Benchmark albums and numbers for auditioning equipment

[trittya]

Dragonxwas,
Thanks a lot for your contribution. Could'nt agree with you more. More thanks on your thoughtfulness towards preserving / retaining the flavour of this thread.

I would like to add here that we all need to be aware about the degree of acoustic treatment that the listening room has been subjected to and discount the effects thereof. Its pretty much like a perfect shot in golf that comes through only after you keep 19 things in mind. At home or otherwise, even the oxidation layer on binding posts, rca sockets, banana plugs/spades or even on bare wire makes a difference. The magnetic fields generated by each cable makes a difference especially if lying on the ground or due to inappropriate overlapping or running along.

Now, getting back to the thread title, When I was a kid I had a LP by Ananda Shankar's (Pt Ravi Shankar's nephew, I think.) Orchestra titled 'Sa-re-ga-machaan'. It was symbolic of jungle sounds as heard fronm a machaan (tree platform to watch/hunt wildlife). Can anyone tell me how to get that? I would like to hear it all over again and then post my suggestions for it as a benchmark album. If someone already has it, I'd request him to share his views on it as a benchmark contender.

 

[parora]

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

Thanks ( all of you !) for correcting, you see, no matter what i do, i remain bad with spells, some kinda anomaly in my brain, i had given up !:sad:

Cheers

p

 

[hemantwaghe]

My preferences are slightly more towards bass heaviness ,so I normally carry

1) Hotel California - Hell Freees Over ( CD -US Version)..Listening this ( on casette) from 1994,heard this on number of systems
2) GOD'S GONNA CUT YOU DOWN- JOHNNY CASH - ( US CD - Single Version) , Deadly deep voice and CD of single song with exceptionally good recording.Fantastic vocals
3) Piya Basanti ( From compilation Maohobbat ,Orignally from album of same name) - I feel over Bassy recording with Over re mastering ,but I like it. It seems when I buy used stuff people like it too!


Vinyl - I have loads of them but very few in Very Good condtion so I used following discs

1) Killing Me Softly - Roberta Flack
2) Karz eek Hasina Thi
3) Aitbaar Kisi Nazar Ko
4) Huk Kisi Se Kun Nahin Chaand Mera Dil

Bought some LPs from Manav , I hope to discovering some reference material from it!!

 

[venkatcr]

Thanks ( all of you !) for correcting, you see, no matter what i do, i remain bad with spells, some kinda anomaly in my brain, i had given up !:sad

I am afraid that is not acceptable. There are numerous spell checkers available on the Net, even for text editors. You can use one of them to ensure that your spelling is correct. The editor of HFV will, by itself, highlight wrongly spelled words.

Cheers

 

[hifiashok]

sir, the issue is more on a grammar, thesaurus, contextual, etc., kind of a checks since nuance and nuisance will pass thru' spell check w/o issues. this is not usually available embedded.

 

[parora]

I am afraid that is not acceptable. There are numerous spell checkers available on the Net, even for text editors. You can use one of them to ensure that your spelling is correct. The editor of HFV will, by itself, highlight wrongly spelled words.

Cheers

Venkat ji,

Hifiashok spoke my mind, so i need not repeat myself, it was not a spell error but the use of word, so spellcheckers dont help.

May i agree to disagree with you, on using your stick too often particularly on this very thread,( i don't know the reason). I think, end of the day, its a forum for conversation among people of mutual interest, I am not writing an official memo so that i need to be so correct with spells.

I do understand that you are moderator, and the job is tough, but please re-think.

Cheers,

 

[venkatcr]

I don't have anything to rethink.

I have not even got to the level of grammar, when sentence formation is itself suspect. When a person uses a language, he/she must understand that he/she has to transmit a particular message to a third party. Unless that person uses the language properly, he/she will only pass on messages that are confusing. In return, what the person will get back are either confusing messages, or the person will be ignored. When that happens, remember, that person is just cluttering the forum.

