I like that one too. I think its abit of a complex mix though, with lots components, which can cause the bass line to get lost until the end unless, as you say, the volumes up.
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Personally Midnite Blue, but they’re all corkers!
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Thanks all for the suggestions. I’ll spend a bit of time just listening to some of those assuming I can find them on Qobuz. I was expecting to hear the odd classical recommendation not withstanding film scores but I suppose the pieces in the classical world tend to be a bit longer.
Single test track is a really bad idea if the test is something you are going to spend a lot of money and time with later. With that said Joni Mitchell Travelogue usually I go for the tracks on cd 2 but that is personal preference.
Claus
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OK, I’ll bite. I think I would choose the first movement of Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, but since it’s 20 minutes long, I guess it will have to be cut off at the 9 minute mark.
It has one of the most arresting openings of any piece of music I know, starting with an fff brass fanfare leading to the chorus at full throttle and an unforgettable modulation. The organ is contributing down in the depths too. Later the music gets very quiet before male and female soloists sing their parts. So it tests dynamic range, bass and treble, voice reproduction, sound staging, noise floor, etc. But the music also has to grab you by the throat and engage you emotionally or it hasn’t really worked. I once heard this conducted by Mark Elder in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall with a massive orchestra and a chorus of around 250 singers. No recording has matched that live experience, but some come closer than others.
Recording? I’m tempted by the recording of the Hallé performance I attended, but I find the sound a little muddled so I’ll opt for Bryden Thompson’s 30 year old effort on Chandos, even though it’s not the best performance available.
Roger
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Thank you… just got A Farewell to Kings from Qubuz and listening to the whole album. It is so good…
Can I also suggest Jethro Tull’s Songs from the Wood. It has most things happening in it!
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I’ve just recent auditioned a Naim SN3 with and without a HiCap DR. With the HICap DR , for me it was the Prophet Song from a Night at the Opera by Queen, the sound stage was tremendous very 3 dimensional, I’ve never heard anything like it before. The first time ever I felt emotionally attached to recorded music. It blew me away and made me realise my system is flat.
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Whichever track is likely to make you cry.
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I cannot think of one single track that can assess a system: it would have to have at least solo piano, female vocal, complex orchestral, heavy rock, deep bass, very quiet passages, all in the one track!
Impressing others is quite a different matter! (Though it assumes the choice of music is acceptable to whoever it is trying to impress.) Almost any well recorded dramatic music would probably be best, though even some less dramatic music could be good, e.g. 1) Dire Straits Brothers in arms 20th anniversary edition 24bit 88KHz rip from SACD, any track, e.g. Money for nothing, or 2) Roger Waters Amused to death 24 bit 96 KHz version, again almost any track.
One song and one song only… “Lady Humps” by The Black Eyed Peas.
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Whenever I make an upgrade I always start the audition with Steely Dan’s Babylon Sisters.
A tradition if you will
David
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Agreed for initial set up. Good call !!!
Scott
Two things with which I’m unfamiliar - I’ll have to check them out if only for if I ever have to assess a system almost instantly!
That’s a really tough challenge as I can think of at least 10 tracks straight away.
If I may, I’m going to propose two tracks…
(1) The Blue Nile : A Walk Across the Rooftops - track two - “Tinseltown in the Rain”
I have this all on all formats - Vinyl / CD / Download - and several recording versions, collected over the years. The best (for me) is probably my original Linn Records vinyl pressing, from 1984.
Paul Buchanan’s vocals can be an acquired taste, but the rest of the arrangement is sublime.
(2) Madonna : Ray of Light - track one - “Drowned World / Substitute for Love”
Actually, for me, this one is less about Madonna and more about William Orbit, who co-wrote and produced this album. It’s an amazing dance / electronic / pop record with mesmerising stereo sounds, female vocals (obviously) and deep deep bass notes that slam.
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I like Massive Attack but their production / mastering has always been a bit weird for hifi. It’s a specific signature sound; lots of sub bass and then a dip in mid bass, neutral upper mids and then an emphasis in lower/mid trebles, while higher trebles are again attenuated.
It must be conscious choices they made for certain reasons, this eq is for instance very suitable for in-ear headphone listening since it’s like an exaggerated Harman curve, but since it’s such a unique sound i personally don’t use it to assess hifi gear.
Close approximation is the IE 2017 curve displayed below:
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“Mother” by Pink Floyd usually gets played by me to test new gear.
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Single track, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven
From the incredible delicacy if the opening bars to the thunderous climax , it will take you through a very wide range of tests for the system
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I’m struggling to think of one song, but at some point I usually make the folks in the hifi store listen to Golden Earing’s Are You Receiving Me.
Always makes my toes tap, has soft and loud bits, single instruments and whole band at once, and is long enough that I can settle in and actually listen.
That was a line from the movie “Blades of Glory”.