[FFBookman]

Stevie Wonder's various synths and electric pianos are always great tells. You can hear the quality of a rig when he's on. Especially his intros with lots of tremolo.
 
I have hotter than july and songs in the key of life at 24bit. The rest I have at 16bit but want to upgrade when I can afford it.
 
 
Another really funky 24bit is Slave/Slave from 1976. It's got serious syncopation and timing cues that come out in hi-res, and the bass string and fret noise is something to behold on a nice system.

 

[Saniva]

I see around the web that Burn the Witch from Radiohead gets lots of plays to see how equipment measures up in terms of performance, separation of sounds and clarity. Its usually the last 35 second violin chopping climax that is make or break for a headphone (or a DAC) test.

 

[edulov]

Lack of recent tracks, especially from 2016/2017. So I'll try to offer some tracks suited for testing, but not all in one post.
 
Old gold/New Heavy metal from German band: Grave Digger - Healed by Metal (2017)
#4 Free Forever
#12 Bucket List (bonus track)
 
Rock: Gone Is Gone - Echolocation (2017)
#11 Resolve
 
Electronic/Pop/Rock/Jazz: Chillout Rockerz - Push Play For Pleasure (2016)
#4 Just Smile
#7 Deep Thought

 

[edulov]

Pop/Rock: Blackfield - Blackfield V (2017)
#9 The Jackal
#11 Undercover Heart
 
Rock: Gone is Gone - Gone is Gone (2016)
#4 Character   !!for sibilance, but must sound crisp and clear!!!
 
Pop/Rock: Warhaus - We ****ed A Flame Into Being (2016)
#2 The Good Lie
#5 Beaches

 

[drbluenewmexico]

The ALIEN JAMS download from peakrec.com
 
featuring Ajja on killer lead electric guitar with space alien effects \by
Cosmosis 
 
a tour de force in hybrid rock/ space music that is musically amazing
and recorded impeccably. download in FLAC and listen in awe....
use it to evaluate new DAPS, sound systems, etc.

 

[musikevan]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sd3ZSx5ZGUs

Songs and dances...bass drum extraordinaire, silky vocals, instrumental combos, tests entire range of your audio setup

 

[chrismini]

I find the entire record Aja by Steely Dan to really give your system a workout. Especially the title track. It's my turn-to music to judge the sound of any gear. Not my sole reason, but a big one because I've been listening to it since I was a teenager. When I took a course in an audio engineering our professor played this track to give us an idea of how good properly recorded and produced music can sound. This was before digital, or iTools, or motorized console faders on the main board. All analog. Digital reverbs were still something new and expensive. If anyone have to have the opportunity to see how Dark Side of the Moon was recorded, it's worth checking out. Primitive compared to a modern recording studio. And this was done at Abby Road!

 

[edulov]

  I find the entire record Aja by Steely Dan to really give your system a workout. Especially the title track. It's my turn-to music to judge the sound of any gear. Not my sole reason, but a big one because I've been listening to it since I was a teenager. When I took a course in an audio engineering our professor played this track to give us an idea of how good properly recorded and produced music can sound. This was before digital, or iTools, or motorized console faders on the main board. All analog. Digital reverbs were still something new and expensive. If anyone have to have the opportunity to see how Dark Side of the Moon was recorded, it's worth checking out. Primitive compared to a modern recording studio. And this was done at Abby Road!

Must agree that you can use Aja to test, but! actually you need only a couple of short moments to test dynamic resolution.
Other album tracks are suitable to test speakers, not headphones, since all tracks offer very narrow, plane soundstage. Not even a glimpse of 3D.
(source: reworked HiRes vinyl rip)

 

[edulov]

Industrial: Celldweller - I Can't Wait Remixes (2012)
#09 I Can't Wait (Break Me ReMix by TweakerRay)
 
For russian speaking members:
Кино - Группа крови (из Лучших песен 2006)
если у Вас наушники и аппаратура дающие большую стереобазу, то Вы услышите вокал Цоя одновременно и достаточно далеко и справа и слева от Вас. Чем ближе кажется голос, или не дай бог - единственный источник прямо в голове - тем отстойнее уши.
(if you have decent gear and headphones with wide soundstage you will hear singer's voice from the big distance from the left and from the right simoultaneously. Narrower the perception is, or even worse - vocals from a single point inside your heard - what a horrible set of cans you own!)

