What songs do you guys use to test?

[Tim Le]

Hello everybody, I've got a couple of IEMs, but I'm planning to downsize. What are some of your reference tracks to test the following?

Bass:

Mids:

Treble:

PRaT:

Soundstage/Imaging:

Resolution:

Thanks!

 

[Muinarc]

I test with songs that I like and know well, and am in the mood to listen to at the time.

 

[theveterans]

IMO the best songs are the one you know how they sound to your current gear so that when you test a different gear, you can compare it to yours easily

 

[Tim Le]

Thanks guys. The main problem is most of my music is more modern (poorly recorded/mastered) with a lot of use of synths instead of instruments. Even a lot of the drums are digital. I can use them to test bass quality and extension, but when it comes to actual timbre of instruments and soundstage, they really fall short.

Furthermore, I've listened off of YouTube all my life, so I'm only familiar with the low quality samples of even my favorite songs.

Could you guys recommend one or two songs you personally use to test sound stage? I've heard people describe sound stage with terms like "depth, width, and even height." For most of my tracks, I can only hear positioning along the X axis.

 

[theveterans]

Thanks guys. The main problem is most of my music is more modern (poorly recorded/mastered) with a lot of use of synths instead of instruments. Even a lot of the drums are digital. I can use them to test bass quality and extension, but when it comes to actual timbre of instruments and soundstage, they really fall short.

That does not matter IMO. Even if you've got just YouTube streams, that too will sound different with another gear, and as such you might not get the best out of that gear you're sampling, but it will still make that YouTube stream sound better or worse than your current gear. In my experience, the better the gear, the better it sounds overall, despite hearing more faults in the recording due to more revealing nature of the better gear.

If you know this song, "Money" by pink floyd is a good song to test sound stage.

 

[buke9]

Thanks guys. The main problem is most of my music is more modern (poorly recorded/mastered) with a lot of use of synths instead of instruments. Even a lot of the drums are digital. I can use them to test bass quality and extension, but when it comes to actual timbre of instruments and soundstage, they really fall short.

Furthermore, I've listened off of YouTube all my life, so I'm only familiar with the low quality samples of even my favorite songs.

Could you guys recommend one or two songs you personally use to test sound stage? I've heard people describe sound stage with terms like "depth, width, and even height." For most of my tracks, I can only hear positioning along the X axis.

There is “ The Ultimate Headphone Demonstration Disc” by Chesky. Was going to say Money also and Horse with no name by America also is a good one.

 

[cossix]

As mentioned, the best songs are the ones you know intimately. HDtracks has a good lossless sampler for free when you sign up. I use some of those to test gear

 

[kid vic]

Try: "The Payback part 1& 2" by james brown; great for depth and detail. For bass I use "Cocoa Butter" By uncle flex (soundcloud not youtube).
Post some links to what you usually listen to, but realisitically if you got into this hobby as a by product of your love of music you should have a few things on your own already

 

[buke9]

Try: "The Payback part 1& 2" by james brown; great for depth and detail. For bass I use "Cocoa Butter" By uncle flex (soundcloud not youtube).
Post some links to what you usually listen to, but realisitically if you got into this hobby as a by product of your love of music you should have a few things on your own already

You were right on with The Payback awesome tune. I couldn’t find Cocoa Butter but there was a Coconut Butter. It has sub bass and if you need test the speed of the bass on your headphones it would be pretty good for that too. My bass track is “My Freinds and I” by Griz just a lot of fun as with most Griz tunes. Haven’t heard James Brown in a while thanks for mentioning him too much music not enough time.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Please check the first or second link in my signature. There, I described the four songs, and which sections (I seconds from song start), that I use to compare each of 10 acoustic features for different headphones.

 

[Tim Le]

Thank you everybody, I have a lot of listening to do tonight to decide which IEM I'm going to end up keeping

 

[kid vic]

You were right on with The Payback awesome tune. I couldn’t find Cocoa Butter but there was a Coconut Butter. It has sub bass and if you need test the speed of the bass on your headphones it would be pretty good for that too. My bass track is “My Freinds and I” by Griz just a lot of fun as with most Griz tunes. Haven’t heard James Brown in a while thanks for mentioning him too much music not enough time.

Sorry about the misname, thought I had it right.. I find that my HE500's show the placement of the different tones with a speed and accuracy thats unparalleled; other headphones match the speed or impact but not the accuracy in combination with everything else. Also that song is excellent for layering.

Haha who doesn't love some James Brown???