Test tracks for checking soundstage and depth in speaker setup

It’s best to check one’s setup using tracks from the genre one listens to. Audiophile reference discs are therefore not very useful IMHO.
For Bollywood my choice of tracks would be Shaan and Rocky (RD Burman ). Especially the tracks Doston Se Pyar Kiya and Kya Yehi Pyar Hain.

In the track Kya Yehi Pyar Hain , if your speakers are accurately setup , Kishore and Lata’s voice at the beginning would come from the space between the centre and right for Kishore , and between centre and left (for Lata ).
And then in the mukhda their voices come from exactly the centre.
Wow!!! tried Kya Yhi Pyar Hai from YT Music. Kishore Da and Lata Tai were moving in front of me. They are not gone from this world
 
I'm on Catalina, unfortunately due to it's 2012 model. I maybe unable to update further, let me check though.
You can hack catalina. I didn't want to waste my new macbook on a platform with a substandard music app. So I used opencore boot to trick my old 2012 mac mini into thinking that it is running on the latest hardware. This has allowed me to install macos monterey on my 2012 mac mini. I also replaced the hard disk with an ssd. Now my macmini boots in a minute and that's what I'm using to play apple music. There are few simple steps
1. Download opencore
2. build opencore
3. create a bootable usb stick
4. Hold the option key to boot from usb stick.
5. after booting from usb EFI, chose INSTALL macos monterey to hard disk
6. After installation is completed, you can chose to install opencore boot to the hard disk. This will allow your old macbook to boot the latest apple OS

The thing about old hardware not being allowed to use the latest OS is an example of corporate greed. My 2012 mac mini has absolutely no issue running monterey. ALl programs are zippy. It was just that Apple had forced not to allow the latest OS to be installable on mac mini which would have forced many to upgrade to newer hardware.

If you follow the steps here you too can do it
 
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I'm on Catalina, unfortunately due to it's 2012 model. I maybe unable to update further, let me check though.
I see that you are from Pune. You can drop in with a 16Gb usb stick. I can copy the OS to your USB stick. After that you just have to boot your macbook at home with the USB stick and it will do everything. IIRC it took me around an hour to open my macmini and replace the hard disk with SSD. After that the OS installation IIRC, took around 2-3 hours.
 
You can hack catalina. I didn't want to waste my new macbook on a platform with a substandard music app. So I used opencore boot to trick my old 2012 mac mini into thinking that it is running on the latest hardware. This has allowed me to install macos monterey on my 2012 mac mini. I also replaced the hard disk with an ssd. Now my macmini boots in a minute and that's what I'm using to play apple music. There are few simple steps
1. Download opencore
2. build opencore
3. create a bootable usb stick
4. Hold the option key to boot from usb stick.
5. after booting from usb EFI, chose INSTALL macos monterey to hard disk
6. After installation is completed, you can chose to install opencore boot to the hard disk. This will allow your old macbook to boot the latest apple OS

The thing about old hardware not being allowed to use the latest OS is an example of corporate greed. My 2012 mac mini has absolutely no issue running monterey. ALl programs are zippy. It was just that Apple had forced not to allow the latest OS to be uninstallable on mac mini which would have forced many to upgrade to newer hardware.

If you follow the steps here you too can do it
Thanks a lot, I will follow it. I already have SSD and 16gb RAM on my macbook pro so I guess from hardware standpoint it should be fine.

I see that you are from Pune. You can drop in with a 16Gb usb stick. I can copy the OS to your USB stick. After that you just have to boot your macbook at home with the USB stick and it will do everything. IIRC it took me around an hour to open my macmini and replace the hard disk with SSD. After that the OS installation IIRC, took around 2-3 hours.
Sure, let me go through it. I will reach you over DM. Thanks again for the detailed information.
 
Thanks a lot, I will follow it. I already have SSD and 16gb RAM on my macbook pro so I guess from hardware standpoint it should be fine.
The 2012 macbook pro is the last good macbook that apple made which could be opened by the user easily. It was just 50k in 2017. It runs Linux perfectly, but It is no longer available. So now I have the latest macbook pro with the memory, hard disk everything soldered to the motherboard, but I feel it is a downgrade. The 2012 macbook pro 3.5mm audio out also does SPDIF optical out.
 
The 2012 macbook pro is the last good macbook that apple made which could be opened by the user easily. It was just 50k in 2017. It runs Linux perfectly, but It is no longer available. So now I have the latest macbook pro with the memory, hard disk everything soldered to the motherboard, but I feel it is a downgrade. The 2012 macbook pro 3.5mm audio out also does SPDIF optical out.
Right, mid 2012 macbook is last customizable mac and cult classic amongst tech enthusiasts.
 
From Hindi, the entire Lagaan album is exceptionally recorded. Another album I can recommend in Taal.
Two other songs that come to memory are Tosse Naina Lage and Moula Mere Moula from Anwar.

If you can find good sources for retro songs, then you can really enjoy the natural real timbre of instruments.
 
You can hack catalina. I didn't want to waste my new macbook on a platform with a substandard music app. So I used opencore boot to trick my old 2012 mac mini into thinking that it is running on the latest hardware. This has allowed me to install macos monterey on my 2012 mac mini. I also replaced the hard disk with an ssd. Now my macmini boots in a minute and that's what I'm using to play apple music. There are few simple steps
1. Download opencore
2. build opencore
3. create a bootable usb stick
4. Hold the option key to boot from usb stick.
5. after booting from usb EFI, chose INSTALL macos monterey to hard disk
6. After installation is completed, you can chose to install opencore boot to the hard disk. This will allow your old macbook to boot the latest apple OS

The thing about old hardware not being allowed to use the latest OS is an example of corporate greed. My 2012 mac mini has absolutely no issue running monterey. ALl programs are zippy. It was just that Apple had forced not to allow the latest OS to be installable on mac mini which would have forced many to upgrade to newer hardware.

If you follow the steps here you too can do it
I am trying to install it, just quick doubt; I hope I wont my installed apps and data?
 
Sure, thanks
The thing is that, the upgrade will not touch /Users/vbutani (if that's your username on mac). So all your documents, Downloads, will remain intact.

The upgrade does take time. You have to be patient. Creating the bootable thumb drive is easy and the important thing is when booting up when you press the option key, you have to chose correctly the icon with the opencore image.
 
The thing is that, the upgrade will not touch /Users/vbutani (if that's your username on mac). So all your documents, Downloads, will remain intact.

The upgrade does take time. You have to be patient. Creating the bootable thumb drive is easy and the important thing is when booting up when you press the option key, you have to chose correctly the icon with the opencore image.
Thanks for reminding it. I might bother you if I stuck in between! :)
 
@mbhangui Thanks for the detailed guide, with your help I am able to install OSX 12.4 on my MBP. It is very faster OS than Catalina! It seems like I got new macbook and finally Lossless configuration appears in Apple Music!
Thanks a lot if you would have not provided these details I may have stop using MBP for music.
 
Thanks for all the great suggestions - adding all to my Playlist! :)


Piya Basanti Re : sounds simply great [tight bass] if the system is in tune

bit less popular ones [personally use these to check if my system sounding sane after usual breakdowns in chain] :
Jamurathiri from Kshana Kshanam [especially initial bit]
Nuvvu Nuvvu from Khadgam [flowing beautiful vocal - if setup right sounds great]
Chandrullo Unde from Nuvastavante Nenoddantana [Shankar Mahadevan's voice + percussions]
 
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