Favorite Music for Auditioning New Gear

Hello everyone, I've just joined your site after visiting for a few days. I've been a "Champagne sound on a beer budget" audiophile since the late 70's and I am thinking of upgrading my entire system piece by piece this year.
My question is about your favorite music to audition new cartridges, speakers and other gear. What music do you take with you to articulate the differences between the gear you are considering?

I'll get the ball rolling by suggesting a few of my favorite pieces and why I like them.

Steamer Lane Breakdown from Minute by Minute by the Doobie Brothers for detail and imaging.
School from Crime of the Century by Supertramp for Dynamics.
Country Road from Sweet Baby James by James Taylor for treble, especially cymbal crashes.
Catherine from Finger Paintings by Earl Klugh for detail and imaging.

All of these selections are from non-audiophile grade LP's. Please suggest some of your favorite go to selections for auditioning gear. It will be fun to check them out.

Play Dead
Rob Koefer

 

Depeche Mode-Construction Time Again INT WG #02
Because it has pre-emphasis in the SUB Q Channel, I use this to determine if a player I'm interested in can add the proper eq or not

 

Stimela - Hugh Masekela
Smash - Patricia Barber
Pink Floyd - Shine on You Crazy Diamond
Ane Brun....

 

All great music and recordings, don't worry about "non-audiophile grade LPs", whatever that means. I sold my MFSL of Crime for a standard UK pressing, which apart from slightly more surface noise sounded better.

I've used Kate Bush, The Kick Inside for years, and a very simple Chopin piano piece - is the piano in tune!? It's amazing how a Hi-Fi has the ability to screw up single notes!

Nothing wrong with your choices whatsoever - Catherine is a beautiful tune and will show up pitch and timing issues very easily.

Enjoy your music and whatever you purchase!

 

Welcome to the forum. I think that anything which you know well is a good thing to bring along. The better recordings will allow the better gear to show their stuff of course, where the poor recordings will show the limitations of the recordings themselves. I like to have a variety of music, both in style and in instrumentation to get a handle on how a particular system will reproduce it. Perhaps more important than the recordings that you bring will be the associated gear. It's always best to try and have something as similar as possible to what you have at home to keep the variables low. Also don't be afraid to have the store clerks choose something that they have which you are unfamiliar with as it might allow some greater insight into the systems sound capabilities as well, whether or not the music is your cup of tea.
-Bill

 

Paul Simon Graceland. Vocals, busy and sparse arrangements, horns, bass, bass, bass

 

Rickey Lee Jones' self titled album, or maybe Suzanne Vega's "Solitude Standing" both on vinyl, both have a lot clear vocals but also some complex music with distinct air around the instruments. Great to understand imaging and detail. Then I usually do Paul Simon's Graceland, also because of the diversity of music styles and focus on it.

Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" just because I know it so well.

 

Let me throw an oldie at you. This disc was used at the New York audio show about 10-12 years ago, my memory is fuzzy, but hey, you cold find this disc in 85% of the demo rooms at the show held at the Waldorf. The trick with this disc is to find the GOLD one that was made by Pope Music, big time audiophile label from the past. I looked for it about 6 moths ago on Amazon and only the standard CD was there, which is fine, today I got really lucky and found the Pope GOLD CD. Back in the day this CD was everywhere audiophiles were, everyone wanted it, so here it is!

Home of Whispers

 

I generally include:

a) some Beatles, just to see how the gear being auditioned connects this music I love and know so well with me emotionally;

b) some classic jazz and baroque music, for reproduction of instrumental timbres and hall ambience;

c) Nick Drake's Pink Moon, which needs to sound like he's in the room with me; and

d) Led Zeppelin II, to see if the speakers hang together on a distorted/difficult recording (this last is useful to test little standmount monitors.)

 

Steely Dans Black Cow off the Aja Album

 

Was playing Harry James 'King James Version' earlier, a demo disc in the late seventies/early eighties with production by Lincoln Mayorga and Doug Sax.
Great Brass playing and a nimble ,powerful drummer in Les Demerle.
Still sounds like a demo disc .

 

I have it, Top Shelf! Great demo disc, The King James Version, Harry James and his big band. CD-3, Sheffield Lab (Direct from the Masters), recorded July 29th, 1976, Harry James (Trumpet).

 

I have the 'King James' on vinyl and the 'Coming from a good place ' on cd , both, apparently, recorded in the same time frame , love 'em both!

 

If a wee monitor passes this test, you may be onto a real winner; wish I'd done this when I auditioned my Harbeth P3ESRs.

 

I made a couple Demo CDs that I always take with me. They have a bunch of very different stuff on it. Here's one of them:

1. Nanci Griffith - The Wing and the Wheel - The dust Bowl Symphony
2. Steely Dan -Gaucho - Babylon Sisters
3. Dire Straits - On Every Street
4. John Denver - Aerie - Caseys Last Ride
5. Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat - Bird On A Wire
6. Lyle Lovett - Joshua Judges Ruth - North Dakota
7. Mark Knopfler - Shangri La - The Trawlermans Song
8. Johnny Adams - One Foot In The Blues
9. Luther Kent and Trick Bag -My Good Friend Rodney
10. Neville Brothers - Live From Planet Earth - Congo Square
11. Logging and Messina - Full Sail - Pathway to Glory

 

Four tracks with different sounds...

1. Midnight Oil - Dead Heart - Beds Are Burning
2. Donald Fagan - New Frontier - The Nightly
3. Bruce Springsteen - Old Dan Tucker - Seeger Sessions
4. Elton John - Rocket Man - Honky Chateau

Each track has an instrumental passage 'kick in' at a certain point that I use as a differentiating factor in evaluating gear, especially headphones.

