[Supertoaster]

Quote:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/142023/songs-that-make-your-headphone-wooooow/1830#post_8529640

This thread is different. That's for songs that sound good on your headphones, this is sort of like "what do you christen your headphones with"

 

[devhen]

Its also for reference songs which are what most people use to christen their headphones. But that's fine, I'll post there instead. The post I linked to on that thread is what you asked for-- the first song I listen to whenever I get a new set of cans.

 

[Supertoaster]

Quote:

Its also for reference songs which are what most people use to christen their headphones. But that's fine, I'll post there instead. The post I linked to on that thread is what you asked for-- the first song I listen to whenever I get a new set of cans.

oh, derp, sorry, i thought you were just linking me the thread and didn't bother looking because I saw the thread title in the URL

 

[JTAbq]

Gwyneth Herbert, So worn out- off her 10 Lives album. It was a free download from the B&W Society of Sound collection. I haven't heard her mentioned here before, but I listen to it first on every new headphone I try or buy. Great highs, great lows, stunning voice it just tells me so much about the phones in one song. Is is odd because I didn't consciously make a decision to use that song, and I can't say its my favorite song but whenever I get something new that's the first song I go to. 

 

[RoboKrikit]

Quote:

 
BTW, in case anyone is unaware... changing the video resolution of Youtube vids also changes the audio quality. 1080p sounds by far the best.

 
1080p and 720p share the same audio quality across all YouTube codecs, so you can go 720p to save some bandwidth.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube#Quality_and_codecs
 
If you want to boost audio quality on YouTube searches (192Kbps Vorbis), make sure you have a browser that supports WebM, then join the HTML5 trial on YouTube (more info in link).  Unfortunately, not all uploads will be available in the HTML5-compatible formats, so videos will often fall back to Flash.  When you search, you can specify HD- and WebM-flagged videos by adding the comma-separated tags "hd" and "webm" to your search.  Example: hyorin whenever you call, hd, webm

 

[devhen]

Interesting. I could have sworn I experienced better audio quality on some videos by switching from 720p to 1080p but I guess not. I went back and tried a couple and sure enough they sound the same. Thanks for the info.

 

[soundstige]

Ah, the placebo that makes burn-in exist and FLAC sound different from WAV and ALAC -- isn't the human mind grand in its fallibility?
 
Quote:

Interesting. I could have sworn I experienced better audio quality on some videos by switching from 720p to 1080p but I guess not. I went back and tried a couple and sure enough they sound the same. Thanks for the info.

 

[A Ham Sandwich]

I know that YT (like HDMI) is supposed to link the amount of audio information to the amount of video information, thus as VQ reduces so does max AQ.  But there have been several instances where I found lower resolution vids on YT sounded better than higher resolution vids.  So I've always wondered how YT handled the sub-HD resolution options with regards to SQ:VQ ratio.

 

[devhen]

Quote:

Ah, the placebo that makes burn-in exist and FLAC sound different from WAV and ALAC -- isn't the human mind grand in its fallibility?

 
I was obviously confusing 720p vs 1080p with 480p vs 1080p in my memory because the difference I was remembering was an obvious one and that other stuff you mentioned... well that's just silliness!
 
@A Ham Sandwich: Its all explained in the table RoboKrikit linked to. Its not really like HDMI much at all since HDMI is a transmission standard and with YT its simply a matter of how Google has chosen to store and stream their audio and video. When you switch to a higher resolution it also switches to a separate audio stream (in most cases anyway-- 720p and 1080p always use the same audio stream which was RoboKrikit's point).

 

[Draygonn]

1080p and 720p share the same audio quality across all YouTube codecs, so you can go 720p to save some bandwidth.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube#Quality_and_codecs

Plus, I've usually had slow downloading at 1080p so I stick with 720p for all youtube vids and songs.

For a test track I use PB's Too Rich For My Blood (not for noise floor) followed by Nardis. Simply because I've tested the majority of my stuff on those and can tell differences right away.

[VIDEO]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi3i-HqDNFI[/VIDEO]

 

[grokit]

 
My go-to "reference" playlist. I always use this for evaluating new stuff; currently testing out an Amarra demo. The SQ is great, there's decent sonic variation, and most importantly I enjoy these songs enough to listen to them repeatedly.

 

[Silent One]

But what would be the first song you play on a new pair of headphones? Would that automatically be the track that appears at the top of your well assembled Reference List or do you still choose further?

 

[grokit]

Nah, I just let it go randomly. Sometimes I add/purge songs but for me it's hard to pick just one.
 
If I had to, right now it would be In the Morning by Nora Jones. But that could change...
 
Today I rolled in a few Zappa songs for next time

 

[petralian]

my first song was http://www.jlabaudio.com/burn.php ah lol... ok no really my first song was Claude Debussy - Images (Excerpt): II. Iberia: Par Les Rues Et Par Les Chemins - Les Parfums De La Nuit - Le Matin D'un Jour De Fete

 

[hkppl]

The National Anthem of The People's Republic of China 

 
lol j/k, actually just any song that was playing in my player.