THE WATERCOOLER HEADPHONE EDITION – Headphones, Amps, DACs, and desktop/home audio related – a freewheeling discussion of gear, impressions, music, and musings.

[goldwerger]

The opening percussion if it grabs me this is a very good sign. There’s an organ here as well as a nicely played electric guitar. Tim Waits song and my favorite version of it by a long distance.

Wonderful track!

 

[G8torbyte]

Last evening at CanJam, we gathered after dinner at the hotel lobby where chat and laughter ensued. At some point we got back to audio and I lobbied a question that elicited some fun replies, We all agreed we should port this question over here to the thread, so here goes…

If you could choose only 1 test track to use to demo gear, which would it be?

If you could choose 5 test tracks, which would they be?


My replies:

My current go-to single track is:

• “Blind-Hearted” by Sara K. — The track opens with a very low frequency bowed double-bass that I find can only be reproduced well on the best systems (and, when done well, can be an utterly exquisite moment of acoustic reproduction). It is also a great vocal track, which I like quite a lot, and great for testing female vocals. This recording was made by Stockfish Records in Germany, which has made several fantastic acoustic recordings.

If I currently chose 5 test tracks to test, those would be:

• “Blind-Hearted” by Sara K. (see above)
• “Judas Maccabaeus, HWV 63: Part III- See, the conqu'ring hero comes!” by Oscar Motet’s Choir — The entire album of “Cantate Domino” is an incredible recording made in 1976 at Oscarskyrkan (Oscar’s Church) in Stockholm, Sweden. A marvelous choir, an organ, and trumpet, showcasing classical and holiday tunes. This specific track (the 4th of the album) features the choir singing a cappella, and the acoustic chamber of the church hall in which this was recorded is wonderful for getting a sense of spacial reproduction.
• “New Oldie” by Eric Bellinger and Snoop Dogg — I find this track great for testing frequency extension for treble as there are high frequency instrumental notes at the start of it that can reveal the quality of treble and air when well resolved. Then, after a few seconds, the drum beat kicks in like a mule and offers a great test for low bass quantity and dynamics.
• “Trying to Figure It Out” by Grace Kelly — I’ve recently been using this track by this talented composer, saxophonist, and singer to gauge timbral accuracy. This track showcases both her beautiful sax playing as well as vocals.
• “Now That The Summer’s Here” by Michael Franks — I love using this track to capture the sparkling instruments at the start of the track, which occasionally reappear. These high notes move from right to left channel occasionally and it’s also interesting to see how organically this happens. I also like the sense of space in this recording.

This isn’t a permanent list; rather, it keeps changing from CanJam to CanJam and as new tracks pop into my consciousness. But, at this moment, on this weekend, these were my go-to’s to get a quick sense of gear and calibrate myself.

What are yours?

If only one test track:
Pink Panther-version from Audiophile Analog Collection. This one is different from Henry Mancini's main recording in that it seems to be a larger orchestral arrangement and a bit jazzier. I like the slow build-up starting with light cymbal taps and classic bass. Then you can hear someone's excitement saying "Yeah!" in the background during the trumpet solo. It is also nostalgic for me as I enjoyed the Pink Panther cartoons and Peter Sellers movies during my childhood.

Other four for now. This is hard to narrow down as I currently have over 350 tracks grouped in 13 genres saved for testing:

Lord Huron - "Wait by the River" When I first heard this on the Atrium Open I could envision being in the room with the band and pointing out where each instrument was coming from. Main vocals are forward-present, string-bass/guitar/horns and backing vocals off to the left, high-hat slightly left, snare just right, keyboard and maracas further back right. Interesting how it all spaces out and there are three bass drops that dig deep.

GAARN - "Magellan" This is a technical, modern electro track that I like to use to punish and push the limits of planars as it has a lot going on. Highs and lows, heavy beat, bass drops and haunting vocals.

Hans Zimmer - "Now We Are Free" from The Gladiator movie. Czarina Russell's vocals are excellent here and Lisa Gerrard's voice in the original recording always gives me chills.

