Only two tracks to test your system, forever!

The best track to test any system comes from Tchaikovsky ’s Nutcracker Suite -- the pas de deux after they’ve come out of the forest. Incredible track. Most CDs have this directly mastered from digital:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5USHu6D6U

Edit:. Also the real cannon typically used in his 1812 Overture is an absolute must.  The best recordings have warnings on the label that they can damage some systems.  That's the pinnacle right there

Billy Cobham - Stratus

Supertramp - School 

TEARS FOR FEARS "THE WORKING HOUR"

AUTECHRE "EGGSHELL"

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(bonus) RACHEL'S "THOSE PEARLS"

ENYA "BOADICEA" 

...thanks, gladmo

Ry Cooder/Manual Galban opening cut off Mambo Senuendo ..."Drume negrita:  (if your system can fully decongest the confusion, be happy...)

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Little Feat's live Waiting for Columbus (live) Super Deluxe Edition ...Fat Man in the Bathtub  (heard live at the University of Alabama 1977...recently discovered former Chief Editor of Phile John Atkinson uses it as a testing reference as well)...drumkit and synth need to attack with hall ambience 

More Peace          Pin    (bold print for old eyes)

This thread for me confirms easily the worst thing about audiophiles: their taste in music. Of course the answers are going to be middle-of-the-road audiophile-approved pap like Patricia Barber and Diana Krall. And yes, let's not forget Flight of the Snoring Hippo and the Eagles' live version of Hotel California (now in quadrilliophenia on a special pixiedust-infused disc so you can buy the precious recording for the twelfth time).

Your 20-year-old self would hate what you've become. Tell me I'm wrong.