ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Demo well recorded songs to help improve and test your audiophile system. Including bass, vocals, high frequencies, Imaging, attack, decay, Dynamics.
Some description of what to look for in these songs
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Gabster, I really hope you will soon recommend new songs to us. Your recommendations in this video were just incredible !
Thank you, new one in the works :)
List of Songs
10 Barley by Lizz Wright
9 The Day before you came by ABBA
8 Remember me by Bridges Elver
7 Closer by Ane Brun
6 Fever by Malia
5 Rendez-Vous A Paris by Jean Michael Jarre
4 Autumn Leaves by Eva Cassidy
3 Hush by The Marias
2 Crimson Tide by Hans Zimmer
1 Children Under the Sun by Samuel La Manna
Thank you.
Children under the 'Star'
Tks a lot for listing the songs
Nice!
8 Bridges Ivør
The best part about these videos is- You typically get 10 really good songs (from the video itself), and 50+ more from the “Comments”…. Keep them coming!!
I agree. Read mine above.
What you have never heard before. Yes, they are all famous. You are taking a journey outside the box.
th-cam.com/video/RxCEMy022Do/w-d-xo.html
Mori Masako.
th-cam.com/video/GSa_8kePpac/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/Pf4_1bAv7BU/w-d-xo.html
Teresa Teng.
th-cam.com/video/_0iG682XsTY/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/opdo4Qux1tI/w-d-xo.html
You're right. The viewers share lots of their fav fine recordings and many of those records sound amazing. This is happening on many TH-cam audio- oriented channels.
There’s only one track i use to demonstrate any decent audio system, it never fails to raise eyebrows, its a Grammy award winning song by the angel voiced ‘Lisa Fischer’ who sang backing for the late great ‘Luther Vandross’, and the track is called “How Can I Ease The Pain”…….. thank me later
Yep, he right!
Great choice
Two observations:
1) Fischer’s singing style is very gasp-y which isn’t my cup of tea and isn’t necessary to express emotion for someone with an otherwise outstanding voice; and
2) that song seems like it would sound good on almost any equipment rather than have characteristics that would be masked by average equipment and be revealed by a higher quality speaker or component. It seems to be the audio equivalent of sampling tequilas mixed in with a big pour of pineapple juice instead of just straight.
If I’m not mistaken, Fischer has toured with the Stones and featured prominently on Gimme Shelter.
Thank you, you might try I diine skap by kari bremnes
Thank you.
These songs sound fine but ARE NOT SONICLY CHALLENGING. The lone exception-- Crimson Tide. Selections that are basically empty does show off your speakers but, any programming that is busy shows a systems ability to separate instrumentation. Computerized generated music lacks depth, not to mention soul.
Avratz, infected mushroom
I like to use Tom Sawyer to tune my stereo
I'll play...
ElO "From the Beginning"
Dave Mathews "Crash (Whole album)"
Dire straits "Fade to Black" (or most anything)
Eagles "Hotel California" on Hell freezes over
Joni mitchell "Good Bye Pork Pie Hat"
Beck "Sea Change Whole album"
Wildlight "Twirl Me"
Most James Taylor Albums.
Nicolas Jarr "Time For Us"
Big Wild "Venice Venture" for bass.
And more.....
The best recorded songs to test and improve your HIFI system are the songs you like!
Sharing our favorite music is very much part of the audiophile journey rather than talking about equipment all the time!
Eva Cassidy sings a live version of “Over the Rainbow” on “Nightbird” that will give you goosebumps, a corny old song but you will never have heard it sung like this before…….
Eva sang with soul. Her version of Over The Rainbow melts me every time I hear it.
Eva, when she was with us, could make ANY song special!
Great track. Like nearly all the songs he recorded, Jerry Lee Lewis does it best 🤘
th-cam.com/video/RxCEMy022Do/w-d-xo.html
What a pure, beautiful voice. I am in love!