Male vocals are even more difficult for me to select as I like such a wide variety. From the deep mellow tones of Merle Haggard to the high octaves of Roy Orbison. The powerful delivery in Bono's "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" never fails to impress me.

 

[RTodd]

If could only use one test track:
Pink Panther-version from Audiophile Analog Collection. This one is different from Henry Mancini's main recording in that it seems to be a larger orchestral arrangement and a bit jazzier. I like the slow build-up starting with light cymbal taps and classic bass. Then you can hear someone's excitement saying "Yeah" in the background during the trumpet solo. It is also nostalgic for me as I enjoyed the Pink Panther cartoons and Peter Sellers movies during my childhood.

Other four for now. This is hard to narrow down as I currently have over 350 tracks grouped in 13 genres saved for testing:

Lord Huron - "Wait by the River" When I first heard this on the Atrium Open I could envision being in the room with the band and pointing out where each instrument was coming from. Main vocals are forward-present, string-bass/guitar/horns and backing vocals off to the left, high-hat slightly left, snare just right, keyboard and maracas further back right. Interesting how it all spaces out and there are three bass drops that dig deep.

GAARN - "Magellan" This is a technical, modern electro track that I like to use to push the limits of planars as it has a lot going on. High, lows, heavy beat, bass drops and haunting vocals.

Hans Zimmer - "Now We Are Free" from The Gladiator movie. Czarina Russell's vocals are excellent here and Lisa Gerrard's voice in the original recording always gives me chills.

Male vocals are even more difficult for me to select as I like such a wide variety. From the deep mellow tones of Merle Haggard to the high octaves of Roy Orbison. The powerful delivery in Bono's "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" never fails to impress me.

Checking out your tracks, never heard this band before the track after the one you choose I also liked. They kind of remind me of My Morning Jacket.

Great test of stage

If you never heard MMJ try this track really beautiful one with a touching story; a possible opening servo to a love story, or just a could have been fantasy.

Could not find Gaarn on Roon (Tidal Qobuz)
Bandcamp only I suppose.

 

[Doug2507]

Since the ZMF bandwagon is strong in here, for a rock based catalogue (sorry, I know most of you ARE into jazzy shizzle and classical), where do you lean between AC and CC?

 

[goldwerger]

Since the ZMF bandwagon is strong in here, for a rock based catalogue (sorry, I know most of you ARE into jazzy shizzle and classical), where do you lean between AC and CC?

Personally, I’d probably lean CC for rock, as it will have better instrument separation for busy electric guitar/drums, as well as a bit darker (yet resolving) upper mids and treble that can work better with poorer recordings. That said, if you are into lower bass that it visceral, then the AC would be my pick (I have and love them both).

 

[G8torbyte]

Checking out your tracks, never heard this band before the track after the one you choose I also liked. They kind of remind me of My Morning Jacket.


Great test of stage

If you never heard MMJ try this track really beautiful one with a touching story; a possible opening servo to a love story, or just a could have been fantasy.



Could not find Gaarn on Roon (Tidal Qobuz)
Bandcamp only I suppose.

Oh yeah, love My Morning Jacket. I have four of their albums. My wife likes the Librarian track too since she is a bookworm and always wanted to work at a library.
I go to Infacted Recordings, Alpha Matrix and ArtofFact Records on Bandcamp for most of my electro music.

 

[JerseyD]

Top audition tracks at CanJam Dallas for me were:
1. Art Blakey - Moanin'. Acoustic instrumental jazz is my main jam. This track has layered horns, piano that can sound muffled on inferior gear and realistic on great gear, Art's amazing drumming and a searing trumpet salvo that better sound clear or your gear has failed.
2. Dave Brubeck - Take Five. Call it a cliche and I don't care. Atmospherics and room sound, especially during Joe Morello's drum solo bit.
3. Neko Case - (tie - I'm cheating with a half-track each) I Wish I were the Moon, and then Hold On. Amazing reverb-y female vocals and atmospherics galore.
4. Stevie Ray Vaughn - Tin Pan Alley. Another cliche audition track? Sue me. With the right gear, sounds astounding. If it comes out just meh, you're done.
5. Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan. So much going on, I'm looking for that separation and space between notes and instruments and voices.

