[lowrider007]

For me atm it has to be

'Katie Melua - Piece By Piece'

The CD is so well recorded and equalised, The vocals on 'Nine Million Bicycles' send a shiver down your spin on a decent set of can's or speakers, great for testing the mid to top end frequencies on your equipment.

Anyway, What's your reference album for testing hi-fi gear ?

 

[tim_the_gamer]

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication.

If it sounds good, then the equipment is utter crap.

 

[ComfyCan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tim_the_gamer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication. If it sounds good, then the equipment is utter crap.

That's really funny.

(I usually use two wildely different genres for redbook: 1) Alison Krauss + Union Station Live; and 2) Tool, AEnima. Both are very well mastered. Alisson gives me the vocals, mids & such, and Tool gives me low end).

 

[japc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tim_the_gamer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication. If it sounds good, then the equipment is utter crap.

ROTFL!

 

[vcoheda]

for rock, i like to use live acoustic works - something where i can really hear the voices and instruments clearly. one of my favorites for this is KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza. For classical, i often turn to Bach's violin concertos by Hilary Hahn - great performances and sound.

 

[krmathis]

Probably this one...
"Acoustic Live" - Nils Lofgren

 

[yoginasser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowrider007 /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me atm it has to be 'Katie Melua - Piece By Piece' The CD is so well recorded and equalised, The vocals on 'Nine Million Bicycles' send a shiver down your spin on a decent set of can's or speakers, great for testing the mid to top end frequencies on your equipment.

X2

 

[Meliboeus]

I use different records depending what i am willing to test, and different genres,for example

Rush - 2112
Emerson Lake and Palmer - Brain salad surgery
Dire Straits - s/t
Exodus - Bonded by Blood

and many others....

 

[Luminette]

A mixture of things and styles

I always go straight for the Infected Mushroom, though - particularly songs like Dancing With Kadafi - my #1 go to song for testing what the phones can handle in a variety of ways

I tend to have a lot of individual tracks to test individual things with, too

 

[MoodySteve]

I use Shpongle's '...And The Day Turned To Night' and 'Beija Flor' to test the 'color' and dynamics (from 'Are You Shpongled' and 'Nothing Lasts', respectively...Beija Flor is the first 3 tracks on Nothing Lasts). Dancing With Kadafi would certainly be a good addition to this stage of the test.

I use Robert Rich's 'Shadowline' and Murcof's 'Oort' to test detail and, again, color (from 'Electric Ladder' and 'Cosmos', respectively).

I use basically anything by Amon Tobin to test for SLAM and, again, detail resolution, as his music can sound muddy and congested on some equipment.

And finally, I use Beethoven's 'Moonlight' and 'Pathetique' sonatas, preferably performed by Arthur Rubenstein, to test detail (yet again), sibilance and any other anomalies, as I've found that piano recordings are absolutely merciless in revealing flaws in equipment (and vice versa - good equipment is absolutely merciless in revealing shoddy piano recordings).

 

[nickyboyo]

I like to use Primal Screams- Screamadelica, Joanna Newsome- The Milk-Eyed Mender and an acoustic guitar album,eg.anything by Tommy Emmanuel, Michael Hedges or Nils Lofgren.

 

[LarryK2]

. . . with Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on 45 rpm Classic Records re-release of the RCA Living Stereo recording is not a bad place to start. Very demanding.

 

[BigEat]

I go through a series from Bill Frisell to Neil Young live at Massey Hall. For an album recorded so long ago, that one is amazingly well done...analog all the way of course. Then more recently, NIN Ghosts.

 

[jjhatfield]

Genesis - A Trick Of The Tail (Atco/Japan, Barry Diament master)

The first three tracks on this album will tell me everything I need to know about a pair of headphones.

 

[basic-chanel]

Can I say my entire music collection? I listen to such a broad spectrum of things that I need to make sure everything sounds fine to me before I'm willing to drop that amount of money.