So here is the question: what are your Top 3 music pieces to evaluate a system?
The songs should be complementary to cover a wider range of features, but not necessary. If you only listen to one type of music, it would make sense to only evaluate with this type.
Bonus: identify one good part of the piece where you pay extra attention because this is where the difference between systems is more visible.
I'll start:
Holly Cole Trio - Girl Talk - My Baby Just Cares For Me Highlight: The vibrating cord at 1:59
MaMuse - All The Way - Glorious Highlight - The clean guitar and the high drum beat that rythm the whole piece
Metallica - ... And Justice for All (Remastered) - One Highlight - The first drums at 0:53, but the whole guitar as well
Doing this myself, I realize it's very hard to only pick 3!!
Well I’ll join the fray and because I can’t count to 3 😜
1) Tin Pan Alley - Stevie Ray Vaughan (personally I think it’s my reference) 2) Sia & David Guetta- Flames 2:25Ish to the end but really the entire last half of the song 3) Allison Kraus - It doesn’t Matter 4) Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa - I’d rather go blind 5) Hauser - Caruso 6) Darkside - Paper Trails
Using a combination of these I can usually tell if my system is dialed in.
Acoustic Alchemy - Arcanum - Casino The original CD only, other versions you may find aren't nearly as good. It will test the system, although no vocals.
Need to add a fourth to my list. Pink Floyd “The Wall”. I use this to evaluate the kick drum kick to my stomach. This is my benchmark for my sub setting I want to feel every kick drum hit in my chest and stomach. This album will fo it even without a sub but the sub makes it three dimensional.
This is a very tough question! When I go out to do serious seat-time with equipment, I usually bring a list of several songs or pieces of music but virtually never listen to the entire piece(s). I generally listen to a minute or two of various parts of those songs or pieces, parts that have the most challenging or revealing frequency ranges. For example: I usually bring only music that I am very familiar with and, preferably, music I've heard in live performances. I will bring examples of male and female vocals, piano, heavy bass (e.g. drums; pipe organ; etc.), mid-range rich stuff (e.g. Jazz), acoustic stringed instruments (e.g. guitar; stand-up bass; harp; etc.), exotic instruments (e.g. think Hiroshima), high-pitched instruments (e.g. Triangle) and just a bunch of different things. I find that various components, especially speakers, have a difficult time realistically reproducing brushes on cymbals and drums. So, I will bring some of this. I find instruments like Tuba and synthesizers are also challenging (e.g. Moog Synthesizer). One recording I like to use that covers some of this is a good recording of "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield.
I believe that music that I am really familiar with is the best way to test.
So I use:
CCR- Green River 24/192 hz. With this track that I have played 1000+ times I look for the rhythm guitar of Tom Fogerty in the top left of center and its clarity.
Linda Ronstadt- Blue Bayou 24-96hz. With this track along with the beauty of her vocal I listen for the little Spanish guitar clarity on the left channel about 30-60+ seconds in.
And Finally. Fleetwood Mac- Rumours 24-96hz.. I listen to the depth and sound of Stevie’s vocal and the side background singing of Steve in the left channel. Sometimes it can be a little distorted and bright. Also the bass and the whack of the drums can be impressive.
Great stuff here, I absolutely love threads like this. Here are my three picks:
Roger Waters / Amused to Death / Too Much Rope - The track starts with a man chopping wood and each stroke and should have a hard edge defined center image position. This is followed by a horse drawn carriage with a sleigh bell moving across the sound stage from left to right. You should be able to pick up the horse and sleigh far beyond the boundary of your speakers and it should disappear far beyond the boundary of your speaker as well.
Mose Allison / Everybody Cryin’ Mercy - This track is great for gauging attack and decay in a system. It’s all about the soft attacks and lengthy delays Allison puts on his piano as well as the drummer and bassist. A good system should be able to define the leading edge of notes and their diminishing departure.
