Here you go Ken:

Secrets by The Cure, from 17 Seconds

Name Taken by Massive Attack, from 100^th Window

Nadia by Nitin Sawhney, from Beyond Skin

Keep the Streets Empty for Me, by Fever Ray, from Fever Ray

Cheers

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman – The Thrill Is Gonefrom the album

Grisman & Garcia.

Robert

Ken, I presume you're not using vinyl as your main source, so you could try these CDs, all of which are stunning-sounding:

Joy Division - Closer

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

Grateful Dead - Europe '72

Scott Walker - Scott 4

Scott Walker - Tilt

New Order - Technique (but only the original 1989 Factory CD, not Rhino's awful reissue)

Any of the Beatles mono CDs (only available as a box set AFAIK, not separately)

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon, Meddle, Wish You Were Here (2011 remasters)

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technodelic

David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk, On an Island

Roger Waters - Amused to Death

White Stripes - Icky Thump, Elephant, Under Great White Northern Lights

and another vote for

Kraftwerk - Minimum/Maximum

My favourite i Nils Lofgren Live

Just one, Ken, but I'm sorry it's not your kind of music. Anyway, it might be useful or interesting to others.

It's the whole of Harmonia Mundi's >50 ans de prises de son<, a sampler they did with tracks from their catalogue of music, from early Renaissance to Mahler.

There's a wonderful solo harpsichord as well as a monumental Finale of Mahler's 2nd symphony, voices, a lute, piano and violin, small vocal groups doing ancient poliphony.

Each time I change something I go back to it, there's always something in some track that highlights the changes. What's more, the selection is so rich, music so beautiful and the sound so good that I always end up listening to it thoroughly.

M.

And another vote for The Beatles in mono (not an unbiased judgment) and Amused to death.

Interesting question since I just tested my system with those tracks because I added Hi-Line and PowerLine (wow...much better dynamic and PRAT... believe me, its worth it!)

1) Like JT - Patricia Barber (live track on the Companion CD - lots and lots of PRAT)

2) A High Rez version (24-192) of Hotel California from The Eagles

3) Kenny Barron - Live at Bradley's (I'm a jazz maniac and this is certainly one of the best live recordings that I've listened to)

4) Anything that's on the CD Utopies from the Hadouk Trio. A bass challenge for any system out there!

I have to agree with Meissmar... It,s not just the sounds, it's all about enjoying the music. My investment in the Hi-Line and 2 PowerLine cost $3,000 (CDN). Is the sound better? Yes... Bass is tighter, sound is cleaner. But the main upgrade is that the music dynamics is much much much better and this means a more musical system. More PRAT, more feeling. Thats why I like Naim... Expensive but worth e-v-e-r-y penny...

My recommendations would be

• Focus on music you are familiar with, that you will actually listen to and that you actually have listened to.

If a person's musical preferences happen to align with very well recorded (audiophile approved if you will) recordings, then by all means include them in your auditioning set, but if they aren't representative of what you will actually listen to, then I think a person does themself a disservice by using them.  These recordings will have excellent dynamics, soundstaging, imaging and on and on ... but if you don't listen to music as well recorded to this you may be awfully surprised when you actually get the gear home. 

• Consider the length of your audition, Its probably not wise to bring 40 CDs or LPs if you only have an hour or two to listen to the gear in question however....

• Ensure you audition using music that spans all the genres you actually listen to.

I have a strong memory of an audition of a specific brand of speakers 10 years ago or so where I was using  Mother's Little Helper (Rolling Stones) 40 Licks, as I like rhythmic interplay in the song. Many factors of course in any demo/audition (particularly with unfamiliar gear) but I didn't feel the demo really clicked with the song and I wasn't engaged.  The dealer came over and made a joke about the Rolling Stones recording/mastering quality.  Certainly that's a factor, but I feel 'almost' regardless of the recording quality that the essence of what I enjoy in a specific piece should still come forward and in this demo it did not.  I threw a variety of other music, classical, rock, rap etc. at the speakers and I found that (to my ears) they did a great job with classical but were less comfortable with other genres of music.  I have run into this with other gear subsequently and have found it very important to explore all the genres I listen to as a result.

• Consider how many pieces of gear you are auditioning / evaluating

If you are trying to do a comparison at a dealer's location you probably only have your total time divided by the number of pieces of equipment you are trying to compare, which may force you to be more selective with your music selections.

• Try to use a couple consistent recordings (if possible) over a long period of time to develop a reference point.

For these types of recordings you will have a strong sense of how they are presented in your current system, possibly how they have been presented in past systems, and will provide a good comparison point when you are evaluating any type of change.

I last went through this process again in the Fall when I ended up buying my SuperNAIT.

I had a couple of hours to evaluate a SuperNAIT and ATC SCIA2-150, both paired with ACTSCM11 and I believe a CD5X (not sure if it was XS or not), to make a decision on which to request for home audition.

