[michaelconnor]

I'm trying to compile a good list of tracks for audio benchmarking and I'd like to survey you guys for ideas and preferences.

When you're testing out some new or different audio hardware, what recordings do you play first to check the overall sound quality?

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelconnor I'm trying to compile a good list of tracks for audio benchmarking and I'd like to survey you guys for ideas and preferences. When you're testing out some new or different audio hardware, what recordings do you play first to check the overall sound quality?

Hmm, there is a similar thread to this in the Music subforum right now, but there's only one right answer, so here it is.


Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, off HIStory Part I. You think I'm joking, but I'm not!

 

[rsabo]

For the grand total of 2 setups I've tested...

"Sumo" by Vidavox. Vidavox is an indie rock band that maybe 15 people outside of southern Florida have heard of. Pretty amazing song.

 

[michaelconnor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn Hmm, there is a similar thread to this in the Music subforum right now, but there's only one right answer, so here it is. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, off HIStory Part I. You think I'm joking, but I'm not!

Jahn,
Yeah, this thread is definitely similiar. I guess I'm looking for recordings that are'nt necessarily just fun to listen to, but that simply challange the range/soundstage/resolution/response of the hardware.
I'll agree with you on Billy Jean. That track is a collage of clear & crisp sounds.

 

[Heyyoudvd]

I really like Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry Be Happy for testing headphones. The instrument separation is excellent.

 

[Anthrax]

rock on - smashing pumpkins. the intro when the drums start is so crisp, just bass drum and cymbals.

 

[Doc Sarvis]

This will come as a surprise to anyone who knows what I post here over the years, but if by "benchmark", you mean a recording that one uses to hear differences in equipment, my benchmark is Donny Osmond's "This is the Moment".

It doesn't have to be good to be "benchmark"

 

[Patu]

I use tracks which I know best and have heard with several rigs. My test cd's consist mostly rock/hard rock/metal but there's something from every music genre I listen to. And because I know these tracks so well it's easy to say how the tested equipment compared to my own rig.

 

[michaelconnor]

I've found Madonna's "Ray of Light" to be useful for checking the high freq. range. In particular, the synthesized scales that appear about 2/3 through the track make it easy to determine when your hardware cuts out. It's also has a decent assortment of generic sounds.

 

[LFF]

Here are some good ones.

http://www.fix-it.org/forums/thread1699.html

 

[michaelconnor]

LFF, thank you! That is exactly what I'm going for. Great list!

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelconnor LFF, thank you! That is exactly what I'm going for. Great list!

No problem Mike. Glad to help. If you want more - let me know.

 

[majid]

I use a sampler CD I burned from iTunes (lossless ripped tracks). You need to use tracks you are intimately familiar with, of course. I try to have a good mix with:

• A piano solo, check the timbre and attacks (Brendel playing Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition)
• A violin solo, to see how the timbre is rendered (Paganini Caprices by Markov)
• A cello solo, check the timbre (Bach Suite 1 by Rostropovich)
• Some chamber music (Janacek String Quartet 2 "Intimate letters" by Melos)
• A vocal solo (Quia Respexit Humilitatem from Bach's Magnificat)
• A choir (Vaughan Williams, Six Choral Songs to be sung in time of War)
• More vocal music (Brahms' German Requiem)
• Orchestral symphonic music (Nielsen, Helios overture)
• Symphonic music with a lot of brass and horns, judge how well they are rendered (Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, Rattle, Birmingham SO)
• Full-blown symphony, make sure subtle moments are not drowned out (Prokofiev, Symphony No. 4 Op. 47)
• More symphony, make sure it doesn't turn to mush (Mahler No. 2 "Resurrection", Abbado, Wiener Philharmoniker)
• More symphony (Nielsen Symphony No. 5, Blomstedt, SFS)

 

[TMHBAT]

FIMXR24 053 Autumn Yearning Fantasia

From FIM:

"This wonderful Chinese instrumentals was debuted at CES January CES. However, well before it was released, it was already chosen as the demo reference recording in the Annual AES (Audio Engineering Society) Conference Seminar in June 2003 at Banff, Canada, titling “The New Realism” on the subject of how to achieve best sound in a simultaneous stereo and multi-channel recording. Hence, you can imagine how good the sound is. The music and the performance are, of course, breathtaking. About 180 audio engineers were present. More details of this event are described in the liner notes of the album. It is a must own disc, if you claim yourself a true audiophile, and experience by yourself ‘the most natural and musical sound ever recorded’."

http://www.fimpression.com/detail.aspx?ID=48
http://www.audaud.com/audaud/SEP04/h...ires4.html#hug

 

[james__bean]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn Hmm, there is a similar thread to this in the Music subforum right now, but there's only one right answer, so here it is. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, off HIStory Part I. You think I'm joking, but I'm not!

LOL, I listen to the same thing. Ask the guys at the Oregon Meet.