System Test Tracks

Posted by: Mike-B on 21 February 2017

Although this is a music recommendation,  I think its best placed in Streaming Audio as a streaming system tool.      

I've found an excellent free download with music that I found really good for testing/evaluating system SQ.   Its available from HighResAudio  "HRA Mixed Up Sampler 2015.1"   a mix of different music & artists,  you might not like the music (not your genre etc) & most will not have heard these artists before.   Whatever the recording production & SQ is excellent.   Its modern jazz, light classical/jazz,  voice, piano, drum, dynamics, bass, treble, clarity, imaging & atmosphere.  The tracks are all 24-bit but the different artists have different sample rates 44.1kHz to 96kHz.  ......  for free ....  whats to loose ??? 

Posted on: 21 February 2017 by Adam Zielinski

HD Tracks also do something a bit similar - a free sampler is available from their webiste. A good amalgamation of tracks - all well recorded.

Posted on: 21 February 2017 by Kacper

http://www.hdtracks.com/audiop...t-287316?format=AIFF

this one isn't for free but also nice.

Posted on: 22 February 2017 by trickydickie

Nice one Mike!

If you like classical Primephonic also do similar, they have an album called Winter.

If you want to give your system a work out the free Christmas tracks from bravurarecords are worth downloading.  

I often grab the monthly Hyperion samplers as well.

Richard

Posted on: 22 February 2017 by Mike-B

Hi Richard,  thanks for the Bravura Records tip,  they still have them available so I grabbed them.  Even Mrs-B likes them 

Posted on: 22 February 2017 by Dave***t

Cheers for the tip, Mike. Currently listening to the Q11 track from the 2015.1 comp, and it sounds lovely and is pleasantly weird.

Posted on: 22 February 2017 by Claus-Thoegersen

A few days ago someone in one of my Facebook hifi groups posted aa link to this record:

http://www.chesky.com/album/ul...onstration-disc-ud95

The tracks are of high quality, but more important they give examples to explain some of the most normal hifi terms. Very usefull, since we are often not really sure what the fluffy hifi vocabular means.
Claus

Posted on: 23 February 2017 by Simon-in-Suffolk

A few years back i posted some test tracks i used for an evaluation. My motivation was I was disillusioned with so called well recorded test tracks. Most systems tend to sound good with them with our brains filling in the gaps subconsciously. I found the real differentiator was often more commercial / popular masters running compression and the such like. This to me tests the 'gamut' of a replay system more effectively with our hearing. A given 'system' could play a well produced test track wonderfully. Play a compressed commercial track through the same system and it might sound awful and jarring - ergo a poor system overall.

When I did my secondment with the BBC sound studio engineering many moons ago - it appeared to be test tones and measuring equipment and commercial popular masters that were used to 'test out' systems and the studio replay systems  I was involved with [many fond memories of that time    ]

 

Test tracks

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...48#36342540955634848

Posted on: 23 February 2017 by Mike-B
Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

A few years back i posted some test tracks i used for an evaluation. My motivation was I was disillusioned with so called well recorded test tracks.  

Test tracks   https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...48#36342540955634848

These HRA sampler tracks are not test tracks as such.  It was released as a sampler of the HRA teams favourite music - its an HRA promo.  I have just found that it has many of the attributes I find important - listed in my first post - its real bands or individuals playing real music that is well recorded & all in a 32 minute package.

Posted on: 23 February 2017 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Mike-B posted:

These HRA sampler tracks are not test tracks as such.  I just happened to stumble across it, 

ahh excellent - real tracks that one is familiar with I find by far the best - as if something is not right or different then our brains notice it - especially with voices or something evocative to us.