What is the standardised CD to evaluate your Naim?

I actually use difficult (vinyl) recordings to evaluate my system, if these are enjoyable, great recordings sound great by default.

I use Harnoncourt's Complete Bach Cantatas, any disk from this set will sort the men from boys.
They are dry, forward, very dynamic and uncompromising in choice of performer and instrument.

regards,
mat

No, evaluate by using a selection of disc's but do not analyse just listen to the music and if it moves you more than before buy the upgrade. Pleasure and understanding are the key things here not how good a perceived recording is because the difference between a well recorded studio album as apposed to a well recorded live acoustic album is huge there are no reference recordings in my view just well expressed music. A quality system should show you the different recording techniques used by showing up differences in the overall sound and acoustic information of the recording, using one disc will not show you this only using different disc's from many genres will allow those differences to show up.



Dean..

For cd's it's Leonard Cohen 'Live' and Jeff Buckley 'Grace'. For LP's it's Lloyd Cole and 'Perfect Skin' off Rattlesnakes, Monk's "Brilliant Corners" and Brahms Violin Concerto. All for different reasons...Cole for examples seems to sounds great or rubbish...probably that Pratwotsit.

To qualify, I was only answering the question, I don't have 'test' disks, and probably use any music I'm enjoying at the time, it could equally be ZZ Top. When you enjoy everything that goes on, the question becomes redundant.

regards,
mat

Mjamrob,


Thats exactly how I do it I usually listen to what I'm into at the time and thats usually new material and slowly get around to playing a varied selection over the time I have a piece on demo once its bought though evaluation goes out the window and rummaging through S/H record shops becomes the passion again .



Dean...

Jon,

while it always depends a little on my mood on any given day, I do have about 20 recordings across all genres that I always come back to, either to compare systems or to showcase my own.

Will give you three for now:
Janis Ian ~ Breaking Silence (Analogue Productions Gold CD), Tracks 1 & 12
Steely Dan ~ Gaucho (SACD, redbook layer), Tracks 1&2
Antonio Forcione ~ Touch Wood (Naim CD), Track 1

Let me know if you want more or are interested in a certain genre.

Cheers ... Oliver

quote:

it could equally be ZZ Top

For me too! "La Grange" is great - when the drums come in it should really make you sit up and take keen notice. Also Muddy Waters "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" on my MoFi version of "Folk Singer". Other than that, albums that I have been playing recently and which are therefore most familiar.

quote:

evaluation goes out the window and rummaging through S/H record shops becomes the passion again Big Grin.

You're lucky to reach that stage Dean, some people I've met have expensive hi-fi's but little passion for the music.
I tend to do most of my rummaging on the internet. Local 2nd hand record shops to me are often selling overpriced poor condition vinyl.

regards,
mat

quote:

For me too! Cool "La Grange" is great

Couldn't agree more - killer track, always puts me in a great mood. And you're right about the drums coming in - what a tight groove after the 'cutesy' little intro

regards,
mat

One Way Out - Allman Brothers, vinyl or CD from Eat a Peach

Dumb question really, shitty recordings can sound fantastic and souless but sonically good recordings can make me leave the room.

Enjoy what you can afford and just listen to the music. An old Sony CD walkman and a Nait 1 can deliver equal pleasure to my main rig and frequently do.

Many say whatever you enjoy listening to, but have found certain CDs essential in evaluating my system. I take a lot of time, and have different criteria that must be fulfilled.

These are the albums, pretty much in order of how important they are to me in evaluating equipment. Your tastes may require a completely different set of albums.

Porcupine Tree - 'In Absentia'
David Sylvian - 'Secrets of the Beehive'
Tool - 'Lateralus'
Talk Talk - 'Laughing Stock' / 'Spirit of Eden'
Orbital - 'Middle of Nowhere' / 'In Sides'
(Nigel) Kennedy, Simon Rattle, CBSO - 'Elgar - Violin Concerto', 'The Lark Ascending'
Brian Eno & J Peter Swalm - 'Drawn for Life' (any modern Eno album will be beautifully recorded)
Karfawerk - 'Expo 2000' / 'Tour de France: Soundtracks'
Dead Can Dance - 'The Serpents Egg'
Joni Mitchell - 'Don Juan's Reckless Daughter'
Thelonious Monk Septet - 'Monk's Music' (mono recording)

Some Steely Dan would probably be in there too, but I only got into them very recently.

