[zmd]

I give new headphones a workout with:
 
Tool - Ticks & Leeches - drums, bass, biting guitars, for articulation
Pearl Jam - WMA - percussion, bass, ability to play "ugly" music
Dream Theater - A change of seasons (the whole album) - played it endlessly, use it to determine if I like the overall sound
The Cure - Fascination Street, for details and complexity

 

[Specman]

For the Etymotic 4p it was 'What time is love - extended live version', that was just a song that I thought sounded really valuable. For the Triple.fi pro it was 'What time is love - single version' which is strange, I guess I thought it was a jamming track to test the earphones out with. For the sony e700 it was'scientific coverup' - by atmos, I thought this cool song would be good for this occasion, it had cool highlighter parts in it. For the shure 530 I just played whatever was on my himd at the time - 'blush response' off of the bladerunner sound track (I thought they sounded awesome). For the sennheiser IE8 it was 'patience of a saint' - electronic, because it has a chilling bassline and is an all round awesome track.

 

[drewjp]

Radiohead - "Paranoid Android"
Feist - "Tout Doucement"
She & Him - "Don't Look Back"
Eric Clapton - "Layla" (unplugged)
 
All such different songs...helps bring out different attributes in different phones.

 

[wakeride74]

This should really be on everyones list of reference songs... great stuff!
 

 

[kingtz]

 
Quote:

This should really be on everyones list of reference songs... great stuff!
 

 
Great song! Definitely went on my list of reference songs.
 
My only "reference" songs have been songs that I like, nothing really technical to test out equipment. Anyway, I usually listen to:
 
What Am I to You? - Norah Jones
If that's What It Takes - Celine Dion
Karma Police - Radiohead
Bailamos - Enrique Iglesias
 

 

[rickytuk]

I recently listened to one of the Now that's what I call music albums & was amazed by the quality of The Connells 74 - 75. The acoustic guitar sounds wonderful & the drums sound great. Really top notch engineering.
 
I agree that most of the tracks mentioned here all sound great. Another real suprise from the Now collection of CD's was Avril Lavine's Complcated. The song is a bit poppy for my taste but the recording sounds great.

 

[Sound Quest]

Some of my reference albums.

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon (MFSL Gold Master)
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (2011 Remaster)
Gun's n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction (MFSL Gold Master)
Elvis Presley - 24 Karat Hits! (Steve Hoffman Master)
The Beatles - Abbey Road (MFSL "half speed" Master)
Radiohead - The Bends (1st US Press)
Keb' Mo' - Keb' Mo' (MFSL Gold Master)
Tool - Lateralus
Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams
Ben Howard - Every Kingdom

 

[Sound Quest]

Quote:

I recently listened to one of the Now that's what I call music albums & was amazed by the quality of The Connells 74 - 75. The acoustic guitar sounds wonderful & the drums sound great. Really top notch engineering.
 
I agree that most of the tracks mentioned here all sound great. Another real suprise from the Now collection of CD's was Avril Lavine's Complcated. The song is a bit poppy for my taste but the recording sounds great.

 
The NOW albums all sound horrific to me.

 

[LosslesslyHope]

Purity Ring- Shrines
Phantogram- Eyelid Movies
Any album/ep by Lemaitre

 

[jackwess]

Anything really, when listening to gear it should be able to handle any song i throw at it. Hazard by Richard Marx is a great one. 

 

[carma143]

Oh that's cool we're opening up an old thread. Anyways, the songs shown in this thread for the most part sound very good. Once I get enough money I will probably end up buying them all

 

[Trance88]

I guess my top reference track would probably be "Ordinary World" by Duran Duran. It's got a nice spacious sound. Pretty well recorded track.

 

[rickytuk]

A lot of it does sound crap but I don't think NOW do any remastering, it's just a reflection of how poorly most modern pop music is recorded.

 

[Sound Quest]

Quote:

A lot of it does sound crap but I don't think NOW do any remastering, it's just a reflection of how poorly most modern pop music is recorded.

 
They actually make most of the tracks on their compilations louder than they were on the studio albums.
 
Although, if you look at some tracks by the likes of "David Guetta" or "LMAO", you'll see that they have about 2DB of headroom, because those tracks have been dynamically compressed to such an awful degree to begin with..

 

[ohsoslo]

Doobie Brothers - It Keeps You Running
Dire Straits - Money for Nothing