Five is tough and I rarely listen to entire track before jumping to something else in a show environment where I don't want to be a gear-hog!

 

[chrisnyc75]

If you could choose only 1 test track to use to demo gear, which would it be?

If you could choose 5 test tracks, which would they be?

Oooh, that's tough. The best way I can answer this is to reflect on the tracks that I actually do use to test new gear. Are these selections scientifically triangulated to be the absolute best tools for evaluating hifi equipment? Probably not, but they are the ones I return to over and over and have downloaded on my portable device for quick access, because the first and most important rule of testing new gear is USE TRACKS YOU KNOW VERY VERY WELL.

1 track:
"Coconut" by Fever Ray. This track gives you sub-bass, mid-bass, big dynamic swings, imaging, & complex passages. It is also preceded on the album by another favorite demo track "Keep The Streets Empty For Me" which is great for testing vocals, soundstage, and spatial effects, making it a convenient one-two punch to cover all bases when time is limited.

5 tracks:
1 - "Coconut" by Fever Ray, notes above.
2 - "1000 Beautiful Things" by Annie Lennox. Her vocals float & soar in this track, so anything less than goosebumps IMHO means what you're listening to might be doing female vocals an injustice.
3 - "Draem (Live)" by Manu Delago. Recorded live, this is a good test of timbre, soundstage, & imaging. And again, anything less than goosebumps tells me what I'm listening to might not be up to the task. This is one of the tracks I devoted half my time to when I had 10 minutes with HE-1.
4 - "Uni Sub" by Alva Noto. This track has the deepest cleanest sub-bass I've ever heard and is a great test of how deep a headphone can dig and how well it can present it. Also a succinct test of sharp electronic transients and textures.
5 - "Dokking (Live)" by Maria Kannegaard Trio. This recent release is one of the best live acoustic jazz recordings I've ever heard and is a great test of timbre, soundstage, imaging, etc.

Honorable mention to Indigo Girls "Prince of Darkness", just because it's my favorite song of all time and I know it so well that any slight defect is immediately apparent to me. (this is the track I devoted the remaining 5 minutes to when I had time with HE-1)

 

[Frankie D]

5 is not enough, these are five of them to these I add a couple full orchestra tracks and at least one vocal opera performance.

The first one I always use, if it was only one that would be it though I know it is not a good test for sibilance which is for me the largest factor limiting the gear.


Temptation. The opening percussion if it grabs me this is a very good sign. There’s an organ here as well as a nicely played electric guitar. Tom Waits song and my favorite version of it by a long distance.


Opening guitar layering, the voice in its own space. Prog songs are where I usually run into sibilance issues, almost any Riverside track will do so depends on my mood.


Sub bass amongst the most I have ever heard in a track. This is only a ten or so second test for me.


Guitar timbre, fingers on strings sounds, discord followed by beautiful melody, repetition of tension and release.


Guitar, drums, sax, and the bass, nothing is the star all are the star, as they take turns with my focus, I can test timbre of these acoustic instruments.

I knew Temptation would be on the list! Great track.

 

[Frankie D]

Since the ZMF bandwagon is strong in here, for a rock based catalogue (sorry, I know most of you ARE into jazzy shizzle and classical), where do you lean between AC and CC?

Still looking to get my first ZMF. Having heard most now, my favorites are the Atriums and the Caldera Open with the Atrium Closed probably my favorite. The bass is just a perfect match for 60’s, 70’s and 80’s rock music. Great with jazz as well. I don’t think you can go wrong either way, and my bet is you will end up with more than one!

 

[goldwerger]

Still looking to get my first ZMF. Having heard most now, my favorites are the Atriums and the Caldera Open with the Atrium Closed probably my favorite. The bass is just a perfect match for 60’s, 70’s and 80’s rock music. Great with jazz as well. I don’t think you can go wrong either way, and my bet is you will end up with more than one!