This set of CDs would definitely not evaluate a system to listen to chamber music on, or probably Haydn, Mozart, they sound good on my system, but it is not geared to their music, but a system geared to their music, would not project Porcupine Tree, Orbital or Tool.

I posted in way too much detail how I used them when buying my current setup at:
Demonstration Albums

Hope that helps.

Oliver, I would love to know your list of 20 albums, any Miles in there?

James Taylor- Hourglass

Gaia flows nice and gentle then the drums kick in and they explode out of the speakers.

abbado/berlin brahms symphonies
"harmonious garden" bach brandenberg concertos
queen latifa the dana owens album
britten salute to percy grainger
pollini last three beethoven sonatas

quote:

Originally posted by JamieL:
Oliver, I would love to know your list of 20 albums, any Miles in there?

Jamie - I have done quite a few demos with Oliver round his house. As mad as he is for Miles, the one thing we never used on those occasions, including the demo of CDX2, CDS3 and 555 was a Miles CD.

Cheers
Adrian

miles - kind of blue
jeff b - grace
pinnock - 1st brandenburgs
vw - symph 5 [vernon handley]

got stuck in this groove c 2000

If you really want to test stereo seperation, soundstage and frequency response you could do worse than...

Counting Crows - August and everything
Coheed and Cambria - No world for tomorrow
Norah Jones - Rosie´s lullaby
Tool - Vicarious
- Yambi
Led Zeppelin - How the west was won (Since I´ve
been loving you)

quote:

Originally posted by Lontano:

quote:

Originally posted by JamieL:
Oliver, I would love to know your list of 20 albums, any Miles in there?

Jamie - I have done quite a few demos with Oliver round his house. As mad as he is for Miles, the one thing we never used on those occasions, including the demo of CDX2, CDS3 and 555 was a Miles CD.

Cheers
Adrian

I love Miles too, but although the recordings are good, they are not in the league of say 'Monk's Music'.

Miles Davis muted trumpet is an interesting test for a system, rather like another of my favourite musicians Robert Fripp with his very harshly distorted guitar, both have a harsh way of playing at times that is hard to reproduce with clarity but maintain a degree of unpleasantness that should be there. Despite that test, I do not use either a Miles or King Crimson album when demoing.

quote:

Originally posted by mjamrob:

quote:

evaluation goes out the window and rummaging through S/H record shops becomes the passion again Big Grin.

You're lucky to reach that stage Dean, some people I've met have expensive hi-fi's but little passion for the music.


regards,
mat

Mat,


I know what you mean I feel that with some hifi I've listened to its as if they've missed the point and also from reading other fora and it baffles me that people can have a HiFi and not being passionate about music but be passionate about HiFi for HiFi sake strange concept to me really.



Dean..

Dear Dean,

Don't you think it is just as likely that there are Hifi enthusiasts who don't care much for music beyond it allowing their system sounds to make a splendid sound, just like there are motor enthusiasts who have next to no wish to drive their collection of valuable cars in the way that the original designers expected. Keeping them merely for what there are of themselves, as greast objects of the engineer/designer's art and craft, as it were.

I have never understood why people are bashful about this in connection with Hifi.

There is some superb engineering in Naim Audio products for example, and I can see no reason why liking music should be a qualitifcation for wanting to own Naim Audio components or any those from any other great maker of Hifi replay pieces.

In fact it seems entirely reasonable to me that given the purchase cost, for example, of a CD 555 would allow the purchasers to attend several years' worth of real live music performances, and as many who do own very expensive replay sets and post here do in fact give very little evidence, or impression that they go to many, or even any, live concerts, it seems a reasonable conclusion to draw that quite a few owners of top end end Hifi sets are more enthusiastic over the replay set than what is replayed.

Good on them I would observe. It is all good clean fun, and far less wasteful of the Earth's resources than jetting off round the concert halls of the world to hear the top performers play!

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by Lontano:

quote:

Originally posted by JamieL:
Oliver, I would love to know your list of 20 albums, any Miles in there?