Please try these songs, all with impressive sound:
1. The Cousins - Twistin In
2. Rosemary Clooney , Perez Prado- Like a Woman
3. Dead Can Dance - Rakim
4. Bjork - HUman Behaviour
5. Muddy Waters - Country Boy
6. Connie Francis - Solamente Una Vez
7. Tom Jones - Live from Las Vegas
My go-to songs for system evaluation:
Kevin Eubanks - The Heat of Heat
Kool & the Gang - Summer Madness
Jewel - Serve the Ego
Sarah McLachlan - Into the Fire
Shawn Colvin - Shotgun Down the Avalanche
Any Hip Hop Audiophiles out there? Try these....
Selah - Kanye West
i - Kendrick Lamar
Destination: Mother Moon - Kid Cudi
Namaste - Beastie Boys
Sacrifice - The Roots (feat. Nelly Furtado)
Let Nas Down - J. Cole
Hip hop audiophile is an oxymoron.
Nice selection, Gabster. Triste Bahia by Catano Veloso is one of my absolute go-to songs for A-B testing.
1. It's nicely produced
2. It has a wide sound stage with good separation
3. The instruments start off in such a sparse manner that you can hear roll-off, attack etc. Bass isn't widely tested though.
4. It's a bloody good track
No 'Killing In The Name Of' by Rage Against The Machine?
1. Arooj Aftab - Baghon Main
2. Bonobo - Emkay
3. Alt-J - Tesselate
4. Sons of Kemet - To Never Forget the Source
5. Melody Gardot - Preacherman
6. The Budos Band - Old Engine Oil
7. Anna von Hausswolff - How Many More of These
8. Yosi Horikawa - Bubbles
9. Ondara - Give Me a Moment
10. Johnny Greenwood - Future Markets
A few recent favs! Thanks for sharing, excited to dive in :)
just got hooked on Arooj Aftab. The recording is amazing and I do understand some urdu, so liking it even more.
@@fmtntiger You’re absolutely right - the whole of Vulture Prince is impeccably recorded and truly astounding in its clarity. Very cool that you get the added context too!
You have to like the music
Traffic - Low Spark, John Barleycorn
Steely Dan - Aja side 1
Joni Mitchell Hejira
Bill Evans - Sunday Night At the Village Vanguard
Duke Ellimgtom - Masterpieces at Midnight
I once played Pink Floyd’s “Time” on a pair of Klipschorns.
Mighty Sam McClain: “Give It Up To Love.” it is a super high quality recording by Audioquest. On inferior quality equipment, Sam‘s voice sounds thin and scratchy, and it is only on better quality equipment, that the true richness and power of his voice comes out; although not well-known outside of the blues genre, McClain may be the finest male blues singer of all time. Back in the 1990s I was demoing some compact systems at Circuit City for my wife with the song, and two teenagers came up to me and asked for the name of the album they liked it so much.
@WisGuy4
Agreed. Check out his *Soul Survivor* album, and specifically Mighty Sam's "When the Hurt is Over" track. AMAZING!
You left out
'Babylon Sisters" by Steely Dan.
Agree. What about Steve Gadd’s drum solo on the song AJA ! Can’t buy a thrill album sounds amazing also!
Music freaks use there HiFi System to listen to the music, HiFi freaks use there music software to listen to the HiFi System ( Source I've forgotten)
@Gabster
Look for Joni Mitchell's "Just Like This Train" (Acoustic Live track in the KCRW radio station studio in Santa Monica, CA). It is on the *KCRW Rare On Air Vol. 2* CD. Phenomenal performance and excellent recording.
Thanks for the awesome content!
O-Zone Percussion Group - Jazz Variants is very nice too :)
A few songs I've become partial to... So lonely (the police), Stereo (pavement), As (Stevie Wonder) Deja vu (csny), Down to Zero (Joan Armatrading).
Nice !
