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What music do you use to assess your system?

I'm looking for music that will reveal shortcomings or strengths within ones system. Lets list some of our favorite songs that have: good, fluctuating bass lines, songs that have a solid, centerd vocal, songs that are super complex with alot going on, songs that test tone, songs that test inner and micro detail, songs that test how well a speaker can convey dynamic swing, and any other aspects I didn't mention.

Of course I'm not looking for one song that covers all areas, I'm fine with one song only covering one aspect.

When listing songs, please include what we are looking for in that particular song!
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b_limo OP
2,273 posts
 
Oh boy, and we've officially digressed, 4 posts into the thread.
WARNING: do not watch that video unless you have 4 minutes to burn. You will never get that time back, and you will not be able to stop the video once you've started watching it. Thanks for the laugh!
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b_limo OP
2,273 posts
 
I love going back and reading old posts by myself to see how my audio hobby has progressed.

I recently got a pair of new speakers and they make everything sound better so there's no need to play a song I've heard 1,000 times to pick out slight differences because everything sounds awesome.

I have found that songs with Piano or classical (large orchestral) music will showcase a systems weakness but I also found that you can asses tone, attack and decay, transient snap, bass articulation, imaging, and frequency extension on many songs.

I have also found that Classical music will showcase dynamic swings and will let you asses if you speakers still sound detailed and impactful at low volumes (whats this called by the way?)

I have also found that one of my old "go to" songs I used to asses my system sounds about the same on most speakers (sounds good) and that there isn't much going on to test a speakers performance.

I've found that complex passages where there are many instruments being played at once are good songs also.

I guess in retrospect, I'm wondering now if its not more important to improve your listening skills and asses your rig on any and all music rather than the 10 songs you've heard 1,000 times...
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