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Top 3 songs to evaluate a system

Hi everyone,

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!!

papyneau
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,224 posts
 
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.

ozzy
chorus
976 posts
 
Baby It's Cold Out there, Velvet Records. Hirt & Ann-Margaret

What God Wants, Roger Waters

Rhymoi, Jade Hairpin, Kunqu Opera


Great Post-Thanks to those who added the six I just sent to friends.
blue-magoo's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
blue-magoo
139 posts
 
Massive Attack 'Teardrop"

Rye Cooder "Bop till you Drop"

Dick Dale "Miserlou"

markf31's avatar
markf31
11 posts
 
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.
panzrwagn's avatar
panzrwagn
451 posts
 
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.
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