 

Not all are "audiophile" recordings, but I use many of these to audition new gear and systems

Henry Mancini - The Pink Panther Theme, from Ultimate Mancini
Jaco Pastorius - Wiggle Waggle, from Word of Mouth Revisited
Hernando's Hideaway - Enoch Light Orchestra, from Persuasive Percussion 1, 2, 3
O-Zone Percussion Group - Rondo Barock, from La Bamba
The Muppets - Mahna, Mahna, from Muppet Hits
Diana Krall - 'S Wonderful - Diana Krall, from Live in Paris
Norah Jones - Don't Know Why, from Come Away With Me (AP SACD)
Lhasa De Sela - My Name, from The Living Road
Little Feat - Spanish Moon, from Waiting For Columbus (MFSL)
Supertramp - Bloody Well Right, from Crime Of The Century (MFSL) or Paris (non-remaster)
Steely Dan - Godwhacker, from Everything Must Go (DVD)
The King's Singers - The Boxer, from Good Vibrations
Porcupine Tree - Lazarus (acoustic), from We Lost The Skyline
Porcupine Tree - Anesthetize, from Atlanta
Nils Lofgren - Keith Don't Go, from Acoustic Live
Brian Bomberg & Akira Jimbo - Brombo, from Brombo! JB Project
Hugh Masekela - Nomali, from Hope (AP SACD)
Heart - Alone, from Alive in Seattle (SACD)
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah, from Grace
The Carpenters - Yesterday Once More, from Yesterday Once More ('84 release)
Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al, from Graceland
Alice In Chains - Got Me Wrong, from MTV Unplugged
Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Live In Las Vegas
Bonnie Raitt - Angel From Montgomery, from Road Tested
Fleetwood Mac - Big Love, from The Dance
Bob Marley - No Woman, No Cry, from Legend (HDtracks 96/24)
Eva Cassidy - People Get Ready, from Live At Blues Alley
Alison Krauss & Union Station - The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn, from Live (SACD)
Chris Jones - Long After You're Gone, from B & W Very Audiophile New Recordings
Thom Rotella Band - Friends, from Thom Rotella Band
Ray Brown Trio - Sweet Georgia Brown, from Soular Energy
The Persuasions - In the Ghetto, from A Capella Dreams
Days Of The New - The Down Town, from S/T
Harry Nilsson - Coconut, from Nilsson Schmilsson (04 Anesini remaster)
Ralph Stanley - 'O Death, from 'O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack
Erich Kunzel, Cinci Pops - St. James Infirmary (feat. Cab Calloway), from The Big Band Hit Parade
Lyle Lovett - Church, from Joshua Judges Ruth

 

I haven't auditioned any gear in a hifi shop in a long time but if I did, it'd be:

Supertramp - School
Jack Johnson - Middle Man
Jennifer Warnes and Rob Wasserman - Ballad of the Runaway Horse
Hootie and the Blowfish - Tootie
Dallas Symphony Orchestra - Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances - Non Allegro
Pantera - Floods
Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick

Dynamics, bass response, imaging, imaging, dynamics/transients, composure, dynamics, respectively.

 

On The Run, The Great Gig In The Sky and Money - Dark Side Of The Moon
Down To The Waterline, Six Blade Knife and Lions - Dire Straits
Heat Of The Moment, Only Time Will Tell and Wildest Dreams - Asia
Black Sabbath, The Wizard and Planet Caravan - Black Sabbath
Deacon Blues, Peg and Josie - Steely Dan

 

For cassette decks, I either use Alanis's Jagged Little Pill or Duran Duran's Seven and the Ragged Tiger. The latter because it's so poorly produced that only a certain deck can make it sound decent.

 

I burnt a test CD that I take with me when doing that first audition of equipment. The latest version of the test CD includes songs by

Yellow
Dave Brubeck
Jenny Lewis
Janet Jackson
Pat Barber
Ray Brown
Jennifer Warnes
Eric Clapton

 

When I auditioned the Proacs I listened to the following:
Los Romeros Vivaldi Guitar Concertos Largo-Larghetto
Horowitz Schubert-Liszt Standchen
James Taylor Country Road
Natalie Merchant Wonder
Fleetwood Mac Rhiannon
Sarah McLachlan I Will Not Forget You
Bad Company Seagul (AF recording)
Santana Samba Pa Ti (needledrop)
Each of these I know really well and has something specific I listen for when judging whether there is improvement or not.
I think, as it has been said before, take what you know well. It sure puts a smile on your face when you hear something new or more musical than before.
Good luck and have fun.
Jon

 

Steely Dan - Aja (180g Classic Records)
Chuck Mangione - Feels So Good (A&M records, original pressing)
Weather Report - Heavy Weather (CBS Half Speed Master)
Lee Ritenour - Live in LA (CD)

 

I take a few with me when I go, but one is always Carly Simon's Your So Vain......the first notes are pretty solid for bass definition and the chorus with Mick singing background is a easy test to see if the stage and separation is right....on cheaper and less revealing systems his voice gets lost somewhat....on nicer stuff he stands out much more.

And Hot Love Cold World by Bob Welch off French Kiss....know that track so well I can almost glean everything I need to know about speakers with it.

 

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Greatest Hits - original 1993 CD

Alice in Chains Unplugged - 1996 CD

Fleetwood Mac S/T - any original press CD sounds great IMO

Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack - DCC Steve Hoffman CD

Lindsey Buckingham Out of the Cradle - 1992 CD (wow!)

Steely Dan The Royal Scam - Original MCA CD

That's just off the top of my head, can think of many more but I don't want to bore you guys to tears!