyone has nailed it, and I've been busy taking down names/titles/albums for days and exploring the limits of my current earphones. It's been amazing and I can't tell you all how much I appreciate it. You've all helped this wannabe audiophile (me) build quite an extensive test library now.. Now the next question will be even tougher.. on my wallet anyway.. LOL

 

[ericp10]

You're quite welcome Joey. You have some great choices here. Enjoy and happy listening!!

 

[h20buzz]

There are some great suggestions posted here, and i'd like to add some to them.

The Corrs featuring The Chieftains "I Know My Love",
Sting "Heavy Cloud,No Rain",
Paul McCartney & Wings "Goodnight Tonight".

That last one will confuse the daylights out of lesser quality earphones and make great ones just jump to life with layering and percussive detail you might otherwise miss. I have an immense and diverse music library as well, but those tracks are some that let me know if i'm going to keep an IEM in heavy rotation or not.

 

[OPTiK]

 
Quote:

And for laughs:

Ghost in the Shell Soundtrack: Making of Cyborg (Chant I) - acid test, with high energy above 10kHz and below 40Hz. If the phones don't mute the bells, castrate the bass drum, or distort all over the place, then I've spent good money.

Wow, this song is killer on my 16's

 

[Hero Kid]

I'm currently using Stereophiles Test Cd's. I find them to be quite good.

 

[OPTiK]

I just checked out the "This is K2 HD Sound" album and I have to say its a phenomenal reference cd. The most impressive of the songs was "Christopher Hardy - Touch", highs and lows to go around. The bass (not sure what's generating it, water gong?) has this unique quality to it when listening through my 16's. The album is pretty good too!

 

[XiB3R]

Benchmarks Tracks
 
A 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
Three 6 Mafia - Late Night Tip
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

 

[goodvibes]

I've got some 1st generation dubs of both classical and Jazz where I know both the performance and recordings quite well but really, I can use average recordings like say, Radiohead, The Bends and and get info on an item. Hows the reverb decay on Fake Plastic Trees, is Bones too sibilant? Take the first song, can you hear the overdubbed guitar come center forward behind the vocal and seperate. Does the initial vocal sound too saturated and if not, is the opening bass line still weighty enough, can you clearly hear the under vocal on the very last broken? It's more of if you know what it's supposed to do than what you use.
 
Like Ericp, I get some of my best info from acoustic jazz and generally, simple recordings are more telling. Known vocals, piano, string bass and especially vibes can be telling but to be honest, I find that once close enough to right, goose bump factor or an ability to convey the message of the artist is more important. Hardest thing it has to do. Subjective and human, like me.

 
 

 

[Spinlight]

I'm pretty keen on using a huge variety of songs. My current list is:
 
Taking Back Sunday - Spin
Pendulum - Crush
Brand New - (Fork and Knife)
Kanye West & Jay-Z - Ni**as in Paris
David Guetta (feat. Sia) - Titanium
Benny Benassi - Cinema (Skrillex Remix)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
Within Temptation - Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)
 
This covers mainly everything I can think of; highs, mids, lows, female vocals, acoustic guitars, almost all of the nitty-gritty stuff, if you ask me.