Rage Against the Machine / Bullet in the Head - When I started down my audiophile journey, bass something I did not lend much thought to. But after reading columns and posts about how important bass is to a system’s synergy, imaging and sound stage I finally stated to pay closer attention to how I treated bass in my system. With this tracks, at the end, a system with good bass will pick out plenty of detail in the fast finale and you should be able to hear the slap of the strings, not just a wall of noise, especially when the extra layers of guitar come into the mix.
Anything from Aaron Neville's 1991 'Warm Your Heart', but 'Everybody Plays The Fool' is The One. Look at the talent: Linda Ronstadt produced the album and sings on 4 cuts, Rita Coolidge on 3. Ry Cooder, Bob Seger and Dr. John also play. Every instrument, every note, every syllable should sound spot on.
Diana Krall's 'A Case of You' from Her 'Live in Paris' album. Her voice should not get muddy or thick, and the piano should be solid, and anchored but her chords bloom.
Third Is a 3-way tie between The Eagles 'Hotel California', the Mark Knopfler/Emmy Lou Harris 'All the Roadrunning', and Emmy Lou Harris 'Deeper Well' from Spyboy.
Zappa - Pink Napkins (Shut up and play…) Muddy Waters - Home in the Delta (Folk Singer) Offenbach - Can Can (Gaîté Parisienne) Grateful Dead - Ripple (American Beauty)
Sean Rowe..follow your trail..Great baritone voice. Bohemian Rapsody..lots of 3d imaging. Rolling Stones- Melody..because music i know best makes me more qualified to evaluate.
Mediterranean Sundance..Al Dimeola, delucia, Mclaughlin because it's blazing fast and dramatic
King Crimson - I talk to the wind -- great for cybals, chimes and etc Van Morrison - Almost independance day - Can hear the foghorn in my bones when done right Joni Mitchell - Slouching towards Bethlehem - Geat range of sound.
Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra (this is not a joke, if you don't know!) Capitol Sessions album - "It Never Entered My Mind." Till Bronner's flugelhorn for tonality.
Pat Metheny "Secret Story" cut on album of same name for piano, and also for deep bass response from organ, well below lowest string on a bass.
David Bowie "Let's Dance" Album, any cuts, to see how the speaker handles a recording with a bit of harshness in the treble. Or "Let it Bleed" from the Stones same purpose.
Great for testing dynamics, BUT ONLY the 1976 original vinyl. Every CD version I have heard is compressed to death. Just horrible...
The opening track, Medieval Overture, is a good place to start, especially Lenny White’s monster drums starting about 1:00 minute in. But the entire album is very dynamic.
Ernst Krenek - Static and Ecstatic
On the Varese International label. Musically, it is pretty thorny sounding modern classical music, so YMMV, but for testing imaging and soundstage, it is on another level. If you can’t imagine yourself being able to walk ’into’ the soundstage and among each individual musician in the chamber orchestra, the system you are listening to does not image very well.
Ralph Towner - Solo Concerts
On ECM. The brilliant guitarist Ralph Towner, live playing acoustic guitar. He should appear at about the height of someone sitting on a stool, and every nuance of his guitar should be readily identifiable. Each sound of fingers on the strings, finger plucking, the sound of the guitar body, the attack and decay of the instrument should be completely discernable.
I could name a dozen or more ECM recordings. Other than the overuse of reverb in the studio on some ECM recordings, they tend to be very natural sounding. It’s hard to go wrong with the vast majority of ECM recordings, on vinyl or CD.
Oh, it looks like I didn’t include any recordings with vocals.
Renaissance - Novella
On vinyl or the early CD versions. Any CD I have heard made aver 2000, is compressed within an inch of its life.
Annie Haslam’s vocals, with her perfect intonation, 5 octave range, dynamics and emotion, should be very clear in the recording, despite the full and intense orchestrations.
Yeah Miller. I really do like your comments. But....im a guitarist, and pianist. That being said, WOW, you guys all just gave me some GREAT music to listen to that ive never heard :-)
One of my old time references is “Jim Hall - Live - Toronto 1975”. Especially “The Way You Look Tonight”. This album is a nice natural recording; especially of drums and bass. Nice subtle and occasionally surprising dynamics that don’t sound compressed to me. Another nice effect is the ambient sound of the venue, crowd and clinking glasses. Whether Jim’s free flowing solos are your taste or not this recording is an interesting listen sonically.