Jamie - I have done quite a few demos with Oliver round his house. As mad as he is for Miles, the one thing we never used on those occasions, including the demo of CDX2, CDS3 and 555 was a Miles CD.

Cheers
Adrian

That's right, as much as I love Miles, I don't use any of his recordings for system evaluations.
Will post a few more of my reference CDs later today, but here are two that are kind of hard to get but demonstrate nicely how good recordings from the 50s can sound on a great system today.

Duke Ellington ~ Blues in Orbit (MFSL SACD, redbock layer), Track 3, recorded 1958
Nat King Cole ~ Love is the Thing (DCC Gold), Track 1, recorded 1957

Border Soundtrack - Ry Cooder.

People Gonna Talk - James Hunter.

Better Days - Paul Butterfield.

The Real Thing - Taj Mahal.

Exodus - Bob Marley.

Thanks C-mess, if I can call you that - you have reminded me of some old favourites. These have turned buying decisions for me:

Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter 1+1 - one thing I loved when I heard it on naim kit was the sound and quality of the saxophone reed. I just had heard that sort of thing before!
Dave Holland Live at Birdland - especially, Metamorphos. Lovely, deep, bass strings. Bought my current speakers off the back of that.

And for vinyl - Pet Sounds. God Only Knows killed the competitors to Gyrodec so I ended up with the Gyrodec notwithstanding my deep reservations about the whirligig look of it.

One more if I may. Any number of albums by Mono currently featuring in the current listening thread. Plenty of oomph, some refinement too and extended loud then quiet sections. That makes you sit back and take your time listening.

And now I've remembered what fun demo-ing is - in spite of the obvious dangers!

GFFJ, your thoughts are worthy of another thread. There is definitely an element of fetishism in all of this and looks matter too - witness the system pix thread. As for engineering - I recommend the Donald Judd wall-mounted system rack (about USD12mm I expect):

OFF TOPIC

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
Dear Dean,

Don't you think it is just as likely that there are Hifi enthusiasts who don't care much for music beyond it allowing their system sounds to make a splendid sound, just like there are motor enthusiasts who have next to no wish to drive their collection of valuable cars in the way that the original designers expected. Keeping them merely for what there are of themselves, as great objects of the engineer/designer's art and craft, as it were.

I have never understood why people are bashful about this in connection with Hifi.

There is some superb engineering in Naim Audio products for example, and I can see no reason why liking music should be a qualitifcation for wanting to own Naim Audio components or any those from any other great maker of Hifi replay pieces.

In fact it seems entirely reasonable to me that given the purchase cost, for example, of a CD 555 would allow the purchasers to attend several years' worth of real live music performances, and as many who do own very expensive replay sets and post here do in fact give very little evidence, or impression that they go to many, or even any, live concerts, it seems a reasonable conclusion to draw that quite a few owners of top end end Hifi sets are more enthusiastic over the replay set than what is replayed.

Good on them I would observe. It is all good clean fun, and far less wasteful of the Earth's resources than jetting off round the concert halls of the world to hear the top performers play!

ATB from George

George,



No, your analagies are still bizarre to me I'm into motorbikes and if I was rich I would own a silly collection of old and new and they would be bought to ride if they were in working order and safe to ride. For me thats like buying a Carravagio and sticking it in a vault I want the Carravagio in my most promonant position so everyone can see it, a painting is to be looked at and enjoyed, a motorbike is made to ride, a HiFi is to have music played on it and listened to and the best HiFi's fuel passsion for music if this is not happening then the HiFi is not doing its job, many I have heard do not get even this simple thing right, and as people say on another forum "its not fit for purpose" if you are interested in the engineering side build a HiFi, many do. I cannot sit in my house with the HiFi not playing music and say to myself Ah! what a wonderful piece of engineering no I chuck a CD in and say Ah! what a fantastic piece of music. HiFi fora is full of nasty arguements over the relative merits of "what is right" but a large percentage of those people neither post or probably even read the music rooms or music fora in general and this speaks volumes to me you don't on the whole get the same small minded nastiness in the music centric fora. "HiFi" seems to attract many of these small minded individuals but music lovers seem to have broader minds on the whole.


Having a HiFi and not having a passion for music is one of the biggest OXYMORONS that exist.



Dean...