Pearl Jam - Soon Forgot from Binaural, great soundstage great vocal. I use this to test the upper-frequency distortion from CDs. If you listen you'll hear a clear ringing over his voice after about the first phrase or two.
Dire Straits - Why Worry from Brothers in Arms (remaster, not original), lsiten to the shaker about 5:30 into the song. A good rig will allow you to just about *count* the number of beads that hit the plastic. This is what I use to test if detail is smeared. So far the EAR HP4 wins this test.
Sting - A brand New Day, the first 20 seconds from the opening track to see how the bass responds.
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, the whole damned album. It's a noisy recording but the remaster really shines.
Dave Matthews Band - Crash, theres a lot in this recording. A lot of hidden details, great dynamics. Lillywhite did a *great* job on this recording. At the end of one of the tracks one of the band members can be heard saying "That was bad as ****". If your gear isn't up to snuff it will smear that out to wear it's barly noticable unless you are listening for it. Good gear will present it to you on a ****ing platter.
Pearl Jam - Ten, again a lot of detail. Ed Vedder seems to say '****' in just about every track. It's easy to miss unless you have some decept equipment on some tracks. Decent equipment makes it stand out and puts it right in your face. Listen to 'Once' and there is a break where Ed can be heard saying "You thought I had my eyes closed but I was looking at you the whole ****ing time." While you can hear this on lesser gear, a good headphone rig makes it ring clear as a bell.
I have some more CDs I use for testing and a lot I love to listen to.
