Benchmark albums and numbers for auditioning equipment

[trittya]

Greetings to all from Darjeeling

This thread is being commenced to share views on Benchmark albums and numbers for auditioning hi fi equipment.

The only criterion is that a suggested album or number must be sonically outstanding enough to gauge the potential and capability of the equipment being auditioned.

Genre of music or language of vocals is of no consequence.
(rock, jazz, blues, reggae, indian classical{hindustani/carnatic/fusion}, western classical, folk, qawwali, vocal, instrumental, even test/demo cds)

Members are requested to avoid suggesting movie music
except movie theme soundtracks
(like the titanic theme or Mission impossible by U2 or The good, bad and ugly theme are ok as also movie soundtracks like saturday night fever, grease, flashdance or even hum kisi se kum nahin are all ok)

However, if a member feels that a certain movie song or album makes the grade, please feel free to suggest and justify, which in any case all members are requested to do anyway with a small write-up in support of their suggestion(s).

Requesting all members to contribute. . . .

Warm Regards & Best Wishes

 

[trittya]

Let me start by suggesting a hindustaani classical fusion album.
Album - 'Making Music'

Artiste(s) -

Ustaad Zakir Hussain on Tabla
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia on flute(s)
John McLaughlin on acoustic guitar
Jan Garbarek on saxophone(s)

It comprises of these tracks
- Making Music
- Zakir
- Water Girl
- Toni
- Anisa
- Sunjog
- You and Me
- Sabah

In my opinion this entire album qualifies to be considered a benchmark album due to:-

-Sensational tablacraft by the maestro to test the mid and low-mids that only a percussion instrument like the tabla can create.

-Superbly vibrant stringwork on the acoustic guitar to test detail, clarity and rhythm
especially the way you can hear the sound of fingertips sliding along the strings.

-One track also contains a solo percussion vocal solo by the Ustaad. This provides insight into the equipment's capability to render tricky vocals coupled with tabla beats.

-No other album required to test male vocal rendition.

-The flute and the sax create a near magical experience with extensive variation in frequencies as both the artistes have used more than one flute/sax which provides excellent highs, mid- highs, mids and mid-lows all at once that only wind instruments are capable of.

-I still have not been able to make out who out of Pt Chaurasia and Jan Garbarek makes shehnai music out of a flute/sax. I had to check the jacket twice to convince myself that it wasnt Ustaad Bismillah Khan.

Those with better knowledge of Hindustaani classsical may be able to comment.

All in all, strongly recommended for auditoning as well as entertainment.

Format - CD (being converted shortly to FLAC on tech advice from forum member prithivi)

Label - Unknown

Cost - Rs 20/-

Procured from - Airport Market, Siliguri(shop details and tele No on request)

Status - Presently out of stock but likely to be available soon

Star Rating - 4.5/5 (90%)

Recommendations - A must have album for all stereophiles regardless of genre/language preferences. Must take along for all auditions.

Negative Points-
Only Pirated Copies available here therefore durability and quality of CD (used for burning) is questionable. Trying to procure an original on my next visit to Delhi.

Thats it, Gentlemen.
My humble attempt at sharing what i stumbled upon.

Members are requested to attempt adherence to the above format of write-up for ease of assimilation by other members. Preferable but not compulsory.


Salutations to the entire foursome especially Ustaad Zakir Hussain.
Wah Ustaad!

A huge thanks for the help and advice to forum member, Mr Prithivi.

Tiggad tiggad tiggad tin dhaaa.
Thats how the maestro signs off in this album.

Warm Regards to all who took out time to read this.

 

[prem]

Making Music is on the ECM label. It normally is available online with either Rhythm House or Landmark.

 

[hifiashok]

1. Drum & Track Disk - The Sheffield Lab - FIM (First Impression Music) - XRCD24 - 24-bit super analogue

2. Hidden Gems - Kalpana Zokarkar - Mystica Music - DDD

3. Sufi Gold - 10 Years of the Best Sufi Music - Various (Abida, Kailash, Rafaqat, etc.) - Times Music

4. Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2 - Sarah McLachlan - Arista BMG

5. The Ultimate Demonstration Disc - Various - Chesky

 

[trittya]

Price please, approximately that is.
Thanks for posting.

 

[hifiashok]

music shops in the saket select city walk (delhi) are well stocked and have a lot of imports too (this being one such).

musicland, planetm, shinestar, etc.

they're sure to have this.

i am not too certain if i bought my copy from one of these or from oceanic in pune.