1 Trauermarsch - Symphony No 5 by G Mahler: Sinopoli/Philharmonia Orchestra th-cam.com/video/llQc_BRSr7E/w-d-xo.html
2 Led Zeppelin by Sick Again th-cam.com/video/lcEqU4Bmo64/w-d-xo.html
3 Wayfaring Pilgrim by Roy Buchanan th-cam.com/video/MSKqEmeONuU/w-d-xo.html
4 Violin Concerto in D Major, RV 208 "Il grosso Mogul": II. Grave by A Vivaldi th-cam.com/video/oFlFoex-2lA/w-d-xo.html
5 Stabat Mater, FP 148: X. Fac ut portem Christi mortem by F Poulenc th-cam.com/video/H9z6DHDxbTw/w-d-xo.html
These will test your speakers
All people do listen to Dire straits "you and your friend " for checking any audio systems, it's one and only I use to check 💯👈😎💥💥💥
Try, A Walk Across The Rooftops” by The Blue Nile, on Linn hifi’s own record label, an astounding atmospheric track
In fact just try the whole album then follow that with their 2nd album “HATS”.
Sounds good but SOO BORING !!
@@jackwezesa1081 well we don’t all like the same stuff but to say the stuff i like is SOOO BOOORING is a bit disrespectful to me, i like it, i might not like what you like but i wouldn’t be that harsh on you my friend
This is a pretty good list, but you left out any kind of rock. Weather you like classic rock or heavy metal, a busy band with multiple guitars and drums will really show you what's what with your system and your room. All of your top 10 test songs are pretty simple tracks. Hans Zimmer has a lot of sound and scale, but low complexity. Rendez-Vous was the most complex song, but it was largely electronic, so it's still going to come across cleaner and be less prone to sounding off, if it gets congested. Try listening to some early Metalica and listen to weather or not your system can maintain a sense of depth, or if it flattens into a wall of noise. Also try some Rammstein to see how well you can capture deep, male vocals and multiple instruments. They have a surprisingly wide range of sounds and styles throughout their albums.
All your choices are good ones and for well thought out reasons. I just think that the spectrum of genre is incomplete. Even if you don't like hard rock, I'll leave you this: I got some nice new speakers and for the first time, something like an upright bass can be jaw dropping. Yet my room is untreated, so a lot of my harder music is still too congested even though the system itself has loads of potential resolution. If your system can handle rock, then everything else will probably be that much cleaner and more dynamic :)
Thank you Zack you have a great point. I like your explanation and your thoughts I will include some hard Rock complex songs in my next one
Thanks, Try this one: Japanese Roots by Take Dake, John Kaizan Neptune, Album Asian Roots
Excellent 👌
Great many great songs!
My go-to songs is:
1 Here’s to life - Antonsen big band.
2 One day you’ll dance for me New York City - Thomas Dybdal
3 Sol - Solar Fields
4 Return to the sauce - infected mushroom.
Settle in in front of your sound system, turn the lights down a bit, close your eyes and play "What A Wonderful World" by Eva Cassidy from her album Live At Blues Alley. Pure bliss...it doesn't get any better than that.
Autumn Leaves on that live recording kills.
Extra amazing when you consider how "raw" most of her recordings were! Little or no fancy digital "fiddling" after the fact and many were just "practice" recordings!
A fantastic album.We lost her so young.
No Diana Krall?
Good thing !
“A Few Small Repairs” by Shawn Colvin
Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Lucky Man" was my go-to test song back in the '70s.
Carl Palmer’s drum kit !
That is..and always has been a great audio test track.
