[Ultrazino]

Quote:

Special song to test headphone soundstage?

 

 
My default test for timbre and soundstage is Naturespace.
They have incredible recordings.
 
Edit: Get the free demo here!

 

[Ge03]

Jackson Browne's album "Running On Empty".
In addition the live on stage tracks, there are tracks recorded live in hotel rooms, on the tour bus, backstage etc. "The Road" is a good example. It starts with a recording done on the hotel room and seamlessly fades into the live on stage recording. If your system portrays a soundstage properly the walls of the hotel room just disappear and the whole soundstage opens right up.
The track "Cocaine" is a great test for imaging with each voice and instrument having a clear location in space and depth.

 

[cooperpwc]

Recommend Jim White's song Objects in Motion. That whole album 'Drill A Hole In That Substrate And Tell Me What You See' is excellent for testing soundstage.
 
Another great album in this regard is Snakefarm's 'Songs from My Funeral', and especially the song Saint James.

 

[Proglover]

Diana Krall - Live in Paris: "Devil may Care"

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

 
My default test for timbre and soundstage is Naturespace.
They have incredible recordings.
 
Edit: Get the free demo here!

Thanks for reminding me to pull this out again. Routing through the Solo, the soundstage (and SQ overall) really is superb.

 

[baka1969]

The Jazz at the Pawnshop album.

"On The Run" from DSotM

 

[money4me247]

this thread might be dead... but i want MOAR suggestions!!!!! i listened to all the songs on this thread & I want moreee. i wish more of the pop songs try to utilize soundstage effects... sooocoool heh

 

[pmharder]

"Picture of Jesus" by Ben Harper
"Colossus" by Afro Celt Sound System
"Sileypud", New Haranni Poison Mixers - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkQRrCVosJs
"Stomping Grounds" Live by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
 
http://www.audiocheck.net/Audio/audiocheck.net_binaural_knocking.mp3

 

[Louis940]

Steve Reich's - Phases (A Nonesuch Retrospective) is a pretty good collection. It goes from stuff like Orchestral pulsing textures to playing 12 guitar tracks against each other, but moving different tracks by a couple of seconds.

 

[Headphile32]

One of the tracks at 4:02 to 4:32 goes way out in front of me in my A900X's and the others show the phones soundstage potentials:

 

[p a t r i c k]

Quote:

After some help on head fi, I got a pair of A700 headphones. I like them a lot, but I'm trying to find out what they are capable of. I would like to find out how great of a soundstage it has, but I don't know how to test this. Does anyone know if there is a song out there specifically made for testing a headphone's soundstage?

 
This was asked on the 12 June 2010. However the thread seems to be alive again and why not
 
What strikes me is the idea of "testing a headphone's soundstage".
 
To me this suggests that we are to find out if the soundstage is accurate.
 
It is very hard to find out if the soundstage of a headphone is accurate with contemporary pop/rock type recordings because the soundstage is such an artificial creation. This is nothing wrong with this, it just isn't possible to know if what you are listening to is close to the original intention.
 
With orchestral classical music you have at least a notional real soundstage, so you can get a bit of an idea as to the quality of the reproduction in the headphones.
 
I think that to get a good soundstage in headphones you first need a good crossfeed. I was "turned on" to cross-feeds by the excellent one in my Meier-Audio StageDAC. I now find that I just always use it because without it music that was originally mixed for stereo speakers (in fact all the music I listen to) just sounds pretty wrong on headphones.
 
There are software cross-feeds available but I have not tried them.
 
So, with the cross-feed and the well recorded orchestral work you can get an idea as to how realistic the soundstage is on headphones.
 
Of all the headphones I've heard my AKG K702s are the clear winner.

 

[Louis940]

Quote:

 

 
My default test for timbre and soundstage is Naturespace.
They have incredible recordings.
 
Edit: Get the free demo here!

 
My God. Listening to this on my Q701's. It makes me feel like I'm actually in the environment that I'm hearing.

 

[Vidmaven]

Some pretty cool ones on this page:
http://onemansblog.com/2007/05/13/get-your-virtual-haircut-and-other-auditory-illusions/

 

[JoeDoe]

A great one I just discovered with my 580s is someone like you by Adele live at Royal Albert Hall. She invites the audience to sing the chorus I think on the third time in and I feel like I'm surrounded by people when they sing. I laugh out loud every time I hear it!

 

[Kdavis71]

 
 

 
My default test for timbre and soundstage is Naturespace.
They have incredible recordings.
 
Edit: Get the free demo here!

Omg, I clicked the link while wearing my Sony Ma900 and it literally scared the crap out of me...