Is There a Cd Equivalent of a Test Record?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by jtw, Mar 1, 2017.

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  1. jtw

    jtw Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I've used a test record for turntables to measure things like sibilance, channel balance, channel separation, ability to track strong bass, etc. Is there a cd equivalent?
     
  2. T'mershi Duween

    T'mershi Duween Forum Resident

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  3. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

  4. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    I'm sure there are others, and I think that CBS Labs made a very impressive one "back in the day."
     
  5. konoyaro

    konoyaro Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA, USA
  6. Mike-48

    Mike-48 A shadow of my former self

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Tim 2 likes this.
  7. jtw

    jtw Forum Resident Thread Starter

    These are very different than test lps. Test lps can be used to determine the 'quality' of a turntable/cartridge set-up (hissing s's, mis-tracking bass, distortion on loud passages, bass resonance, etc.). These suggestions don't seem to measure any qualities of a given cd player vs. another.
     
  8. Robert Parker

    Robert Parker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bronson, FL
    I remember "back in the day," Telarc's CD release of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra directed by Erich Kunzel) was highly regarded for demonstrating audio systems. As far as offering any specific measurements, it may not offer much, but the cannon blasts and dynamics are impressive.
    [​IMG]
     
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  9. Mike-48

    Mike-48 A shadow of my former self

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Well, CD players of course don't need the endless fiddling that turntables do. If you want to compare characteristics, your best bet might be to look for published measurements (such as those done by Stereophile or Soundstage).
     
  10. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

  11. Kyhl

    Kyhl On break

    Location:
    Savage
  12. audioguy3107

    audioguy3107 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta, Georgia
  13. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    I really like the Denon audio technical disc. It's relatively ancient (1984) but it's very comprehensive. In all honesty the best test disc you can have is one you roll your own picking the best/most needed functions from various discs, burn a bit perfect copy and add in your own system reference "demo" tracks. Mine would probably have a lot of tracks from the Denon discs, a few tracks from the stereophile discs, some burn-in tones I have from other discs, and maybe some very dynamic selections from Dire Straits, Rage Against The Machine, Telarc CDs, etc…
     
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  14. darkmass

    darkmass Forum Resident

    This has long been a favorite of mine:
    [​IMG]

    With the following contents...

    1. Demonstrations: Steam-Train
    2. Demonstrations: Big Band
    3. Demonstrations: Percussion
    4. Demonstrations: Indian Harp
    5. Demonstrations: Country Music
    6. Demonstrations: Provence Music
    7. Demonstrations: Nightingales
    8. Demonstrations: Organ And Orchestra
    9. Demonstrations: Harpsichord
    10. Demonstrations: Baroque Organ
    11. Demonstrations: Choirs
    12. Demonstrations: Ancient Music
    13. Demonstrations: Romantic Organ
    14. Tests: Locating Of Left And Right Channels-Diaphony Test
    15. Tests: Dynamics And Noise
    16. Tests: Loud-Speaker Phasing
    17. Tests: White Noise
    18. Tests: Pink Noise
    19. Tests: Response Curve Of The Equipment
    20. Tests: Colorations And Resonances-Equalizer Adjustment-Loud-Speaker Testing

    The contents list doesn't quite do it justice. Track 20 in particular is a set of left and right channel 1/3 octave warble tones (both channels simultaneous)...and all the tests are vocally annotated, in both French and English, including specifying the center frequency of each of the 1/3 octave warble tones.

    New copies run about $35 U.S. But at present the cheapest used example is $0.32: here! (Though shipping for the $0.32 copy will set you back $3.99)

    What do you have to lose?
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2017
  15. 56GoldTop

    56GoldTop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nowhere, Ok
    This is the one I have; quite handy to have around.
     
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  16. neo123

    neo123 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    A self test I use is the song "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin when I want to test to make sure my stereo speakers are working properly.
     
  17. Larry I

    Larry I Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, D.C.
    I have the Chesky Records CD sampler and test recording. It has some useful test tracks for testing your system (not particularly the CD player) and for adjusting the system setup. It is this one:

    Chesky Jazz Sampler and Audiophile Test Compact Disc, Vol. 1 [CD]

    For some reason, used copies are being sold on Amazon for BIG bucks.
     
  18. Sneaky Pete

    Sneaky Pete Flat the 5 and That’s No Jive

    Location:
    NYC USA
    XLO and Sheffield Labs, test and burn in CD.
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  19. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    And they did this disc in collaboration with Sony. And it's excellent, but not cheap. Also the Denon Technical Audio test CD is recommended equally if you can find one. I seem to remember that the NAB also did one. Philips also did a technically oriented test CD set.
     
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  20. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
  21. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

  22. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    You can burn whatever content you want to a CD-R. The tones you need depend on what you want to test and the capabilities of your instrumentation or ADC.

    Something like channel balance just needs a constant low frequency tone; you can even check the RCA output levels with an AC volt meter. Checking level calibration needs an RMS meter with the bandwidth of the tone, or an oscilloscope.

    There is not too much to test on a CD player, it will likely have audio quality limits close to the capabilities of 16 bit audio anyway.

    If you want to characterize the frequency response, distortion, and few other parameters, one of the easier methods is to burn the Rightmark Audio Analyzer test tones to a CD, and then analyze with the software and your high-quality computer audio interface.
     
  23. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    I have both, there very helpful.
     
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