You can demo them all at my place when you visit next..

 

[Frankie D]

You can demo them all at my place when you visit next..

I did! I did not hear the Verite Closed yet. That is the only one.

 

[goldwerger]

I did! I did not hear the Verite Closed yet. That is the only one.

Alas, that is the one I let go (the AC appearance at the time stole all my closed-back listening time). I do regret that some times. It was a beautiful olive set...

 

[Hiker816]

Last evening at CanJam, we gathered after dinner at the hotel lobby where chat and laughter ensued. At some point we got back to audio and I lobbied a question that elicited some fun replies, We all agreed we should port this question over here to the thread, so here goes…

If you could choose only 1 test track to use to demo gear, which would it be?

If you could choose 5 test tracks, which would they be?


My replies:

My current go-to single track is:

• “Blind-Hearted” by Sara K. — The track opens with a very low frequency bowed double-bass that I find can only be reproduced well on the best systems (and, when done well, can be an utterly exquisite moment of acoustic reproduction). It is also a great vocal track, which I like quite a lot, and great for testing female vocals. This recording was made by Stockfish Records in Germany, which has made several fantastic acoustic recordings.

If I currently chose 5 test tracks to test, those would be:

• “Blind-Hearted” by Sara K. (see above)
• “Judas Maccabaeus, HWV 63: Part III- See, the conqu'ring hero comes!” by Oscar Motet’s Choir — The entire album of “Cantate Domino” is an incredible recording made in 1976 at Oscarskyrkan (Oscar’s Church) in Stockholm, Sweden. A marvelous choir, an organ, and trumpet, showcasing classical and holiday tunes. This specific track (the 4th of the album) features the choir singing a cappella, and the acoustic chamber of the church hall in which this was recorded is wonderful for getting a sense of spacial reproduction.
• “New Oldie” by Eric Bellinger and Snoop Dogg — I find this track great for testing frequency extension for treble as there are high frequency instrumental notes at the start of it that can reveal the quality of treble and air when well resolved. Then, after a few seconds, the drum beat kicks in like a mule and offers a great test for low bass quantity and dynamics.
• “Trying to Figure It Out” by Grace Kelly — I’ve recently been using this track by this talented composer, saxophonist, and singer to gauge timbral accuracy. This track showcases both her beautiful sax playing as well as vocals.
• “Now That The Summer’s Here” by Michael Franks — I love using this track to capture the sparkling instruments at the start of the track, which occasionally reappear. These high notes move from right to left channel occasionally and it’s also interesting to see how organically this happens. I also like the sense of space in this recording.

This isn’t a permanent list; rather, it keeps changing from CanJam to CanJam and as new tracks pop into my consciousness. But, at this moment, on this weekend, these were my go-to’s to get a quick sense of gear and calibrate myself.

What are yours?

Great (but tough) question. I think I would go with the following:

1 Track:

• "Playing God" by Polyphia. There's unbelievable speed on this track--can the HP or amp keep up? Also incredible snap to the electroacoustic guitar plucks--how is this conveyed? It also presents a great test for instrument separation. And, it has a really intense bassline which extends remarkably deep into the subbass. And on the other end, it has a lot of treble content.

4 Other Tracks:

• "No Moon" by Night Verses. This opens with a very faint repeating dialogue that most HPs and amps can't audibly reproduce.
• "Mobius" by Syncatto. This has a great combo of blazing fast guitar, piano, bass guitar, and violin (plus drums, but I think they're programmed). Great for evaluating timbre and instrument separation.
• "Mediterranean Sundance" off "A Friday Night in San Francisco" by Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia, and John McLaughlin. Holy guitar timbre, batman!
• "Phoenix V Invocation" by Night Verses. About 56 seconds in, there's a sequence where the guitar distortion isn't quite perfectly engineered (though it's overall fabulously engineered) and it can sound grating on some systems. How well does the HP or amp handle that?