Watercolors by Lee Ritenour
Rhapsody in Blue - Gershwin
Titanium by SIA
Turn Your Lights Down Low by Bob Marley
La Villa Strangiato by Rush
Thank you for this wonderful listing of HiFi Songs. First thing i did was to create a playlist on Spotify and then listen to your observations in the video and play the song. That let's me enjoy there song even better knowing what to expect, the intricacies of the music. This also helped me really appreciate the 5.1 set up that i have at home. Thank you so much. Looking for more recommendations. ❤
I know Spotify isn’t lossless yet but I got myself a Cambridge audio cxn c2 and the upscaling is amazing on it but I found a playlist on there called “Speaker testing tracks” put together by Cambridge audio. Was really a joy hearing them make my speakers sing and definitely worth a listen. Great variation of well recorded tracks.
Some of my favorite rock songs for testing: The Knack - My Sharona -live studio sound. Toni Basil- Mickey . Squeeze - Tempted the remix and Lisa Loeb -Stay- remixes from movie Soundtrack Reality Bites. Pink Floyd- Time and Money from Dark Side of the Moon.. British Import vinyl. Alan Parsons Project- Sirius and Eye in the Sky. Hello- Oh Yeah (Ferris Buehler) . Lou Rawls- You’ll Never Find
Led Zeppelin #One & ELP Brain Salad Surgery !
Anything by Donald Fagen is Superbly recorded.
Night fly is way too bright ( early digital ).
@@jackwezesa1081 Actually I was thinking of Kamakiriade. Brilliant production. I like the full spectrum not just bass and vocals. I want to hear percussion, horns, keyboards, guitars, drums- I think that is how you test a hi fi IMHO:)
@@kenbash2951 Agree. I always felt if you got the drum sound right everything else fell in to place.
@@jackwezesa1081 Actually that's true in a band setting as well- if the drummer is on time and in the pocket- everybody falls into place- if the drummer is off- no one can save the sound.
@@kenbash2951 100 % Ken !
Some of my favourite references:
1. Yello - Touch Yello (whole album)
2. James Taylor - Hourglass (whole album)
3. Brand New Day - Sting (whole album)
Explain all this to beginners with cheap stereos. Why do these songs test your hifi when others wouldn't? What are we missing? Could the average person tell the difference between $100 speakers and $2k speakers? What roll do crossovers and amplifiers play beyond volume? Do analogue albums really sound better than digital? Mine were always scratched and warped so I was kinda glad when digital came along. This seems like a rabbit hole I could easily fall down but I also sense a lot of diminishing returns for very expensive investments.
Take 5 by Brubeck is awesome to test.
Hush by Marías is recorded in spatial audio (Dolby ATMOS)
Hmmm, okay. Did some research.
Music is being released with both Stereo & ‘Spatial’ (Dolby ATMOS) versions mastered.
That is, from the base recording tracks… sound engineers are producing 2 versions. Stereo & Spatial. So, it’s not wrong to listen to Stereo where spatial exists… though it can be a very different listening experience.
Sometimes the Spatial version is significantly more interesting… ie. Lotsa Billie Elish stuff. Original Pink Floyd Time (Original quadraphonic) …
Sometimes the stereo is superior.
Ideally they’re both attempting to accomplish the same thing… wonderful staging.
... we are waiting the video about how you modified the power supply into the lan-to-fiber converter
The whole Dire Straits catalog - perhaps except Making Movies 👍🇩🇰
appreciate the list. try Harmonium from Quebec. I was stunned by the recording since its from the 70s. hope you don*t mind the french singing.
This is an incredible list. Thanks for the new music and introduction to some amazing recordings.
"Shape of my heart" from "my songs"
Sting
"Two Skaters" The Nits
Death Row by Chris Stapleton also works very nice to test your setup.
I enjoyed your design of crossovers. I was wondering how much is the power rating and would sell a pair of speakers , how will cost me -a couple coats of lacquer will do iy nicely
Always good to find new music, thanks for this 👍
Why buy expensive hi-fi equipment to play poorly recorded music?
Thanks for sharing this list of tracks. It's always refreshing to have "new" recordings by "new" artists recommended rather than the same old predictable dozen or so tracks most folks refer to to. I'll start researching these recommendations immediately!