Madonna – “Vogue” from the Immaculate Collection. This version was remastered with Q-sound and
extends certain sounds a foot or more outside of the speaker’s sound
stage. It’s uncanny.
“The Pink Panther” (original motion picture
soundtrack). This is from the Steve
Martin remake and pays meticulous homage to Henry Mancini’s original
recording. Amazing dynamics with the
horn section, and excellent space around the instruments. Even the triangle is a joy to hear. This will give your system a workout.
Poncho Sanchez “El Conguero” from Latin Soul (Live). Great horns, vocals and a percussion section
that appears live in your room. Grammy
winner.
Pat Metheny “Don’t Know Why” from One Quiet Night. Solo acoustic guitar. One of the best recordings of acoustic guitar
I’ve ever heard. Stellar, moving performance and interpretation
of the Norah Jones classic.
Interesting , I have my songs but what I found interesting and damned why didnt I think of that. You actually want songs and music that sounds bad and if the system can make it sound amazing, well then!
That being said here are my three but again hard to stick to three to get all of the sound you listen to and want to hear how the system performs.
1) Steely Dan - Aja- The dynamic range and espeically Steve Gadd drums cant be beat 2) Grateful Dead- Unbroken Chain- Again dynamic range on this sound from the high highs to the lows are amazing especially the airplane sounds in middle 3) Steel Pulse - Steppin out- The opening is just great. I could use Buffalo Soldier here as well
I have to add a 4th and 5th though for acoutsic timbre and Vocal tests maybe i drop Aja and move one of these up as Aja and Unbroken Chain accomplish the same thing but the drums on Aja are key the airplane sounds on Unbroken Chain are key 4) Hot Tuna - Water Song , Acoustic Guitar ( can use Acoustic Alchemy, or Jerry Garcia - So What, or A Friday Night in SF any cut) 5) Amy Winehouse - Our Day will come ( Can use any Eva Cassidy)
These will test , dynamic range, highs, lows, mids widely and then you must hear vocals as well as acoustic music, I probably need some Miles in there also to see how horns sound .
Love Romantic Warrior and have it on both vinyl and CD need to listen to CD again I guess
As I read through the replies I noticed that most people seem to pick a song that they actually like or have an attribute that they feel stands out. For example - deep bass, 3D soundstage, type of bass guitar, or pick up a cymbal sound. This is interesting to me as these are recording attributes. I mostly prefer to hear these but I don't use them to judge the sound. How many of you play an instrument or have recorded anything? Not that this may matter. I listen for piano first. What does that sound like as most music is in the mid-range. To me SS cannot offer the piano sound I prefer as the decay of the notes is to my ears to fast. Tubes seem to delay the decay which I prefer as to me it sounds more realistic and I can hear the "wood" of the instrument. Same goes for the sax reproduction. After that I listen for space, separation, and the placement around instruments and vocals. Especially the layering of vocal parts. How separate are they and does the layering seem smeared. Then I listen for backing instruments. I hear many systems that have layering and separation but the tone if off. Drums and bongos especially. Most of these need to have a "boing" or you should hear the skin flex and the body of the drum box. Same as the piano, how is the decay of the notes. Too many times I hear bongos sound like a flat wack. Almost like the drum is made of cardboard. Last to me is the emotion. Does the system portray emotion which I believe comes from the note decay. Shinko resistors from my experience have been the best emotional resistor I have heard.
So to my ears, does your system lay out the music and make me want to listen and not just how much I love the song.
Since I'm strictly a Jazz analog guy: 1. Charlie Rouse - Epistrophy: The last Concert - Round' Midnight (Landmark Records LLP-1521) Exceptional live recording. The Vibes and Piano can be a torture test on many systems actually to the point of clipping on some systems I've heard this through, but when everything is dialed in, reproduction should be in-your-room real!
