analyzing sound
Some recordings may demonstrate better audiophile-related variables (e.g., soundstage, imaging, blackness, quickness, microdynamics, dynamic range, low/mid/high frequencies, sibilance, etc.) than others. Playlists are therefore offered as examples of music to use when evaluating hifi components or systems. I assume, for example, that it is necessary to have a recording that is able to demonstrate a wide soundstage in order to evaluate whether a system/component produces a wide soundstage. However, I have not found a playlist that also identifies which specific recordings are good for evaluating which specific variable that an audiophile may be interested in.
For example, is there an annotated playlist that provides something like the following entirely fabricated example: Bill Frisell's recording of Baba Drame on The Intercontinentals is a good track for evaluating imaging (but not microdynamics), whereas John Eliot Gardiner's Volume 3 recording of Bach Contatas is excellent for evaluating microdynamics (but not imagining), or Imogen Heap's recording of First Train Home on her Ellipse album is good to use for determining the degree of sibilance (but not low frequency definition) of your system.
Or is any good recording capable of demonstrating all qualities of interest?
...and some of us just listen to sh*t that rakes the rocks in ones' pit..... ...dammed to the dregs of the drive.... Loud, puleze....*s* @tomic601 ....
Ahhh.....Oh, Kay..... topology in audio starts to get a tad beyond and above the typ imho..... Your *ahem* 'enhancements* are worth considering to this mortal to divine what plane of existence you've intersected.... ;)
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+1 Excellent. Thank you… this is really cool. OP, i’m 72. But have passionately pursued high end audio since college. Let me just recommend a couple things to accelerate your learning curve.
First get Robert Harley’s book. The Complete Guide to High-End Audio. This will add a framework and flesh it out with the basics.
You have time. Go listen to great systems. Go to some high end dealers and listen to,their best systems. Not because you will want to,buy them, but they will exemplify “kinds” of sound and make detecting sound characteristics like micro textures and the less obvious ones easier. A word of caution on having a list of tunes for evaluating sound. It better be highly varied. I used to take my three or four favorite albums with me when I auditioned equipment. I was going through an electronic music kick… to my disappointment, I optimized my system to electronic… and all other genre sounded much worse.
Finally. When you audition, spend most of the time listening to the music… not the system. Make sure you can tell which you are doing. As interesting as hearing the conductor move his foot… it is the overall gestalt of the music and its conveyance that will make you happy at home. You don’t want an instrument you want a musical reproduction system. |
I'm not much younger. If you like electronic music, it is recorded at very high levels of dynamics, transients, accuracy, soundscape, 3D, swirling, 20 to 20000Hz Bear with me. Tron Legacy Sound track. Daft Punk. This symphonic(classical) checks all the boxes Eric Hilton. He is/was with Theivery Corporation. He has been going through various styles of music. Impossible Silience, infinite everywhere, lost dialect are superb. These are rhythmic, relaxed jazz with Samba influence. Top recording and production. He plays all the instruments. Soundtracks are a good bet. Qobuz has a playlist of Soundtracks to test your system. Some good stuff there. Qobuz has several such playlists debut albums, Philadelphia sound. There are lots of good sounding artists and recordings. So I will stop, enjoy |
Since OP listens to classical music, I'll give you my one-track work which I always use for auditioning components (CD or streaming - I cannot afford the prices this record commands second-hand). This work was originally recorded by Decca (London in the US) to analogue tape at the height of their skills in 1963. The recording has been available ever since on various media. The track lasts just over a quarter of an hour. One serious critic has described the work as the best ever classical piece of music. It covers virtually every instrument in an orchestra, singly and together, has huge dynamic range, features complex percussion cross-rhythms and a finale where every section seems to do its own thing - something lesser systems cannot properly resolve. It is Benjamin Britten conducting his "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" |