I agree with you. With music,variety is the spice of life. It's great to see the viewers chime in & to share ideas. I've learned about 5 new remastered recordings recordings that interests me..all from various audiophile channels on TH-cam.
Most of these are too simple to really test how a system handles complex information. The tracks with just vocal with one instrument sound good on most systems, even through small bluetooth speakers. With modern recording studios/equipment, how hard can it be to get decent recordings? Try Gillian Welch for more single acoustic guitar and female vocal.
@Gary Izzard
Agree on Gillian Welch. Check out her song, "Everything is Free" from her "Time (The Revelator)" album.
musical tastes as well as sonic preferences are subjective but I think a female voice with simple acoustic accompaniment is the first step in auditioning a system, especially your speakers. Such material presents the timbre and transientsuII agree Gillian Welch is a fabulous artist and beautifully recorded.
Try to avoid that much paper noise next time. Very disturbing.
My top recordings
Runrig - Mighty Atlantic
Jennifer Warnes - Famous blue raincoat
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Eagles - Hotel California (live from hell freezes over album)
Johnny Cash - Unchained album
Jameroqui - travelling without moving
Eva Cassidy - Live at Blues Alley
Jacques Loussier - air on a g string
Best streaming quality - Amazon music ultra HD, yes better than tidal. TH-cam, Spotify etc are just not cut out for high listening, zero sound staging from mp3s.
Tidal streams in cd quality 16/144 FLAC lossless.
@@davestevens4193 compare the 2 yourself, tidal says it's lossless but it messes with the top end in what ever process they do use. Amazon music hd is better in sound staging, and had a smooth and extended top end which I have consistently found that tidal isn't as good at.
Terrapin Station....Hemispheres. .Bless its Pointed Head...I Robot...entire albums
That live Airplane album cranks ! It’s up there with the Stones “Get Your Ya Ya s out”! They out around the same time in 69 . Boy I’m old. !!
JA live is cool....the controls almost have no effect with this live performance...as realistic sounding as it gets...Big Brothers' first album impressed also...
'base' - the lowest part or edge of something, especially the part on which it rests or is supported.
'bass' - deep or grave in tone
cant wait to listen to these tracks. My dac is at the doctor right now. going thru serious audio system withdraw at the moment. lm listening to music from my TV.
Tears for fears elemental album, you would be very hard pressed to find a better sounding and mixed albums.
Great list - thank you. Does anybody have a similar list with classical music? My experience is that concertos and symphonies can push any system to it's limits.
These recommendations are so helpful! My son introduced me to Eivor a few weeks ago and they are stunning! I'm super happy with my system but I do occasionally audition a track that causes me to question its performance. When that happens, I go back to some really reliable reference recordings, and if those sound right, I know I'm golden. Plus, the sheer pleasure of listening to first rate tracks in terms of both performance and recording is not to be missed. It's all about the music, presented in all its glory. Thanks and cheers! Subscribed, BTW. Also, if you like Hans Zimmer's work, check out Bruno Coulais. The French really understand and value recording and reproduction quality!... as do the South Americans, such as Sera Una Noche, etc.
I find most high end systems suffer when you put what people listen to on them like slip knot 😂🤣😂
You probably haven't heard chocolate chip trip
Great stuff man! Gonna listen to the entire album each song originally came from. Lizz Wright's Grace is amazing, so far!
The Who, Quadrophenia and Love Reign o’re me - dynamic range, thunderous drums and impeccably recorded too. ❤
First, I believe you should stand in the room and clap your hands , one time only,
your gear and set up is crazy, how much did all of that cost?
Thanks To You - Box Scaggs
Check out the "My Funny Valentine" BONUS TRACK (# 11) that is only available on the 2003 *Japanese pressing* of Boz Scaggs' "But Beautiful, Standards Volume 1" album. The most intimate and pure recording of piano and the male voice.
great topic, thanks Gabi! I really appreciate your outstanding work!