2. Christian McBride Trio - Live at the Village Vanguard - Lady in my Life (Mack Avenue Records MAC 1099LP) Another wonderful live small ensemble recording. I attended a performance of this band (different drummer) in an excellent venue...probably better than the Village Vanguard). This comes darn close! Placement on stage mimics the live performance I attended. I use this tune for accurate image placement and to reduce bass bloat which is easy considering Christian's Big Bass sound. Once tamed, the sound is very natural and Christian Sands' solo as with his live performance, is sensational on this tune. It really grooves!
3. Duke Ellington And His Orchestra - Ellington At Newport - Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab– MOFI 1-035) All I can say I that if this tune doesn't have you dancin' in your room, something's wrong!
Here is a list from Head-Fi.org. Not 3 songs, but what's somewhat unique about it is that it tells you what you are looking for e.g. male vocal tone, deep bass, etc.
So many here I know and use to test. Nils Lofgrem "Keith don’t go" WILL sound good/great on most systems and I want Shelby Lynne to be my baby sitter. If she can’t then please send Patricia Barber. London Grammar, "Hey Now" is one my list too.
alanhuth.. nice find esp the Houston Person track
I love threads like this as often great music is gathered for my playlists.
In addition to all Rodrigo y Gabriela kind of stuff I also use tracks I don’t really typically listen to for pleasure but rather to test. "Poinciana" by Keith Jarrett’s Trio Whisper Not - Live in Paris 1999 is always going to sound great...(Playing now)
These will test any system
"Bop" Mr. Machine Brandt Brauer Frick..Dare yah!
"Toothbrush" Nothing But The Water (Album Version) Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
"IDKT" The Books
"Koyaanisqatsi" (Soundtrack) Philip Glass first 30 seconds. Points if you last.
"Duende" Black Light Syndrome Bozzio Levin Stevens
I recommend the followings to name a few: 1. TakeDake: #6 Japanese Roots - breadth and depth of soundstage, instrument separation and dynamics; 2. Voodoo by John Zorn & The Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet - bass,
edgeness of alto saxophone, keyboard notes reproduction, separation, transients, treble extension (airy highs of cymbal); and 3. London Symphony Orchestra - Bohemian Rhapsody, Classics. - Let you test everything when the music/intruments/vocals get busier.
@hilde45 - we’re on the same wavelength... Shelby Lynne’s "Just a Little Lovin" cover to cover is a benchmark whenever I’m giving new gear a twirl. My mother used to play Dusty "Live in Memphis" on her Mac/Thorens/AR rig till the wheels fell off! Big fan of Hans Theessink, "My Girl" off Sounds of the Southland & Derrin Nauenforf, "Danielle" & "Ghost Town" off Live at the Boardwalk" too when trying on new speakers. Simple stuff but the decay of plucked strings speaks to me. Most anything by Ben Harper; always clean and snappy. Like JJ Grey and Mofro’s "Lockloosa" - wildly satisfying. Could keep going... Beck, "Cycle" & "Morning" off Morning Phase give you some deep clear bass that is pretty telling. Anyway, great topic 👍
As I read through the replies I noticed that most people seem to pick a song that they actually like or have an attribute that they feel stands out. For example - deep bass, 3D soundstage, type of bass guitar, or pick up a cymbal sound. This is interesting to me as these are recording attributes. I mostly prefer to hear these but I don’t use them to judge the sound. How many of you play an instrument or have recorded anything? Not that this may matter. I listen for piano first. What does that sound like as most music is in the mid-range. To me SS cannot offer the piano sound I prefer as the decay of the notes is to my ears to fast. Tubes seem to delay the decay which I prefer as to me it sounds more realistic and I can hear the "wood" of the instrument. Same goes for the sax reproduction. After that I listen for space, separation, and the placement around instruments and vocals. Especially the layering of vocal parts. How separate are they and does the layering seem smeared. Then I listen for backing instruments. I hear many systems that have layering and separation but the tone if off. Drums and bongos especially. Most of these need to have a "boing" or you should hear the skin flex and the body of the drum box. Same as the piano, how is the decay of the notes. Too many times I hear bongos sound like a flat wack. Almost like the drum is made of cardboard. Last to me is the emotion. Does the system portray emotion which I believe comes from the note decay. Shinko resistors from my experience have been the best emotional resistor I have heard.
