[Audman71]

Not sure where to put this thread exactly, but...

There comes a time after doing something like EQing or other processing of my headphones where I use a song to test the quality of that processing. Out of curiosity, does anyone else have a set of songs or go-to songs they use for this kind of testing?

If so, what are the first ones you go with?

No external song links, please!

 

[cossix]

The best bet is to go with what you're most familiar with! Once you know a song inside and out (what texture the instruments hace, singers tone, bass presence, decay of the drums, etc) then youll be able to test a pair of headphones and make solid comparisons.

As for music tracks, I use Colour To The Moon - Allan Taylor, Down Home - Amber Rubarth, Walk This Way - Aerosmith, 24K Magic - Bruno Mars, Take It Easy - Eagles, Hey Eugene - Pink Martini, Your Smiling Face - James Taylor, Living - Jan Gunnar Hoff, Sweetheart - Mariah Carey, Don't Know Why - Norah Jones, and most of the tracks from "Sennheiser HD800 Experience" Demo Disk

 

[stoobot]

I like to go with a mix of instrumentation, vocals, vocal harmonies and styles.

My usual go to tracks (in no order at all!);

Thrice - Silhouette (guitar driven heavy rock)
Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light (guitar variation, male vocal harmonies)
First Aid Kit - Shattered and Hollow (sparse instrumentation, keyboards, female vocal harmonies)
Beastie Boys - Sabotage (fast paced, bass guitar driven)
Richard Thompson - Grizzly Man OST - Main Title Revisited (probably best mixed unaccompanied electric guitar recording I've heard to date)
Max Richter - Anything off Blue Notebooks (mainly piano, some light electronics and sampling)
Efterklang - Monument (male vocal, light instrumentation)
Sigur Ros - Staráfur (falsetto vocal, strong orchestral section, horns, light piano)
Tegan & Sara - Call it Off (female vocal canon/harmonies)
Kavinsky - Testarossa Overdrive (fast paced synth led electronic)
Justice - Safe & Sound (steady driven electronics)
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (female vocal)
Naked & Famous - All of this (electronic, male/female vocal harmonies and canon)

 

[cossix]

Also be sure to use some kind of high quality lossless formats if possible. You'll want lots of room to hear the difference between headphones. If you only test using low quality lossy files, the difference in headphones may not be as easy to find because the music sounds bad on both. Shoot for at least 16bit 44.1khz lossless