For testing I personally use "Hello" by Evanescence - especially starting from 2:45 - if you turn up volume to the max and sound is clear and not distorted than you have a really good speakers, but I do this kind of testing in the car only, I respect my neighbours too much to do this kind of loud testing at home
Thanks for the Eivor tip, i like that a lot. If I can reciprocate... please listen to Moon River and love is a losing game, recorded by Eddi Reader on the Back the Dogs album. She is in my opinion, the finest female vocalist to come out of the UK in the last 50 years. I promise you wont be disappointed!
Thank you
... no one of your songs are in my music server.... I'm sorry :( I prefere Eric Clapton SACD Chronicles and Unplugged)
Tea in the Sahara - The Police.
Malia want that James Bond/MGM contract.
Thank you for the list. It led to so many other good music. You might like Agnes Obel Familiar of her Album Citizen of Glass
I'll check it out!
I would add Nils Lofgren Keith Don't go Live, the recording is amazing, the guitar(as a guitar player myself) sounds so natural it's almost scary.
Nils Lofgren's Some Must Dream is also a beautiful test song... Especially after the bridge in the song. I love the haunting Black Books too, which first made an impression on me as an outro song in one of The Sopranos episode.
Heck, the entire Lofgren's Acoustic Live album just gets better every time I listen to it!
passanger by iggy pop sounds great if you want to test youtube source 😂👍
Try virtuoso bass player Victor Wooten's album caled, A Show of Hands. This album goes with me to every hifi audition and show I attend. The recording is superb with bass speed and depth to die for.
@Gabsterofficialpage Hi, Gabster. So glad you liked Victor's: A Show of Hands album. Now try a virtuoso 10 string, sub-contra, French bass player called, Yves Carbonne and his 2007 album: Seven Waves. Again, magical playing and another superb recording. That Drozds 10 string monster that he plays with it's ultra low c# and f# bottom strings, will give bass drivers and subwoofers a real workout! All the best, my friend.🙏🙏
I have a lot of songs to do tests but the most difficult is Oxigene 4 from Jean Michel Jarre, at the beggining there is a "phssssssss" sound that comes from left to right but then it comes at you like an hologram and vanishes at the end, only Philips and Wolfson DACs are able to do that, the rest of DACs sound plain in that part, I don't care if a sistem cost a dollar or some million dollars, if it doesn't do that holographic test it just sucks.
Thank you for reminding me of this song I used to listen to it way back as soon as I read your description it brought me back
If you are a bit in DIY you will love my Gabster TD1 Dac it has the most Holographic sound I have ever heard I played Oxygène 4 and sounded amazing
Gabster TD1 Dac My Favorite of all times
th-cam.com/video/y3MB5W970Ow/w-d-xo.html
True Love Ways, Buddy Holly.
I have discovered some amazing microgroove 78 you should try.................There is a sample on you tube. It is "Tweedee dee" by Raymond Scott and his wife Dorothy Collins on his Audivox label.
Great list! Thanks for the video. Subscribed!
Thanks for making this video it's so important to find very well recorded music that can test your extreme low end and extreme high end and then see how your speakers perform. I ended up making my own 'test' song that uses subwoofer tracks as well as high end piccolo sounds and lots of bass guitar and some panning to test those basic things. Used a audio frequency analyser to record the song and then sync'd it for the video. Makes for some ear piercing listening but its great for testing: th-cam.com/video/HhaBpndXei8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=SChAh_NX0Xv80jpe
Thank you 🙏
Stop talking you just messed up my system
Weather Report" a remark you made" Fabulous Baker boys sound track.
My favorite and most beautiful Weather Report song!
The album noonday dream by ben howard is truly sublime
Can you list the songs in comments, I'd like to hear lossless verions of these songs
CITY Am Fenster, ROBBIE WILLIAMS Album Swing When You're Winning, BERT KAEMPFERT Album "April in Portugal" 1964, JOE JACKSON Album "Body & Soul" 1984...