So to my ears, does your system lay out the music and make me want to listen and not just how much I love the song.
Happy Listening.
Thanks very much for this great post....
Food for tought....You describe exactly and nail it with way better words than i could what we must strive for when we create the right acoustic with a good system to begin with...
Anyway a good acoustic well done will reveal WHICH part of the system is to be upgrade...
But thanks to all people here for their great music recommendation....
@bgross - Beck's "Morning Phase" album is a fave Sunday morning chill record for me; but, it's also a sonically interesting record. It made me revise my opinion of him.
@bigkidz - Totally agreed about the importance of good sounding persussion (congas, cymbals & drums). I'll never forget auditioning a speaker that made the drummer sound like he was beating on plastic trash can lids!
Great suggestions above. Looking forward to drilling deep into these.
I'd like to add:
Kansas City Monarch -- Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters. Nice saxophone and lively piano riffs distinguish good vs great systems Hard Day's Night -- Kings Singers. A textbook reference for imaging and vocal placement Carole Horn -- Nobody Knows. This is my go to cut for a front row seat to an amazing female vocal.
Others (honorable mention) Ambrosia -- Time Waits for No One. The first 1 minute of this recording is still fun to listen to after all these years (crank it up). The Beatles -- Martha My Dear. This is an under-appreciated contribution to The Beatles portfolio.
Also, speaking of The Beatles. I often use the foot tap from Black Bird to demo/evaluate equipment. You might be surprised how dramatically better equipment affects the "tonality" of something as simple as a foot tap.
Excellent thread with some seriously good selections, below are a few of mine: sorry, I can’t leave it at just three 😬
Ezio Bosso, “Under The Trees’ Voices” (Live). If you play this and you do not feel that you are one of the musicians sitting in this hall your system needs some attention. It’s a beautiful piece which deserves many ears to listen to it.
Leonard Cohen/Sharon Robinson, “By the Rivers Dark”. Just stunning in ever respect, get lost in that voice with amazing texture and lyrics. Play loud and make your drivers work for a living.
Bob Dylan, “Man in the Long Black Coat”. Give this a spin because it’s not like the BD you think you know (unless your are a true fan. Great recording and detail. If you’re not in the same room as the band check out your gear.
Chris Stapleton, Death Row. You will know why when you play it (loud)
Bela Fleck and the Flectones, “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo” album & track. If you can’t feel the bass strings vibrate?....
Sade, either; “No Ordinary Love” or “Cherish the Day”, both winners.
2) A Tie between: "The Sheffield Drum Record", Side A - Improvisations By Jim Keltner, Sheffield Labs #14 (As listed by sls141) and "The Sheffield Track Record", Sheffield Labs #20-
Robbie Buchanan, James Newton Howard, Lenny Castro, Nathan East, Mike Landau*, Carlos Vega 3) Donald Fagen - "The Nightfly" (I.G.Y. - New Frontier - The Nightfly) and/or "Kamakiriad" (Trans-Island Skyway - Snowbound -On The Dunes)
I do the 7.4 version. You are surrounded. This disc is about as good as it gets. Its recorded in Dolby DTS and its recorded excellent. Five thousand watts , Four killer subs, and a complete Legacy system. Chest thump is better than being there. I set volumes at 105-110 db. But it really doesn’t seem overly loud. Just penetrating, and crisp. Problem is, its a two hour concert and whoever your showing it off to absolutely wants NO part of leaving until you have played the entire concert .. Last mans wife said (as she sunk into that couch with a nice drink in her hand) "Am I in heaven? Did I just die and go to heaven? .. Lol
great thread...lots of new listening ideas! My top 3:
vinyl - Dead Can Dance - Ubiquitous Dr Lovegrove - great percussion for transients and speed Depeche Mode - Dream on - acoustic guitar and harmonized vocals for critical listening digital - Marion Herzog/Chris Jones - No Sanctuary Here - incredible bass test for detail and resolution in the low range
Great topic, tough to choose just three so going with three from 3 different genres:
Classical:
Mozart Divertimento K.563 Cummings String Trio on Meridian (CD). Great for assessing string tone and ability to distinguish musical lines
Mozart Piano Uchida Live Phillips (CD). Great piano tone and hall acoustics. Check out the Adagio which is the final track.
