Songs you use when auditioning gear

@hilde45 @jastralfu @soix 

Yesterday I listened to LPs of Aja and Gaucho back to back.  I wouldn't say Gaucho  was that much brighter than Aja.  Maybe the horn sections were a little bright on Gaucho, but that LP was one that received better treatment.

More generally, I would rely more on well-recorded classical orchestral pieces and jazz for auditioning components.  They can inform about both timbral accuracy and soundstaging better than pop/rock records, which are generally multimic'ed with artificial reverberation and often EQ added.  When auditioning gear, I did use a few rock records because I was very familiar with them and wanted to be sure they would sound good, since I listened to rock as much as classical and jazz.

@jastralfu 

A well-recorded jazz CD, if you can find it, is Fred Hersch Trio Plays...on Chesky Records.  It's a very natural, realistic recording of a piano trio with natural ambience and soundstaging.  Another one, not as good musically or recording-wise, is pianist Michael Garson's Serendipity on Reference Recordings.  I used to use track 6 from the latter CD when auditioning speakers and other gear because it has some very high, hard-hit piano notes that I thought were good for assessing for treble harshness.  That recording is from 1986 so I would imagine there are better ones around by now.  Diana Krall has some good CDs, well-recorded, mostly piano trios or quartets.