Music to judge by

A few of my favorites are:

Nils lofgren - "Acoustic Live"
Alison Krauss - "live"
Al Stewart - "An acoustic evening with..."
Lyle Lovett - "...and his large band" (or 'Pontiac')

Regards,
Alco

Anything that sounds better on a good system than on a bad

In fact I'm serious here. What I mean is many so called "well recorded" discs are ones that sounds good on a bad system and then never improves when the system gets better. Example:

Opus 3 - Test Record 1. It has sounded more or less good on any system I heard it on. Useless.

Records that are good for assessing a system, i. e. ones that sound lousy on lousy system and fantastic on a fantastic one:

Richard Thompson - Humor and Sigh. Even with a CDS 1 it didn't sound particulary good. With a CDS 2 it sounds pretty good. My guess is that with a CDS 3 it sounds really good. And with a CDS 4...

White Stripes - Elephant. Guessing here, I've only heard it on my current system.

And then there is most of the pop music recorded the last 20 to 25 years that sounds s**t on any system (or are my system just not good enough).

JohanR

Personally,

I take my favourite discs. nothing like your favourite music to judge a system on.



Andrew

diamonds - she'll pretty much have to...

A reply to Mr. Underhill - I was shocked by your e-mail. I recently purchased my first Naim gear (200/202 combo) and took several CDs with which I was very familiar and enjoy to evaluate the system. One of my four test tracks was Cecilia off the same S&G album (in remastered form). I picked that track for many of the same reasons you did. It is a great song, a great recording, and has many different and distinct sounds that can let a great system shine. Generally speaking, I think it is really important to evaluate a system with the music you will be listening to at home. If you want to take one or two discs solely for "evaluation" purposes, that is fine. However, you always should take some of your favorite discs that you listen to frequently. (My two cents)

To me the purpose of a demo is to narrow things down the selection to a couple of items that I can then demo at home for a few days . So I take along a few LPs / CDs that cover the various types of music I tend to listen and of varying quality. From good, so I can hear what it’s capable off, to mediocre recordings as what’s the point of a system that plays a few audiophile recordings perfectly but exposes the faults in the other 99% of your collection so you can’t get to the music because of the HiFi.

But I always take:-

Philip Glass – Songs From Liquid Days. For vinyl the track “Open the kingdom” is
a great test to see how well a deck (LP12) is setup, if it can play the last part of the track at a decent volume without distorting/ miss-tracking and manages to holding everything together then the dealer knows how to set up an LP12. (Out of 5 dealers so far only RPM and Auditorium have managed this one) Apart from that the LP or CD I use for a general listen (as I like Philip Glass) , as it has male/female vocals and ranges from simple to complex and manic sections where a lot of kit just loses the plot completely.

Also Madonna – Ray of light – Track 5, Skin. Listening to the first few minutes of this song tends to gives me a good initial opinion of the kit. This was also the track that made my friends who came along for the ride insisted I buy the NAPSC for the 102, the same folks who thought they wouldn’t hear a difference.

To err is human; to really foul it up requires a computer.

Dear Naimed-In-NY ,

Sorry I shocked you!

I can honestly say I've only bought music I've liked - or thought I might like. But I was interested in peoples thoughts as we all need to do some forensic listening at some point - I recently had to get a new cartridge for instance.

I would expect people to only take music they like and are very familiar with; and I now have a list of interesting recommendations to explore!

I took along about 8 CDs and only listened to 2. One was the slow movement in John Adams' Violin Concerto that I was really in love with at the time, and still am. It gave an understanding of the space and detail possible. Then Topsy Turvey movie CD and one track with three women's voices that showed the naturalness and separation. I think it's better to focus on a few tracks to do comparisons as you are really familiar with them. Next time I plan on using Beatles' White album as there is big guitar work and light detail work too. Tho I already know I want a 282 to replace my 92R.

quote:

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I've tried playing this game, but I've got to say that I normally just get carried away by the music!

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I think this is the most telling test. If you have once been gripped by a whole side of vinyl for instance, let that be the final arbiter!
I have experienced this with Gil Evans "Out of the Cool", Miles Davis "Birth of the Cool" (!) and Scheherazard. These are favorites of dealers for demo, albeit for different reasons.

Something you know by heart and love, something you've just bought and like, and something totally unfamiliar.

The first will give you insight into whether the system is meeting your expectations.

The second will enable you to find out if your latest recent purchase is giving you maximum enjoyment on an emotional level the way new music to your tastes should.

The third wil be a test of whether the system invites you to broarden your musical horizons.

Madonna's Ray of light album falls into category #1 for me, notably tracks 2, 5 and 6. This album isn't terribly well-recorded, but it is more than ok from a musical perspective. The opening guitar riff on track 2 certainly sees off certain hi-fi brands and stands re. the tune...

The Daily Express Disco Fever freebie that came with yesterday's Sunday Express falls into category #2 for me, notably track 5 - Detroit Emeralds Feel the need in me, and track 7 - Three Degrees When will I see you again? because although I remember this music from my youth, it still makes a refreshing change to hear it through a proper hi-fi system and not through a transistor radio.

As for category #3, it'd have to be some jazz by the like of Miles Davis and co. cos I've yet to hear a system make me get into this kind of stuff.



Regards,

Steve.

[This message was edited by Steven Toy on MONDAY 19 May 2003 at 05:10.]

Steve are you suggesting you take something you don't like???

Smike

Yes, a good system will have you liking music you never liked before. Maybe.



Regards,

Steve.

Another good test is to take along an album or piece of music that you've grown bored with, or simply grown out of.

If the system you're assessing reawakens your interest, you've found audio nirvana!

Kevin