 

[trittya]

HifiAshok, Sir,
Sent you a pm

 

[venkatcr]

Cost - Rs 20/-

20? Does not make sense to me unless it is a pirated CD.

Cheers

 

[TaureanBull]

20? Does not make sense to me unless it is a pirated CD.

Cheers

It is from Airport Market so, obviously pirated.

 

[venkatcr]

Trittya:

Please refer to the rules. We do not encourage any discussion on illegal products.

That said, a FLAC file from a badly copied CD can never be used as a benchmark for any kind of auditioning.

Cheers

 

[parora]

hmm...I would tend to think that one should carry what one has been listening for long time( for auditioning), thats how i would benchmark or discern the equipment. If I must , I would take along Roja, Thiruda Thiruda (Tamil one), MJ, JM, queen, Nora J.....but why these? sinnce i know every single nuisance and listening them since ages...Cheers -P

 

[venkatcr]

And one should have first heard the albums in a really good system. One way of overcoming this is to hear the albums on a good pair of headphones.

Cheers

 

[TaureanBull]

hmm...I would tend to think that one should carry what one has been listening for long time( for auditioning), thats how i would benchmark or discern the equipment. If I must , I would take along Roja, Thiruda Thiruda (Tamil one), MJ, JM, queen, Nora J.....but why these? sinnce i know every single nuisance and listening them since ages...Cheers -P

+1 to that.

To add : It should be the one you like. If you like jazz then carry jazz and not the benchmark rock album. If possible its best to burn your favourite numbers in a CD (lossless formats) and carry it, in case you can not carry all the CDs. Afterall, one would be listening to his favuorite music.

 

[dragonxwas]

I cannot suggest any tracks here because, to each is his own.. If I recommend a track the other guy will post 4 more, which will make the thread lose its flavour..

The thing is most audio equipment can't be tested by just running tracks through them, as there are many factors like speaker difference, power difference, even heck the amp's temprature also matters, the room conditions, size matters..

Some people I've seen bring with them Test track cds filled with some companies test tracks like boston acoustics - woofer cooker to test the tracks, at the end all it does is to make big noise from the subwoofer/woofer and thats about it,.

Also burn in makes a huge difference, the shopkeeper must have run tracks again again and again through the entire system and given it a proper burn in, so you can't compare your brand new purchase with the sound of the demo product..

thirdly, the thing which always happens to me is, I like a product at the shop, I love the sound, I buy the whole set, set it up at my room, and feel sad as it doesn't sound the same .. room acoustics kicks in, source difference..

What really suits for me is I always take tracks which I'am used to hearing, but with a little difference the tracks are a notch lower quality than the lossless which I am used to, say If the source track is in flac , I just convert it to mp3 160Kbps and write them in an audiocd format, you see doing transcoding for 2 stages gives a loss in audio quality and mp3 is quite lossy. Now most of you might not know that mp3 due to its codec algorithm when it downsamples/downgrades bitrate/resolution it tries to throw off data acoustically in the region of 3k-20Khz and 160hz-600hz now you get a rough idea of what instrument in that region would be lost. common instruments in that region would be hand drum and shrinkers, but still if the equipment with such made tracks is able to bring out the lost emphasis, then the equipment is really worht..

 

[ajay124]

hmm...I would tend to think that one should carry what one has been listening for long time( for auditioning), thats how i would benchmark or discern the equipment. If I must , I would take along Roja, Thiruda Thiruda (Tamil one), MJ, JM, queen, Nora J.....but why these? sinnce i know every single nuisance and listening them since ages...Cheers -P

Every single nuisance

 

[hifiashok]

Nuance, .............................maybe?

 

[TaureanBull]

Every single nuisance

hyeah:

Nuance, .............................maybe?

but obvious!

 

[trittya]

Venkatcr
I did mention that as a negative and sought(and got two, thanks prem and hifiashok, I owe you one each) suggestions from people where to get an original non-pirated. In fact I was surprised when the shopkeeper said its for 20 bucks. No, the recording is not bad but the fact that it not genuine makes me edgy. I am in the process of procuring a bonafide copy and then, as per your advice, shall convert only that to FLAC, on receipt. Point taken. Thanks.

 

[ajay124]

@trittya
If you like fusion music then you could also check out (if you haven't already)
Shakti
Natural Elements
A Handful Of Beauty
The Inner Mounting Flame
Birds Of Fire
Apocalypse
Visions Of The Emerald Beyond
Inner Worlds
http://www.post-concrete.com/dharmadhatu/pics/mahavishnuorch.jpg

 

[prem]

All the above albums are a must for a fusion music lover.