 

[chrismini]

What would you suggest for headphone auditioning? Binaural recordings are just too hard to come by. Rebecca Pigeon doing Spanish Harlem off the Chesky disc has been useful. Even without crossfeed that the Micro stack I've owned for 10 years provides. 

 

[chrismini]

I don't own "horrible cans" and headphones, like loudspeakers are only as good as the signal they're fed. I own modified HiFiMAN HE-400s and I dare anyone within the same price range to do better. These are also modded with sorbathane which was a 50% improvement. Like loudspeakers they are at the end of the day monitors just like the ones used in every recording studio. Look over my profile if you're interested in my gear.

 

[edulov]

Post-Hardcore, Metal-Core: Chasing Safety - Nomad (2017)
#05 Nomad
#10 Under Fire - special attention for bass control, body and separation

 

[DigMe]

What would you suggest for headphone auditioning? Binaural recordings are just too hard to come by. Rebecca Pigeon doing Spanish Harlem off the Chesky disc has been useful. Even without crossfeed that the Micro stack I've owned for 10 years provides. 

Chesky has quite a few binaural recordings available through HDTracks. One great one that they released last year is Macy Gray's album Stripped. Another recent one is John McEuen's Made in Brooklyn.

 

[FFBookman]

  I don't own "horrible cans" and headphones, like loudspeakers are only as good as the signal they're fed. I own modified HiFiMAN HE-400s and I dare anyone within the same price range to do better. These are also modded with sorbathane which was a 50% improvement. Like loudspeakers they are at the end of the day monitors just like the ones used in every recording studio. Look over my profile if you're interested in my gear.

 

only as good as the signal they're fed

 
This is so often forgotten these days. Signal chain is king, and speakers/headphones are near the end of that chain.
 
Of course speakers/cans affect quality but not in the same pure way as things being improved up the chain.
 
Gotta keep it basic in this post-fact world.

 

[Hi-Fi'er]

Tracklist

1 A Thousand Million Years 1:52
2 Dreaming 2:06
3 Highway One 2:59
4 Truckin' 3:12
5 Hot And Wet 3:40
6 White Line 3:12
7 Cruise
8 Give It To Me 3:24
9 Drive 2:44
10 Breaking Ties 3:47
11 Confusion In The City 4:16
12 Desert Wind 3:22
13 Mountains To The Sea 2:58
14 Into To Test Tones 0:05
15 Stereo Image Check 0:26
16 Resonance Check 1:12
17 Phase Check 1:12
18 Pink Noise 5:00
19 Zero Data 2:00

Companies, etc.
Made By – Disctronics B
Licensed To – Alpine Electronics
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Devine Music
Published By – Devine Music
Recorded At – Devine Recording Studios
Mixed At – Devine Recording Studios
Copyright (c) – Alpine Electronics Of Australia Pty Limited

Credits
Arranged By, Keyboards – Michael Barolomei (tracks: 6)
Artwork By [Realist Cover Art] – Scott McDougall
Bass – Clive Harrison
Composed By – Peter Northcote (tracks: 3)
Composed By, Guitar – Kirk Lorange (tracks: 4)
Concept By [Original], Technician [Technical Direction] – Paul M. Graham
Design, Art Direction – Greg Devine
Engineer – Bob Disckson
Guitar – Peter Northcote
Lyrics By [Intro] – Roy McCourt
Mastered By – Leon Zervos
Other [Test Tones Generated By] – David Macquarie, Louis Challis
Producer, Composed By – Brian Beamish (tracks: 11)
Programmed By – Clive Harrison (2) (tracks: 1 to 10, 12 to19)
Programmed By [Assistance] – Colin Timms (3) (tracks: 11)
Saxophone [Sax] – Andrew Oh, Graham Jessie*
Vocals – Adrian Payne, Chris Loyds, Doug Williams, Erana Leef, Jacky Jensen, Jeff Duff, Pauline Timms
Written-By, Arranged By, Producer – Clive Harrison (2), Greg Devine

Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout: MADE BY DISCTRONICS B ✳✳ #01
Other (Spars Code): DDD

Awesome CD.