Brahms Violin Sonata Abel Wilson (LP). Great all around chamber music recording
Jazz:
Patricia Barber "Nightclub" Autumn Leaves. (MOFI LP) Great acoustic bass and super clean vocals. Good test for excess sibilance.
Sonny Rollins "Way Out West" (Acoustic Sounds LP) "Old Cowhand" Great live drum feel and sax immediacy.
Linda Ronstadt and Nelson Riddle "What's New" (MOFI LP) I love the final cut "Goodbye" which is great for vocal texture and immediacy.
Rock (ish):
Fagen "The Nightfly" (MOFI One Step) and "Morph the Cat" (LP). Love the title track of the former for system drive and projection--if your feet don't move your dead! The bass guitar in Morph the Cat goes super deep and you should be able to follow the line clearly throughout the song.
Shelby Lynn "Just a Little Lovin". (Acoustic Sounds LP). The title cut is killer--yes, the kick drum should hit you in the chest but I mostly listen for the rim shots on the snare at the start--they should reverberate and echo in the studio with real percussive shock.
Nick Drake "Pink Moon" (Island LP Reissue). Great percussive guitar sound, should be able to really hear the intricate work and fingering. Pretty good for vocals too! I'll also throw in Michael Hedges "Breakfast in the Field LP and Alex Degrassi "Slow Circle" for great sounding (but different) acoustic guitar recordings.
Late 60's Joni Mitchell. Excellent, intimate. The timbre of her voice, the superb guitar. Both hard to record properly as well as a playback system to come close. Later with Jaco pastorius should sound live.
First, I enjoyed reading everybody's choices...some were not really expected. Second a few years ago a friend of mine passed away and he always used Diana Krall's (Paris Album) to test speakers, amps and DACS. The specific cut he used was "A Case of You ". If you can't hear piano frets being released, Diana moving aroound on the piano stool and her mike changes and most importantly at the start of her song the different postions of the audiance members caughing you need to focus grass hopper".
First, I enjoyed reading everybody’s choices...some were not really expected. Second a few years ago a friend of mine passed away and he always used Diana Krall’s (Paris Album) to test speakers, amps and DACS. The specific cut he used was "A Case of You ". If you can’t hear piano frets being released, Diana moving aroound on the piano stool and her mike changes and most importantly at the start of her song the different postions of the audiance members caughing you need to focus grass hopper". i just listen to this track.... A great choice...
But all these details about imaging, details about the piano frets, the caughing, all is there coming from my under 500 bucks system... The reason is my system is rightfully embed especially acoustically...
BUT MY AUDIO SYSTEM so good it is, is not perfect nor it is the best possible at all... How do i know it? Because i can judge the timbre microdynamic clarity and image coming from it....
It is impossible to judge a system only with dynamic, decay, attack, imaging, soundstage, source width, listener envelopment, bass rendition, high rendition, mids rendition alone...
Putting in words what make a sound great is impossible anyway...We all know that...
For me the only criteria that encompasses all the others in a nutshell is "timbre microdynamic"....
Each piano note must live in his own 3-d bubble with a unique physionomy of his own like a human face....Nevermind the recording...If the recording is not great it will be impossible to catch and see the timbre microdynamic even if we listen to someone caughing at different rows distance on the recording...Imaging details is only one acoustic factor...
If i had TIMBRE i have all the rest, because we cannot produce a natural realistic timbre microdynamic in a room, without all acoustic settings treatment and controls in place, and with them all these others conditions that will make possible the timbre microdynamic perception are: dynamic, decay, attack, imaging, soundstage, source width, listener envelopment, bass,mid, and high optimal rendition....
Then we cannot focus on these characteristics alone to judge a system but we must focus on "timbre microdynamic" because it encompass them all....Piano, organ, brass, and human choral voices are the best test for me,,,
When i created my acoustic controls my main guidance was timbre first, not , bass, dynamic etc by themselves....