@Gabster
Ziggy Marley - Dragonfly (Live) from the "92.9 WBOS Live From The Archives 2" CD.
It's a full acoustic version and the simplest and most stripped-down acoustic version I've heard. Crazy realism. (The KEXP version doesn't come close). This is just two acoustic guitars and Ziggy's naturally mic'd vocal. The recording puts them in the room. :) Hit me up if you can't find this version. ;)
Your suggestions for relatively unknown music is great. BUT i can’t find anywhere what your sources are for these. And I’m perplexed why you don’t tell us. Are you using high res files? Or CDs? Or SACDs? Or vinyl records? Not all of us have the equipment or resources to play all formats. Thank you!
I've added links to about 6 or 7 of these for testing. I have to say that listening to them briefly I don't like any of them. That last one was Children under the Star, not the sun. I'll give them a chance. I particularly didn't like the French guy's composition. Crimson recorded by Hollywood Records seems to be affiliated or a property of Disney. If you like Hans Zimmer here are two I'd recommend. The first was orchestrated by Zimmer and the second written by him.
Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest.
Warning, the bass in these is extremely deep and powerful. They explore everything a symphony orchestra is capable of. Both add a chorus and Dead Man's Chest adds a pipe organ. I bought these as a two CD set new for around $15. I liked them because I heard parts of them on Pandora.
I use other discs to test audio systems. Most will fail my criteria. The only one that passes all of them is the one I invented and built myself.
Try anything with a grand piano. Here's one I went out and bought the disc for. A grand piano is a huge sound source. A Steinway D concert grand is 8'-9". A Baldwin D10 is 9'-6". If it sounds like a point source your sound system is junk. I've got a Steinway M and it fills my music room with sound.
th-cam.com/video/zGBXA1tBiLw/w-d-xo.html
Try anything with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. With 360 voices singing sometimes accompanied by a 100 piece symphony orchestra, sometimes by an 8000 pipe organ at the Tabernacle it should sound big and clear.
For a female voice try anything by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Here's the beautiful Rachmaninoff Vocalise (no words)
th-cam.com/video/fW630zFA93Y/w-d-xo.html
For Jazz I bought this CD on a dare. I even bought the deluxe 2 cd version. Don't waste your money, the main CD is enough. I have to admit I don't like this music but it's gone from worse to just bad but I must admit it does give a sound system a good workout, a test.
th-cam.com/video/ll3CMgiUPuU/w-d-xo.html
For violin here's a violin whose sound I'm very familiar with, the incredible 1741 Guarneri del Gesu that was as loud as a trumpet heard in his home and in my parent's home and as sweet as melted sugar. It easily filled the 900,000 cubic foot Carnegie Hall with sound even to the last row in the last balcony. It sold for $10,000,0000 at auction a few years before Rosand died.
th-cam.com/video/RE5jNT-fkHM/w-d-xo.html
Here's another I heard live at Carnegie Hall.
th-cam.com/video/RE5jNT-fkHM/w-d-xo.html
Here are two just for sheer enjoyment. This recording of Rachmaninoff's piano concerto No. 3 took me from liking it to loving it. I didn't know I already had the CD but hadn't listened to it.
th-cam.com/video/MOOfoW5_2iE/w-d-xo.html
A recent beautiful performance of the second. Not my absolute favorite favorite but a great one nonetheless and a beautiful recording. I'm waiting for the DVD to become available or at least the CD.
th-cam.com/video/oD5pqlDPCHc/w-d-xo.html
So much great music in the world. Why do audiophiles waste their time on such junk? I think they know little to nothing about music. Many have probably never attended a live concert of unamplified music. They don't even know what the real thing sounds like.
Im a new subscriber. Beautiful DAC, what is it? I have the NAD M10 and love that display. I have another system that needs a DAC with volume control.
