Just got some great new headphones, from the Bob Marley website, strange as it may seem. Realized there are records I always use for testing out phones and speakers.
Number one is Dark Side of the Moon - that bass pulse at the beginning is perfect for low freq
Eat a Peach MFSL - Ain't Wastin Time No More, for overall quality and separation
Sgt. Pepper - played very loud to see how the thing handles two-dimensional blare
Mars Hotel MFSL - Unbroken Chain, one of the best mixes I've ever heard, and that jet landing sound is a good high freq sweep gauge
Ladies of the Canyon - for fine acoustic instrumental
Peter and the Wolf - nice little road test for a variety of sounds
When my roommate bought a new system, we took Jethro Tull's Songs From the Wood album to the stereo stores to check out the sound......
For the past 30 odd years, I test every new piece of audio I get with Spanish Moon from Waiting for Columbus.
I do not understand the finer points of recording technology or audio equipment. I do love to hear Genesis' "A Trick of the Tail" on nice equipment though. From the incredible swirl of instruments on "Dance on A Volcano" to those cannon-like drums on "Squonk" to "Entangled"'s haunting keyboard solo with those fat Taurus bass pedal notes underneath.....whew! Crank that one up on a system that does it justice.
"Quadrophenia" is another one!
In the Court of the Crimson King - 40th Anniversary Edition
[Edited on 11/5/2016 by bob1954]
for clarity, high end, tonality, and for lack of a better term, spaciality (breathing openness and separation), put on some early Joni Mitchell
Original pressing of Steely Dan - Aja is my go to to test out the rig
It all depends on what you are buying. Is a home theater or audio or will it be doing double duty? IMO you should bring multiple things to listen to. For music I use Vigil Foxx for pipe organ. Organ music has deep bass. As lame as it sounds the movie Titanic has deep bass extension so it is good also, that is if the speakers are doing double duty. But the main thing is to use music or movies you are very familiar with. I use Steely Dan Can't Buy a Thrill. Eat a Peach, Abraxis, Bolaro, Don Ellis. Frankie goes to Hollywood because it is an all digital recording. Joan Biaz because her voice is so pure. I bring about 8 to 10 CDs with me when I am looking. IMO if you bring in multiple CDs and don't crank it to 11 the sales man will know that you are for real and give more help that a guy wanting AC/DC at wid open. Good luck don't buy the first thing (if looking) .