It is my experience ....
Thanks for this magnificent thread....
Empire brass ensemble : Gabrielli
It is one of my cd test...because of the intermingling of all these brass instruments forming a wall of sound in all the room 3-d with the necessary distinctive character timbre of each one of the instruments...
For piano:
Vladimir Felstman, Bach , well tempered klavier.... Here each note has a face like each human...Very well recorded and played...
For voices :
Alistair Dixon directing Chapelle du roy in Tallis complete works... Here each voice must be heard in distinction with his one physionomy....
My audio system give me a "taste" of what i described.... Proof that my embeddings controls are right.... But i know for sure that a costlier well chosen and well embedded one will geve more of that.... Cost will not be around 500 bucks but at least around 15,000 bucks....
Agree w anything by Jennifer Warnes, but my favorite is Ballad of the Runaway Horse- some “experts” say the most difficult sound to reproduce is the spoken voice- at times she speaks, barely above a whisper, at times she really sings, the instruments are acoustic, & the subtle change from “violin “ to “fiddle” at the end. if it doesn’t give me goosebumps, make the hairs on my arms stand on end, or make me start to sway w the music or send tears running down my cheeks, something not right w the gear. ”yup, that gear’s not right.”
Great topic for a rainy weekend and find new stuff to listen too. As a big PG fan I will definitely look up ’Blood of Eden’. Also great to see what different people look for (timbre, boing sound of bongo’s, I never thought of that myself). When I went shopping for new (standmount) speakers last year I spent days compiling a ’test’ list for the audition sessions. To come up with 3 songs however is really hard. +1 for Bela Fleck though. So that’s the bass department covered. Now I’ll include some African flavor for variety:
1) Baaba Maal - Yiriyaro (Percussion storm). As the title suggests, it a myriad of percussion patterns, so if your system gets you up to dance it’s got PRAT. And there should be a pretty nice soundstage experience with the recorded thunderstorm at the end.
2) Depeche Mode - In Chains. The synth intro can act nicely as an alternative REW frequency sweep :-) and the first verse + guitar cord attacks is helpful for system dynamics. (note: my guess is classical pieces are much better at that, but I don’t listen to any)
3) Fish - Vigil. I’m including it for those that are looking for systems that are ’unforgiving’ for bad recordings. If it’s unforgiving, the bombastic chorus should sound really awful.
bigkidz: I listen for piano first. What does that sound like as most music is in the mid-range. To me SS cannot offer the piano sound I prefer as the decay of the notes is to my ears to fast. Tubes seem to delay the decay which I prefer as to me it sounds more realistic and I can hear the "wood" of the instrument.
If the recording is done in a dead room, the piano notes will sound like decaying too fast without reverb. "Delaying" it using an audio signal processing technique implemented in some DAC sometimes overcooks it and will only make piano notes sound artificially. I do not know how much effect can be created by tube amp because I do not own one but I just want to stress the importance of the original recording. A good stereo system is to preserve those attributes, not to create them.
Thanks everyone for sharing such precious gems! I never though I would receive that level of quality and quantity of suggestions.
I reiterate that I listen to all songs (that are available on Spotify - don't judge me!). I put them in a "Suggestions" playlist and, after listening once, it is either removed (I don't like ALL of them!), or moved in a "Top 5", "Top 10", "Top 25" or "Reserve" playlist for further listening. So this thread is keeping me very busy... and I'm loving it!
Some gems I discovered because of you (no particular order): - Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth (remastered) - The Ubiquitous M. Lovegrove - Stunz & Farah - Primal Magic - Rainmaker - Adèle - 21 - Lovesong - Stevie Ray Vaughan - Couldn't Stand The Weather - Tin Pan Alley - The Dave Brucket Quarter - Timeout - Take Five - Woong San - Close Your Eyes - Round Midnight - Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. - Vitamin - Suzan Vegas - Solitide Standing - Tom's Dinner
I still have 54 songs in my "Suggestions" playlist and I haven't added all new ones from yesterday... So I'm thrilled thinking about what I might discover!
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
