OP…. Glad you are going to the Toronto Hifi show… Listening to live or recorded music is like practicing a sports skill or any other skill, the more hours and effort you put into it the better you will be at putting together a system or systems that connect you emotionally to the music and musicians. Go to as many live concerts in good venues with good sound as possible, the time and effort will pay off.
analyzing sound
Some recordings may demonstrate better audiophile-related variables (e.g., soundstage, imaging, blackness, quickness, microdynamics, dynamic range, low/mid/high frequencies, sibilance, etc.) than others. Playlists are therefore offered as examples of music to use when evaluating hifi components or systems. I assume, for example, that it is necessary to have a recording that is able to demonstrate a wide soundstage in order to evaluate whether a system/component produces a wide soundstage. However, I have not found a playlist that also identifies which specific recordings are good for evaluating which specific variable that an audiophile may be interested in.
For example, is there an annotated playlist that provides something like the following entirely fabricated example: Bill Frisell's recording of Baba Drame on The Intercontinentals is a good track for evaluating imaging (but not microdynamics), whereas John Eliot Gardiner's Volume 3 recording of Bach Contatas is excellent for evaluating microdynamics (but not imagining), or Imogen Heap's recording of First Train Home on her Ellipse album is good to use for determining the degree of sibilance (but not low frequency definition) of your system.
Or is any good recording capable of demonstrating all qualities of interest?