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Best song for immediate impact when presenting or testing?

I, as most of you, have my regular tunes that I play or listen to when trying out a new system or playing music for friends. My current starter is 'Feels like Rain' by Aaron Neville. It engages me immediately because I love it so, but it is also very well recorded and has a bass voice doing backup which in the right system has a real visceral impact.

I was at an Audio shop recently, listening to my standards, and wanted to show the sales consultant a piece that he might not have heard. I played 'Golden Rust' off the Miles Gurtu album. After about 30 seconds, he pulled out his device and added the song to his favorites. I asked why did he add so quickly, and he said that the opening electronica had a three dimensional stereophonic quality that made a remarkable impression right off the bat. I paraphrase lightly; that was his comment.

What pieces do you play of any genre that have an immediate impact, especially for people listening to a good system for the first time?
128x128cmjones
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arcam88
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ecat026
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"Taking in the View" - Uncle Lucius


bigkidz
3,388 posts
 
Not sure what everyones criteria for testing out a system but I don't understand how some of the listed tunes above can provide any valuable input.  Just my opinion.  I look for more natural recordings of instruments and vocals, something with dynamic swings, and complex passages.  I want to know how a system reproduces the space in the soundstage and the tone of each instrument.

Jaco Pastorius, Rickie Lee Jones POP POP, just to name a few.

Happy Listening.  
cymbop
315 posts
 
This thread has been making me happy all week.  I made a playlist in Roon (why oh why is there not an easy way to export this for other Roonies?)  Between Tidal and Qobuz, only 2-3 of these titles can't be streamed.

Even the stuff that's outside my wheelhouse has been worth a spin.  

Thanks, guys.
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
Kandace Springs Breakdown
La Vie (Pop Mix) Philippe Saisse
Elton John Rocket Man    Honky Chateau
Gordon Lightfoot   If You Could Read My Mind 
It Ain't No Use   Trombone Shorty   Parking Lot Symphony
Lake Street Dive  I Want You Back    Fun Machine
Whirlpool  Seal  The Rare Collection
a-ha  The Sun Always Shines on TV   MTV Unplugged Summer Solstice
Michael Hedges   Aerial Boundaries   Pure Michael Hedges
Splendor in the Grass   Pink Martini
God of Wonders  Paul Baloche   (live)
The Ladder  Paula Cole   Harbinger
I Don't Know   Shawn Colvin   The Greatest 60's Album 
Along the Road  Dan Fogelberg   Live at Carnegie Hall
Friends   Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble    Mr Machine
Be Here Now   Ray LaMontagne   Til the Sun Turns Black
Driving    Everything But the Girl    Acoustic
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay  Sara Barieilles   Brave Enough: Live at the Variety Playhouse
The Windmills of Your Mind   Alison Moyet   Voice (reissue Deluxe)
Cantaloop (Flip Out)  Manhattan Transfer   The Junction 
Humilitas    Lesiem    Auracle 

I didn't select these to impress people, but are some that I use in assessment of audio system performance. However, with an extreme system several of these are impressive performances.  In reviewing I use lists such as this to not only tell the limits of the system's performance, but tune the system. 
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