It is not very difficult to check and write properly. There so many aids available on the Net - spell checkers, grammar helps, dictionaries, thesaurus, etc. When I have to write a long text, I always use an external text editor, write the text there, read it a couple of times, do a spell check, and then paste it on the forum.

All I am asking is that one spends a few seconds extra to ensure he/she is passing the correct message/information. That will avoid all misunderstanding, and the exchanges will be meaningful and productive for all of us.

Cheers

 

[trittya]

An language?
Your grammar checker does not seem to be doing its job.
Regards

 

[venkatcr]

If you know and understand the difference between an vowel and a consonant, I do not understand why you were writing as you were before.

Anyhow, thanks for correcting me. Let us now get back to your topic.

Cheers

 

[parora]

I don't have anything to rethink.

I have not even got to the level of grammar, when sentence formation is itself suspect. When a person uses a language, he/she must understand that he/she has to transmit a particular message to a third party. Unless that person uses the language properly, he/she will only pass on messages that are confusing. In return, what the person will get back are either confusing messages, or the person will be ignored. When that happens, remember, that person is just cluttering the forum.

It is not very difficult to check and write properly. There so many aids available on the Net - spell checkers, grammar helps, dictionaries, thesaurus, etc. When I have to write a long text, I always use an external text editor, write the text there, read it a couple of times, do a spell check, and then paste it on the forum.


All I am asking is that one spends a few seconds extra to ensure he/she is passing the correct message/information. That will avoid all misunderstanding, and the exchanges will be meaningful and productive for all of us.

Cheers

Than allow me to call the exchanges on this forum as "transmission and reception of official memos" with a communication efficacy target of 100% ( if i have to do so many spell/grammer/dictionaries checks), its nothing less !

And I am not in denial, these are important tools to use, but is this the place to use them? i thought it was an informal forum, where "communication" was a "mean" and not an "end" in itself !

but it is your forum, you are the authority, you write the rules, so ofcourse, your "right" and "wrongs" will form the constitution, we are only "opinions", so let's take a chill-pill .

cheers,

p

 

[trittya]

Hey guys lets knock it off and get back to the thread.
Venkatcr, the answer to your question is that everyone makes mistakes, My friend.
That was then, This is now. I do understand that but also, I do try to practice what I preach. Furthermore, the reason for the evident improvement in my written text is your advice to me. I respect rules and authority and since you are authorised to rule (out), I respect thee. BTW, I was taking a harmless dig at you. It seemed much too ironical to resist. Also, "a vowel" would be more in line, dont you think? You see? It happens.
You must also recall that I stood up for you in a recent post. That makes us pals, I should hope. So lets get back to the thread. What say you?

Cheers, lets have fun now.
Regards

 

[trittya]

Hey Venkatcr
Is it alright to copy and paste a list of titles/tracks from another site if one also posts the link where one stumbled upon it? Do let me know because the rest of the page is not relevant to this thread and forum members will have to scroll down and search through a whole lot of irrelevant stuff before they find what is relevant. Please advise.

 

[TaureanBull]

Hey Venkatcr
Is it alright to copy and paste a list of titles/tracks from another site if one also posts the link where one stumbled upon it? Do let me know because the rest of the page is not relevant to this thread and forum members will have to scroll down and search through a whole lot of irrelevant stuff before they find what is relevant. Please advise.

Let me try and answer this.

Option 1 : Post the link.

Option 2 : Copy & paste the relevant portion but remove the formatting.

If its a well known info then fine, else quote the source.

Anyways, back to thread. As I said before, I will take my favourite songs when I go for audition. Eg

Thriller - Michael Jackson (Particularly Thriller and Billie Jean)
Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart Club
David Guetta - One Love
Saturday Night Fever
Kenny G - Songbird
Madonna - Like a Prayer
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Enigma - LSD

Hindi Movie Soundtracks
Dil Se
Murder

Jagjit Singh

My endeavour would be to carry my favourites from each genre of Music I prefer.

 

[malvai]

Guys, there are a whole mother load of 'audiophile grade" compilations from Stockfisch, the older TELARC samplers, marantz and what-not!

