2. misc-audio
  3. 191630-188932

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?

jrdavisphd

Showing 1 response by richardbrand

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richardbrand
549 posts
 

Since OP listens to classical music, I'll give you my one-track work which I always use for auditioning components (CD or streaming - I cannot afford the prices this record commands second-hand). 

This work was originally recorded by Decca (London in the US) to analogue tape at the height of their skills in 1963.  The recording has been available ever since on various media.  The track lasts just over a quarter of an hour. 

One serious critic has described the work as the best ever classical piece of music.  It covers virtually every instrument in an orchestra, singly and together, has huge dynamic range, features complex percussion cross-rhythms and a finale where every section seems to do its own thing - something lesser systems cannot properly resolve.

It is Benjamin Britten conducting his "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra"

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