Love the Nad M10 . This is DIY I did a few Vid about it
@@Gabster1 Yes, thanks I found the DAC DIY video but it is way out of my skill league.
I'll tell some of if not all of you how to do this on a budget, first find ANY LG V or G series phone. They ALL have ESS DACs in them. And you can get on your PC and download for free hi-res FLAC files some with as high as 3000mbps resolution. Yes people are using these LG phones as streaming devices. With the right files these DACs can do 130db dynamic range. But not only that you can record 24bit FLAC audio on ALL your home videos in stereo through built in condenser microphones. These phones or DACs have a analog volume control so you don't have to worry about lowering your bit rate by turning down the volume. There are some great articles about these phones and how the ESS quad DAC works. And great videos where they have been tested to equal and surpass even some DACs AND headphone amps that cost 500 plus dollars! It's a really inexpensive way to get into high res streaming. And I highly recommend downloading the free sampler songs many places that sell them and manually putting them on your new LG phone. There are articles that explains what model ESS DAC is in which phone. I started with the LG V20 years ago and went to the VET and now finally the V60. Possibly LGs last phone. These are sleeper phones that equaled the Samsung's in photo quality and my V60 even has a 2nd screen you can put the phone in and have dual screens. A grade A plus V60 can be had for 250. And the V20s for even less. With little audio quality difference. Maybe you have heard about these phones. But there is NO competition. Meridian audio has tuned almost all of LGs audio stuff, even my old LG Google smart speaker just blows away the Sonos speaker! To me. And you like I did , got my 2nd one brand new in the box off eBay for 35 bucks. But by all means if you can't afford a 1,000 DAC or streaming device , get a LG phone. ESS DACs came in all the OppO disk players! Those are a great investment as well!
The Magnificent Seven theme.
Tin Pan Alley SRV from Couldn't Stand the Weather.... the best recording I have ever heard.
Hi Gabby, perhaps it might have been better if you just presented this list of music as nothing more than music you like, but instead you present this as list to "test and improve your HIFI system". How can that be done when every single recording that you mention is bathed in fake digital reverb? Decay is one of the most important aspect of audio reproduction. Decay is what often separates tubes from transistors, direct drive from belt drive, and planers from dynamic drivers. When natural room decay is replaced with digitally synthesized ambience, there is no natural room ambience for the stereo equipment to reproduce. Maybe you can hear through the fake reverb, but I'm guessing by your musical choices that you can't identify it. Also, since this kind of stereo equipment is expensive, different kinds of music is needed to ascertain the performance of a system. I see no rock, no bluegrass, no jazz, or anything that isn't reverb drenched fluff. Obviously we have different taste in music, but without Beethoven, Bartok. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Sonny Rollins, Led Zeppelin, and Willie Nelson I wouldn't even own an audio system. Abba?? Really??
Thanks for the tips….of course the music quality would be depending from the source of tracks download. What’s the best digital download there is on the net? Apple Music, Spotify or TIDAL for example?
'Reference' songs should be ones in which you, the listener, are familiar.
Not saying the songs mentioned here aren't well recorded or great music, but I question if most people know them at all.
In fact, I tried a search of the #1 and neither even displayed on the first few pages.
When I go to RMAF and other audio shows, it seems the only songs available are Norah Jones or Diana Krall.
What happened to just throwing in Dark Side of the Moon or Brothers in Arms?
Just my thoughts and I'm ready for the criticism and backlash now.
Nice list. Another great on is Beck - Where It's At. Incredibly clean music, all different musical sounds.
Nicely Done.
You had me with the first song Barley.
But you lost me on the last song "Children under the star"
at 8:10 in your video you talk about great vocals.
Maybe my system can't pick up the vocals if they are in the way way way way background.
If you didn't mention it I would of not known any vocals were on this track.
Maybe I missed something or the amazon streaming version is different :)