Music for testing Hi-Fi

What about Piya Basanti by Ustad Sultan Khan??


also Hell Freezes over by Eagles?? Funny I,ve visited audioshops in India,Dubai & Kuala Lumpur - almost 70% time I heard hotel california

Also Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd.

Hemant,

That is because, Hotel California track is EQed with very high low-end purposefully, to create the thumping sound during their comeback concert after "14 year old vacation" during the Hell Freezes Over concert in 94.

Btw, this DVD is a definite aution tool for both audio and video. Try to get the DTS version itself.

Cheers!

Piya Basanti is an interesting album too. It has nice songs with good vocals. It does not have an overdone orchestra. I like the song where the rain breaks out midway.

I have the "Hell Freezes over" album in many formats, including DTS-audio CD, and XRCD. I like the XRCD best. It works well as a test album just because you get to hear it during so many auditions.

Talking about EQeing with very high low-end, I just bought a HDCD called "The Five Songbirds/A Reference Collection of Female Vocalists" (from acousticsounds.com) and was shocked at the high volume used for the low-end.


Thanks,
Sharad

For me, Steely Dan's and their frontman, Donald Fagen's albums are choice picks for auditioning. They were truly a band that paid close attention to the recording and mastering of their work. Both the "Gaucho" [Hybrid SACD] and "The Nightfly" [CD] have excellent sound and the former is possibly one of the best SACDs on the market. They also typify that 70's-80's sound that I enjoy (smooth, not the annoying disco that came before or the kitschy pop that followed).

The remastered Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue" CD is an excellent reference for jazz. As is the John Coltrane "A Love Supreme" SACD.

For good old rock I use The Kinks' The Ultimate Collection 2-CD set. Very deep and full bass that really gives the woofers a workout and very good mastering in all. Possibly the most "analog-sounding" recording I've encountered.

For vocals, I use either Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald or Eva Cassidy albums. In general most Verve and Telarc label CDs make for good test CDs.

The remastered fifth Peter Gabriel album "So" is a good all-round CD with a diverse lot of instruments. The haunting opening strains of "Mercy Street" or the percussion on "This is the Picture" is rather telling.

I dont know how much of an 'audiophile' stuff this is, but some hindi cds i use are Lakshya, Dil Se, Lagaan and very recently Jodha Akbar- just love the complexity, can give a tough time to many hardware out there.

Cheers.

amen to that..especially steely dan..i also thought paul simon's graceland (you can call me al, diamonds on the soles of her feet ..etc) great given the range of your typically african harmonies..and instruments..also rye cooder's collaboration with the malian singer ali farka toure TALKING TIMBUKTU..and wonder why nobody mentioned frank zappa..he does things with music that i cannot even start explaining here...amongst the new groups i especially like DEERHOOF very interesting musicality..but they do need time to grow on you and david Thomas and Pere Ubu..what a strange voice..blissful punk music..

What About Pink Floyd's "Dark side of the moon?" While reading some reviews I realised it is still used after appx 35 years!!!
Some say that remastered CD layer on SACD is not good - any comments?

As odd as it sounds - music for testing a hi-fi system is not necessarily "great" music - we are concerned with quality of the recording and true-to-life portrayal of instrument sound. Unfortunately great musicians are often let down by poor recording or engineering of their work (or in the case of archives, poor maintenance thereof). So you may not see some of the best artists listed here.

@Moktan:
Yes, Paul Simon really came alive when he collaborated with African and South American musicians. My favourite Simon album is "The Rhythm of the Saints" - brilliant for testing percussion. I do not care for his most recent work - sadly, as with Sting, it has become too commercial to be intimate or familiar.

Frank Zappa is always fun to listen to -- though jazz purists may be a bit more reluctant to welcome him to the fold. Again, recording of his work is not always top-notch or even good enough (case in point - "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore" series). However you could be right about FZ - "The Grand Wazoo" could make for an interesting test disc with its plethora (putting it lightly!) and diversity of instruments.

@hemantwaghe:
DSOTM shows up with great frequency on a lot of lists. The new SACD is IMHO far better engineered than the previous CD release. As I no longer have my original issue CD I cannot compare it with the CD layer on the new one - and aural memory is unreliable so can't comment. The new recording is fantastic! It does not sound 35 years old and plays far better than new stuff. I do not use it for auditions myself because on some tracks there's just too much going on. If they do a cleaner release of "Atom Heart Mother" it could make for interesting listening.

some provocative and i feel quite relevant issues brought out here..


Audiophiles... do they actually like music? | Word Magazine some excerpts here...

Does audio quality matter to you? Or would you be happy listening to your music on pretty much anything? I fall into the latter category - Or to put it another way, given a finite amount of money, and effectively the choice between;

a) A super high-end audiophile setup, plus a few albums/CDs to go with it.

or at the other end

b) A mini system from Dixons plus a ton of CDs

I'd go for the latter every time.

This is partly prompted by an old colleague of mine who used to boast about his super hifi system and all the fancy components/cables that went into it. When I eventually was invited to his place for dinner with some other colleagues, I was disappointed to find out that while he indeed had a VERY nice sounding system, he only had about a dozen CDs to play on it. One of which was "Bat Out of Hell". Which frankly I though was a bit of a waste... seemed he was more interested in the quality of the reproduction than what was actually being reproduced.

Anyone have an opinion on this?

Hi to all,
Moktan i would choose the former and then add to my CD collection as time wears on, dont think i would be happy with tons of CD s with a mini comp from Dixons. Whenever i feel the system i have is not up to scratch my music listening keeps gradually reducing in spite of having tons of music collected over two decades.
As regards this thread i just take cd s that i would listen to very frequently as i can then compare if the system i am auditioning does any more for me than my own set up. And i always take a few poor recordings too((Most U2 cds). I have a friend who heard just one song (Hotel california- i think the new recording as thats what most dealers demo with)and bought the set up only to be disillusioned later!!!!!!
Regards.