Music for testing equipment speakers, headphones..

I think one might well learn from a detailed list like the above, with notes as to what other are hearing for comparison.

But what Zd said deserves emphasis: at moderate (and even not so moderate) pricepoints, it is difficult to craft a system that does everything well, so it pays to make very sure that the equipment under consideration can shine on the material that is most important in *your* listening.

As Jim Smith says, pick demo material that moves you.

m2c,

John

Test discs are are a great "shock and awe" tool used by dealers.. However...at the end of the day...one has to listen to real music...strange that a lot of test discs I have encountered don't contain vocals

An annotated playlist such as presented in the article can be a very useful tool in optimizing a system and setup parameters. The list is not comprehensive in musical styles, but it does offer enough variety to get the job done. It's a far better method than randomly selecting music that you like, but of unknown recording quality.

"The list is not comprehensive in musical styles, but it does offer enough variety to get the job done. It's a far better method than randomly selecting music that you like, but of unknown recording quality.
Onhwy61 (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)"

I know we don't always agree on everything. Sometimes we do agree, but with regards to the above quote, unfortunately this is not one of them. I think we all use test CD's to get an idea as to how something will sound, but if you don't match your components to the music that you actually listen to, how can you ever expect to be happy? Its like cutting your nose off to spite your face. I made this mistake myself many times and can tell you from experience that if you don't like what you are hearing, you're not going to listen to the system. Its just that simple. The only thing you'll be listening to is your test CD's.

The process of choosing music that you like is not random. Who buys music at random? For the most part, I don't. Once in a while I'll take a chance, but the music I buy is bought because I like it. Also, the recording quality is not unknown. How could it be? You own the cd and can listen to it any time you want. There's nothing random about any of this. That's the whole point of using music that you listen to when judging equipment. If you don't do it that way, then you are guessing a random.

I can only conclude that you haven't read the thread the OP refers to. He's not talking about "test CDs", but referring to music tracks from readily available music CDs. The intended purpose of listening to the specific music tracks is to judge performance elements of a system. I think you're reading way to much into what the discussion is about.