The Artists / Albums / (Tracks) I used for that demo are listed below:

- White Stripes - Icky Thump: Icky Thump - (Little Cream Soda - Catch Hell Blues )

General Recommendations for Electronic Music: The Cinematic Orchestra, Bibio, Flying Lotus, Amon Tobin, Massive Attack.  Typically these are fairly well recorded (for being more mainstream) and are interesting and can push a system in a variety of ways... and well plus I enjoy listening to it anyways

Who is saddened by this?

Mark Knopfler's solo albums.

My fave demo tracks and albums:

1) Night at the Opera by Queen (You should be able to hear into the recording)

2) 4x4=12 by Deadmau5 ('Sofi Needs a Ladder' is fantastic test of deep deep tight bass - lesser systems and speakers just wilt)

3) Ghost Town by the Specials (drums should have great definition and all vocals clearly legible)

4) Dummy by Portishead (will show up ruthlessley poor resonant ported speakers and or room resonances)

5) The Wall by Pink Floyd (Great dynamics, screeching guitars and tight bass - it should just sound right)

6) I love to Boogie by T.Rex (This is a classic toe tapper test)

7) God Bless the Master by the Watersons (A great test for natural vocals - there should be no nasality, flatness, unnatural bloat or brightness)

8) Evening Conversations - pianist David Fung (The piano should sound real and ooze emotion and dyanmics)

9) Pure Frosting by the Presidents (a good test of compressed commercial rock - it should sound fun, engaging and rhythmic)

Of course it is important to audition with music you know, whatever that is, is not important. However, I think it is also important to check extreme cases, else you are only trying part of what the system can do.

Personally I prepare my own CDR (with lossless rips) of 5 to 10 tracks for the audition. Here are some tips:

1. Track that may choke your current system's midrange. i.e. difficult and extended passages (3-4 minutes) where all instruments come together. Do they sing in the demo kit?
2. Similar to 1, adding voice. Is it articulate enough?
3. Track that has sudden bursts of energy - i.e. from quiet to loud instantly. Can the system deliver the required energy, without hurting your ear?
4. Track that uses cymbals or other high frequency percussive source against backing music of low frequency. Does the system offer a wide and accurate presentation.
5. Track that focuses on midrange textures. Not rhythm or tonality (melody) here that can destruct your focus. Do the textures appear separate, can you tell source A from source B?
6. Track that goes all the way down below 80db. This is hard to tell unless you have some sort of measuring device (or editing software on your computer), but it is the most important for me. Most speaker specs go way less than 80db. My experience is that most speakers (especially the cheaper ones, like that in my car) ignore (clip) those frequencies. But you will be surprised by how many expensive speakers fall over badly there, even at very low volume.

Last word. If you do these tests (especially 6), play them at low volume, else you may get in an awkward position  (which is not of your fault of course).

I usually take a few LPs or CDs that I enjoy and with which I am very familiar. They include

Haydon - Surprise Sympnony, second movement "this should make the ladies jump"

Linda Ronstadt - Winter Light

Carley Simon - Anticipation

Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line

Rebecca Pidgeon - Auld Lang Syne

The Proclaimers - My Old Friend the Blues

Cliff Richard - From a Distance *

* Let's face it, if a system can get Cliff to sound great, it can probably get everything to sound great

Cheers

Don

Grace Jones, 'ive seen that face before'; great for checking sibilance as she sings her 'S's' to perfection!

Space Nights Volume 3, Disc 1, Track three - "Sultan" ... nice little bit of exercise for your bass drivers and also tests out whether you're getting intermodulation between the bottom end and the midrange.

Someone else has suggested Massive Attack but I'll add "Butterfly Caught" and "Inertia Creeps" to that list.

Phil

The Pretender by Jackson Browne on both vinyl and CD.

This is a frequent question so using search might give you more than you get here since people have answered so many times before.

I have an audition disc that I compiled which I use at any audition. What is on it does not matter except that I use music I know and love. If the new kit does not play it better and enhance my enjoyment then it is not bought.

Hi Ken.

How is your treatment coming on , dare I ask ?   Best wishes Peter

For dance music and bass performance, I always plump for Infected Mushroom - Ratio Schmatio.  The bass in this track is immense.      

Other tracks I like to use as references include;

Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (someone on here once said that if you can hear the brass in this track, then you're pretty much there - I can hear it! )

Tori Amos - Pretty Good Year and Icicle

Here´s a couple of tracks that I like to use while "auditioning" gear:

Jennifer Warnes-Way down deep

Einsturzende Neubauten-12305e nacht (for dynamics)

Mike Oldfield-Heaven´s open (for "S-sounds")

Bob Dylan-Lay down your weary tune

Front 242-Tragedy for you (for bass!!)

Dire Straits-You and your friend

Pink Floyd-Division Bell (album)

Traveling Wilburys-Not alone any more (Roy´s vocals..)

and many more..

By the way, +1 on Amused to death and Kraftwerk