But in the end all you need is music that you like listening to. also, one needs to visit shows where one has 'Live" sound and not amplified sound. Once you know what that sound is truly, you will evaluate the equipment using that as a benchmark...

I feel that the audio equipment is good only if it can recreate the sounds as tonally perfect as the live sound would.

having said that, i'd go with the kind of music that i usually listent to. that too with beautifully recorded versions.

I still test with Pink Floyd's DSOM, Steely Dan's AJA and Can't buy a thrill.
I even test stuff using my Diana Krall _ Live in Paris.

 

[venkatcr]

As many have said, the critical factor is that you use an album you have heard a number of times, and can recognise each and every single note of. The issue is to have a comfort factor that the (first) system you use to familiarise yourself with the album is of a quality high enough to deliver the music in it's full glory to you.

Cheers

 

[venkatcr]

I have used a large number of albums to audition equipment. I keep varying the music, but let me list a few here:

• Eagles - The Very Best Of. Warner Music - 8122-73971-2
• Beethoven Symphonies No. 5&7, Carlos Kleiber - SACD - Deutsche Gramaphone - 28947-16302
• Drums On Fire - James Asher, Sivamani - Times Music - TDFWM 110C
• Maya - Sikkil Gurucharan, Anil Srinivasan - Charsur - CDW164D
• Fusion Mosaic - Rhythm House - 28767 99772
• Spark To A Flame - The Very Best of Chris De Burgh - A&M - 82839 70342
• Call Of The Valley - Shiv Kumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Brij Bhushan Kabra - SaReGaMa - 8901112500087
• BreathLess - Shankar Mahadevan - RPG - CDNF 154059
• Piece By Piece - Katie Meluah - Dramatico - 02987 00192
• Raga Symphony - Pandit Jasraj, Shaarangdev Pandit - Times Music - TDICL 204S

I have lots more including Pink Floyd, Japanese Music, Vivaldi, Carnatic, and Hindustani. Though the OP said no film music, I do use a number of tracks by Kishore, Lata, Rafi, Mukesh, SPB, and others.

Cheers

 

[ajay124]

I play rock,soul,jazz,indian classical and western classical on my system. I believe indian classical,soul and jazz is good for vocals. But ultimately it is only orchestral western classical music which can reveal the true capability of a system. Compared to a 70-80 member orchestra playing a symphony,rock and jazz is too simplistic and one dimensional to reveal much about audio gear.

Room acoustics and the quality of power being supplied is of primary importance. Beyond that I would not consider any audition as accurate or revealing which was not based purely on classical orchestral music. My observations are based purely on the results I have experienced with my present system. My speakers seem to be working at only a small percentage of their potential when playing rock or jazz music. It is only when I play Gustav Mahler,Dmitri Shostakovich,Igor Stravinski or Ludwig Van Beethoven that the full glory of sound that can emanate from my present system becomes apparent.

 

[prem]

It is very important that what you normally listen to should sound good on the system you are buying. For example western classical sounds better on DCS gear whereas rock and pop sound better on Esoteric. So while DCS may technically be a better player, it does not appeal to me. I normally play old Hindi film music when checking out systems because i listen to a lot of it. If it cannot get Lata, Rafi, Asha right, i do not consider it.

 

[Gijo George]

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

Thats absolutely right venkat. There are these songs that I had been listening regularly for the past few days on my speaker set up. I have a Sennhsr HD-25 1 II I had actually not been using these much for the past few days after I got my CD player. But the imaging of these same songs through these cans played from the CD player is so much better. The HP seems to bring out the fine "nuances" thats being discussed in this thread. Now while auditioning equipment I'm kind of learning what to look for......hear for

 

[captrajesh]

Miles Davis and Diana Ross for vocals.

Pink floyd Dark Side of the Moon to evaluate the amp's ability to present layering in music.

The Titanic OST for LFE.

Maha Leela by Shivamani for some extraordinary percussion.

Santana for overall presentation.