What music do you audition your hifi with?
Discussion
Inspired by the What's your Hifi set up thread in which people often seem to swap different components in and out all the time, let's say you're off to your local friendly hifi dealer and you've booked a demo of a new component or maybe a whole system - what music do you take with you?
Last set of speakers I bought I used this self complied list to audition them (auditioned 4 pairs then quickly down selected to 2 pairs and played more of the tracks). The chap in the shop was slightly surprised at the diversity of the music. The thing that swung me to the speakers I chose was Faithless, God is a DJ and the additional sounds that could be heard through the speakers I chose against the other speakers where, whilst the speakers sounded good half the sounds were missing...
No2 was Massive Attack
I should really have had some Bjork in there as well and I've also realised I might have used Freddie Mercury and Monserat Cabaille - Barcelona as well.
No2 was Massive Attack
I should really have had some Bjork in there as well and I've also realised I might have used Freddie Mercury and Monserat Cabaille - Barcelona as well.
Edited by S6PNJ on Saturday 25th October 19:28
Superb! That's a good mix.
When I bought my first proper hifi set up, I think I only took one LP in with me which was Amarok by Mike Oldfield, but my tastes are much broader now than they were then. I think I'd still want to hear that one though, there's so much that goes on in it.
Another I'd want to hear is Avantine by Agnes Obel, because the deep piano notes in Dorian are enough to make something start resonating inside one of my current speakers so I'd want to hear how any system handles piano like that.
Thirdly, appropriately enough, would probably be Third by Portishead for Beth's vocals and the electronic nature of many of the tracks.
When I bought my first proper hifi set up, I think I only took one LP in with me which was Amarok by Mike Oldfield, but my tastes are much broader now than they were then. I think I'd still want to hear that one though, there's so much that goes on in it.
Another I'd want to hear is Avantine by Agnes Obel, because the deep piano notes in Dorian are enough to make something start resonating inside one of my current speakers so I'd want to hear how any system handles piano like that.
Thirdly, appropriately enough, would probably be Third by Portishead for Beth's vocals and the electronic nature of many of the tracks.
Nat King Cole - Orange Coloured Sky
Dean Martin - Memories are Made of This
Frank Sinatra - It Was a Very Good Year
Elbow - The Fix
The Doors - Riders on The Storm
Empire of The Sun - We Are the People
Foo Fighters - Lonely As You
Fun Lovin Criminals - Scooby Snacks
Gorrilaz - Glitter Freeze
The Hu - Wolf Totem
Metallica - Suicide & Redemption
Orbital - Beezelbub
The The - The Beaten Generation
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Household Goods
Twenty One Pilots - Chlorine
Zero 7 - Destiny
Sum 41 - Pain For Pleasure
Elderbrook - Something About You
Daft Punk - Lose Yourself to Dance
Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses
That usually does it for me - A full weird & wonderful range to test the fullness of the speakers
Dean Martin - Memories are Made of This
Frank Sinatra - It Was a Very Good Year
Elbow - The Fix
The Doors - Riders on The Storm
Empire of The Sun - We Are the People
Foo Fighters - Lonely As You
Fun Lovin Criminals - Scooby Snacks
Gorrilaz - Glitter Freeze
The Hu - Wolf Totem
Metallica - Suicide & Redemption
Orbital - Beezelbub
The The - The Beaten Generation
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Household Goods
Twenty One Pilots - Chlorine
Zero 7 - Destiny
Sum 41 - Pain For Pleasure
Elderbrook - Something About You
Daft Punk - Lose Yourself to Dance
Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses
That usually does it for me - A full weird & wonderful range to test the fullness of the speakers
I think whatever tracks you audition with you need to know them very well so you can pick up on how the new setup or changes affect the reproduction.
Different tracks will highlight specific characteristics of the setup, basically you need to know what you are listening for otherwise it is just a playlist.
I was lucky enough to be able to audition 3 different amplifiers at home at the same time back to back, what I thought sounded good in the shop and probably would have bought based on their recommendation was actually terrible at home.
Each amplifier was around the £3k mark.
Different tracks will highlight specific characteristics of the setup, basically you need to know what you are listening for otherwise it is just a playlist.
I was lucky enough to be able to audition 3 different amplifiers at home at the same time back to back, what I thought sounded good in the shop and probably would have bought based on their recommendation was actually terrible at home.
Each amplifier was around the £3k mark.
Edited by Inbox on Saturday 25th October 21:26
Pretty diverse selections from me, with some good recordings, and some not as clean. Also some space productions, then some which are very busy.
These used to be a mixture of CD and Vinyl, but last purchase in ‘22 was a Naim Atom, so Tidal was used.
Vinyl sounds like vinyl, no discernible difference between the other 2 formats for me.
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Four Tet - Pause
TV on The Radio - Young Liars
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Variety of tracks from Portico Quartet, Portishead and some Strictly Rhythm and Warp Records compilation
These used to be a mixture of CD and Vinyl, but last purchase in ‘22 was a Naim Atom, so Tidal was used.
Vinyl sounds like vinyl, no discernible difference between the other 2 formats for me.
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Four Tet - Pause
TV on The Radio - Young Liars
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Variety of tracks from Portico Quartet, Portishead and some Strictly Rhythm and Warp Records compilation
njw1 said:
As a sound technician, there's only one track I've ever needed and it'll tell me very quickly if a system is doing what it's supposed to be doing or not and it's Gat Decor, Passion.
The first four tracks of this album should tell me everything I need to know...
https://warprecords.bandcamp.com/album/frequencies
https://warprecords.bandcamp.com/album/frequencies
Panamax said:
It seems a little strange to choose 50-year old recordings to audition equipment in 2025. The world moves on, as anyone who has enjoyed the stunning live sound at recent gigs will appreciate.
Totally disagree - modern digital sound is often cold and badly recorded, for example brickwalled during mastering for loudness on a phone. A Neumann U87 or U67, an old analogue mic, will sound far better if recorded properly, than any modern digital mic. Those three albums are beautifully recorded to a level seldom surpassed today and will provide a far better test (when streamed at 24bit / 96khz or on vinyl) than a digitally recorded streamed MP3 of euro pap, full of samples and loops. When auditioning a new system, you need to test its dynamic range - something modern music, digitally recorded doesn't have a lot of.Live sound today is, unfortunately, very often taped or digital - you're listening to or watching a mimed performance in many cases.
Edited by CSNY on Sunday 26th October 15:16
S6PNJ said:
Last set of speakers I bought I used this self complied list to audition them (auditioned 4 pairs then quickly down selected to 2 pairs and played more of the tracks). The chap in the shop was slightly surprised at the diversity of the music. The thing that swung me to the speakers I chose was Faithless, God is a DJ and the additional sounds that could be heard through the speakers I chose against the other speakers where, whilst the speakers sounded good half the sounds were missing...
No2 was Massive Attack
I should really have had some Bjork in there as well and I've also realised I might have used Freddie Mercury and Monserat Cabaille - Barcelona as well.
An excellent list; many of my fave tracks there and an excellent range of styles. Although shouldn't number 2 be 'Unfinished Sympathy'?No2 was Massive Attack
I should really have had some Bjork in there as well and I've also realised I might have used Freddie Mercury and Monserat Cabaille - Barcelona as well.
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