I also use a lot of other tracks by Syncatto, Bernth, Night Verses, Intervals, and Manuel Gardner Fernandez when I'm not limited. E.g., "8 Gates of Pleasure" by Night Verses opens with a drum sequence that pans from left to right. Maybe not realistic, but great for assessing how instruments are presented in space.

(Note, none of these have any vocals. I almost never listen to vocals. I'm weird).

 

[genefruit]

Last evening at CanJam, we gathered after dinner at the hotel lobby where chat and laughter ensued. At some point we got back to audio and I lobbied a question that elicited some fun replies, We all agreed we should port this question over here to the thread, so here goes…

If you could choose only 1 test track to use to demo gear, which would it be?

If you could choose 5 test tracks, which would they be?


My replies:

My current go-to single track is:

• “Blind-Hearted” by Sara K. — The track opens with a very low frequency bowed double-bass that I find can only be reproduced well on the best systems (and, when done well, can be an utterly exquisite moment of acoustic reproduction). It is also a great vocal track, which I like quite a lot, and great for testing female vocals. This recording was made by Stockfish Records in Germany, which has made several fantastic acoustic recordings.

If I currently chose 5 test tracks to test, those would be:

• “Blind-Hearted” by Sara K. (see above)
• “Judas Maccabaeus, HWV 63: Part III- See, the conqu'ring hero comes!” by Oscar Motet’s Choir — The entire album of “Cantate Domino” is an incredible recording made in 1976 at Oscarskyrkan (Oscar’s Church) in Stockholm, Sweden. A marvelous choir, an organ, and trumpet, showcasing classical and holiday tunes. This specific track (the 4th of the album) features the choir singing a cappella, and the acoustic chamber of the church hall in which this was recorded is wonderful for getting a sense of spacial reproduction.
• “New Oldie” by Eric Bellinger and Snoop Dogg — I find this track great for testing frequency extension for treble as there are high frequency instrumental notes at the start of it that can reveal the quality of treble and air when well resolved. Then, after a few seconds, the drum beat kicks in like a mule and offers a great test for low bass quantity and dynamics.
• “Trying to Figure It Out” by Grace Kelly — I’ve recently been using this track by this talented composer, saxophonist, and singer to gauge timbral accuracy. This track showcases both her beautiful sax playing as well as vocals.
• “Now That The Summer’s Here” by Michael Franks — I love using this track to capture the sparkling instruments at the start of the track, which occasionally reappear. These high notes move from right to left channel occasionally and it’s also interesting to see how organically this happens. I also like the sense of space in this recording.

This isn’t a permanent list; rather, it keeps changing from CanJam to CanJam and as new tracks pop into my consciousness. But, at this moment, on this weekend, these were my go-to’s to get a quick sense of gear and calibrate myself.

What are yours?

My single track is the Cowboy Junkies rendition of Walkin' After Midnight from the Trinity Sessions. Famously talked about recording and the best systems pull out all of the details, especially after they finish playing and are discussing the take. With resolving systems, you can easily pick out which words Margo is saying in the microphone versus spoken by her without the microphone. Staging of the band can be easily identified in the circle layout they formed around the single microphone. If you want to read more on the recording techniques and challenges that were faced, read more here - https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-cowboy-junkies-sweet-jane

5 test tracks include the aforementioned Cowboy Junkies song and

Poem of Chinese Drum by Yim Hok-Man off the Master of Chinese Percussion album - impactful drums captured in a fantastic recording
First Watch by King Creosote & Jon Hopkins off the Diamond Mine album - detail resolution test to pick out the positioning and spoken words that becomes more challenging as the music rises.
The Koln Concert by Keith Jarrett - I'll typically have an excerpt sliced out to listen for emotional impact and piano playback.
We, the Drowned by Lisa Hannigan off the Other Voices Courage Presents: Lisa Hannigan - live album recorded at the National Gallery of Ireland. A cello, a guitar, a vocalist, and a background vocal. Simple staging, no parlor tricks. Clean recording for tone.