Merged thread of demo songs, tracks and CDs

Jump to Latest
L

lemans23

Member
Joined 2005
#1
Now a Sticky || A place to post your favorite demo songs and tracks.|| :cop:
See Also:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/music/41799-best-recorded-cds-best-sounding.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/music/35700-music-w-some-bass.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/music/33633-great-audiophile-recordings-albums.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/music/5335-good-vocal-recordings.html
==========================================================


Everyone has that one song, the one with the most dynamics, most airy highs, mood relaxing bass and inviting mids. Well, my song was Gerald Albright - Georgia on my Mind. An unfortunate thing happened and my cd carousel jammed cause my cousin decided she wanted to play with it. Anyway, the CD is pretty much destroyed (scratched into oblivion). I'm in the "market" for a new test song. What songs do you guys use? I've heard a lot of people mention Norah Jones...what does everyone like?
 
Last edited:
#6
I like to use "Money for Nothing", the intro has a dynamic range of around 35 dB - if those snare hits don't sound real... The whole CD is well recorded.

Another one I like is Acoustic Alchemy's Arcanum particularly "Columbia"

From Sting's A Brand New Day "Desert Rose" has all sorts of detail - but at least on my system the image seems backwards - Sting sounds like he's on a riser behind the background vocals and percussion, instead of the usual opposite arrangement. I haven't heard it any on other systems that have any image depth. Has anyone else noticed this?
 
#7
List of High Quality Audiophile's CD to demonstration our gadgets.Let's Share!!

Hi, for diy'ers it is important to have high quality cd to test our amp or loudspeaker.:angel:
I test My Gainclone amp with this CD:
1. Cammomile Blend by Emi Fujita
2. The Greatest Bosso vol 1 and 2(asia song)
3. Norah Jones live 2004
4. Nneena Freelnon
5. Keiko Lee
6. Susan Wong

And i still seek for good quality recording and good quality sound of the artist.
Let's share with us, what album u use to test ur amp/loudspeaker?And the recommended CD for audiophile.:smash:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
#8
I actually test with a wider range than you, for better or worse. Firs,t I use radio, records, cd's, dvd-a's, and sacd's. Really good recordings within each kind can sound really good in its own right, all depending on what you are trying to hear. I dont, unfortunatly, yet have the very best high resolution SACD/DVD-A player or Record playing rig, but good enough to be impressive, offering a clear improvement over most cd's, to me.

On CD:
Mickey Hart-Planet Drum
Naxos recording of Holtz the Planets
Refrence Recording of Bruckner Symphany 9
Blue Note Sonny Rollins-The Blue Note Years
Lewis Nash-It Dont Mean a Thing (Highly Recomended)
Jimmy Rogers-Blue Bird
Stereophile Test CD set
so many others I cant even think of them all, plenty of rock and jazz for sure

On Vinyl:
I'm a fan of the Japanese pressings of the Beatles albums, my favorites are Revolver and Sgt. Pepper..

Jimi Hendrix-Experience Hendrix 180 grm
Miles Davis-Sketches of Spain 180gm
-Miles Stones
-Live Evil
Charlie Parker-Bird
Charles Mingus-Mingus Dynasty
Sam Cook at the Copa
Buddy Holly Live
Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble
The Kinks-Kinda Kinks
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane

DVD-A
Bach-Toccata Et Fugue

SACD
couldn't think of any off the top of my head, but I know I have some that I like.
 
#12
DSOTM
The Wall
The Firebird - Telarc
1812 -- ditto (CD and/or SACD)
For Duke and Fatha -RealTime Records (D2D or remastered CD)
Toccata an Fuge in D -- severa:l RealTime, Telac others
SAINT-SAENS/SYMPHONY NO. 3 SACD Telarc
ALEXANDER NEVSKY Sony SACD
Rolling Stones any of the remastered SACD series
EAGLES/HOTEL CALIFORNIA MULTI-CH DVD-A
Imaginary Day - Pat Methany DVD-A
 
#13
I've a total of 15 disks I keep coming back to for listening to new gear, mostly because I know them all very well, and they all give a cruel test to the equipment trying to reproduce them.

On CD:
1) Loreena McKennitt: The Book of Secrets
2) Loreena McKennitt: To Drive the Cold Winter Away
3) Peter Gabriel: Passion
4) Massive Attack: Mezzanine
5) Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (Sony 20bit SBM remaster)
6) The Alan Parsons Project: Tales of Mystery & Imagination
7) John Martyn: Solid Air (Remastered)
8) Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon 20th Anniversary edition
9) Naxos Historical: Great Violinists (Yehudi Menuhin with the London Symphony Orchestra plays Bruch & Elgar in 1931 & 1932 respectively)
10) Aly Bain: Follow the Moonstone

On HDCD:

11) King Crimson: Red
12) Paula Cole: This Fire

On SACD:
13) Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells
14) Peter Gabriel: So
15) Peter Gabriel: Up

In addition, I also use the 3 Stereophile Test CDs.
 
#16
Alan Parsons´ Soundcheck is a great test CD. It was originally aimed as a recording studio tool but nothing prevents it from being used by audiophiles at home.
It´s divided in five sections:
The first section features test tones: 60 frequency sweeps, from pink noise to square and sine waves, covering the entire audio range for left, right and both channels, in and out of phase, and a 1 minute steady 1Khz sinewave at 0db that will make your CD player sound at the possible loudest level without clipping.
The second is my favourite: an extensive list of acoustic and electric instruments and singing and speaking voice that were recorded straight to tape with no effects whatsoever.
The first section will tell you how your systems are tuned to your room acoustics, but the second section will tell you how musically accurate your system is. As no compression was used, all the instruments´attack transients were preserved and the true to life dynamic range is simply stunning. Check the electric guitars and the drum kit for that. Also the detail is superb. You can clearly hear the click-track coming out the headphones from the acoustic guitarist. And the bass guitar will show how electric bass is supposed to sound. The speaking voice, from mr. Parsons himself, functions as an aid for comparision to a more familiar sound. The strings, both solo and ensemble sound gorgeous. They show the differences in timbre and expression there are between a violin and a viola, for example.
The third section is a collection of excerpts from well-recorded pieces, such as "Tocatta e Fugue in D minor" and "The race", a song from Swiss band Yellow, which seems to me that covers the entire audio range.
The fourth section is a collection of sounds from real life that if I´m not mistaken were taken from the old BBC Sound FX vinyls. It´s a festival of dynamics and soundstage. The firing tank and machine gun spring to mind. Also the two recordings of a steam train passing by must be heard to be believed. This section ends with the ever amusing collage of the chirping birds and the jet planes. That afterburner will make some neighbours complain about it. No doubt 😉
The last section is just a series of SMPTE timecodes for syncing audio to MIDI and video recorders. Not sure if even pro studios still use it today...

Enjoy
 
#17
I also use the test CD described above.
The thing I like about it is that it is totally free from any type of compression and processing.
Yep, the sound effects section is quite awesom and will show up an potential box vibrations without a doubt! (and loose cupboards/glassware in the room)


:att'n:
 
#20
Krushevo by Vlatko Stefanovski and Miroslav Tadic on the MA label.

Two acoustic guitars live to two track in a Macedonian War Memorial. Since I am more familiar with the sound of live acoustic guitar, I really like this one.


Cody
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom