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  • Music tracks to test a HiFi
  • CHB
    Full Member

    I might conceivably be in the market for a new (to me) car this year. The sound from the HiFi/Stereo is an important consideration given how many hours I spend in the car compared with listening to music at home. So I compiling a burnt CD or MP3 stick play list what would your tracks be to test out a car (or home) HiFi?

    CHB
    Full Member

    This would be one of mine:

    [video]https://youtu.be/kT09wbZ6eqs[/video]

    shermer75
    Free Member

    Obvs

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_bL0hFyslg[/video]

    davidtaylforth
    Free Member

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jNyr6BJZuI[/video]

    CHB
    Full Member

    This one also as it is good for treble. It holds a special place for me as it was the demo track in 1994 when I bought my first pair of B&W 602’s from a hifi shop in Leeds:

    [video]https://youtu.be/-5KpLRWY8sA[/video]

    davidtaylforth
    Free Member

    The bass in this is hellish. Won’t play through my laptop speakers.

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-qExjmSswc[/video]

    CHB
    Full Member

    Shermer75: this would be my reference 90’s speaker breaker:

    [video]https://youtu.be/qriH-8yeqcE[/video]

    shermer75
    Free Member

    Once you’ve got the treble sorted you can use this to check the bass

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiNKyI9poFE[/video]

    A bit slow posting there…

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    For me, it would be as follows;

    Elgar – Nimrod
    Dire Straits – Private Investigations
    G’N’R – Appetite. All of it.
    Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells
    Rush – Farewell to Kings

    centralscrutinizer
    Free Member

    Wouldn’t you be better off using whatever music you like/listen to the most ?

    CHB
    Full Member

    And to show it’s not all D&B or 90’s rave, sometimes a little Vincent Price classical is needed:
    [video]https://youtu.be/ho9rZjlsyYY[/video]

    shermer75
    Free Member

    Wouldn’t you be better off using whatever music you like/listen to the most ?

    This is, of course, the actual answer. In the meantime, however, rock and roll could never hip hop like this:

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLeeE-DTN9w[/video]

    DezB
    Free Member

    Wouldn’t you be better off using whatever music you like/listen to the most ?

    Just what i was gonna say!

    How about some
    [video]http://youtu.be/fhI5T_NKYxc[/video]
    then
    [video]http://youtu.be/sb3FJdRk-tI[/video]
    and
    [video]http://youtu.be/1tFXIy7OWos[/video]

    but thats some of what I likes in the car

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    Tested my old Leak speakers with this. Awesome!

    CHB
    Full Member

    Another track that is a key to me. Ever since Zardoz I have loved the first 3 minutes of this track:

    [video]https://youtu.be/ffYKCNY6kUk[/video]

    shermer75
    Free Member

    If we’re talking Jane’s Addiction then surely it has to be

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVIev94s7Mo[/video]

    mattyfez
    Full Member

    You want a high quality source.. don’t beat me to death for suggesting this, but an origeonal CD of michael Jackson’s ‘bad’ album is very well produced and has a wide dynamic range.

    Id steer away from mp3 format as a demo as they are compressed. Get a genuine CD disk of something you know has been well produced.

    CHB
    Full Member

    I like an awful lot of different music, and have an open mind to good tracks. So ideas from the STW collective are always welcome.

    davidtaylforth
    Free Member

    Great driving track from the best driving album

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GZcK8wBqoo[/video]

    davidtaylforth
    Free Member

    Goodun for QBRTs

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDWgtB_MD24[/video]

    hughjayteens
    Free Member

    Tracks we often use to sell/demo speakers include:

    Jamie Woon – Night Air (great bassline)
    London Grammar – Hey Now (very well produced for ‘pop’ music)
    Fleetwood Mac – Big Love (acoustic version off The Dance)
    Dire Straits – take your pick from Brothers in Arms
    Propellorheads – Oh Yeah!
    Lincoln Mayorga – Dock of the Bay
    Lady Gaga – Just Dance

    All of the above are very well produced and can reveal shortcomings in most systems, BUT, only if you know what it should sound like. Ergo, you are far better off using something that you know and like.

    ninfan
    Free Member

    About 1:20 in – little bit of base, little bit of drums…

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiP4BZ-1mM4[/video]

    I remember playing this in a B&O shop one time. and you could see the windows flexing 😀

    CHB
    Full Member

    Davidtaylforth, you reminded me! How could I forget this classic:

    [video]https://youtu.be/Y4QbJRAWvRU[/video]

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    I’ve been doing this recently, for home rather than car but the OP said either, my list has been:

    Gabrielle – Lamb
    Release the Pressure – Leftfield
    Angel – Massive Attack
    So What – Miles Davis
    Blue Train – John Coltrane
    Motherland – Natalie Merchant
    Karma Police – Radiohead
    Crystalised – The XX
    Stormy Weather – Etta James
    Going Underground – The Jam
    Elektro Kardiogramm – Kraftwerk
    Come As You Are – Nirvana
    Without You I’m Nothing – Placebo

    Tried to keep a bit of variety. So far the better the system the more the acoustic and synth stuff shines but the same systems just seem to make stuff like Placebo, Nirvana, The Jam etc sound very uninspiring.

    mudshark
    Free Member

    I’ve used this for decades – I know it so well:

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi9dIpfWd4c[/video]

    and then there’s this:

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs[/video]

    davidtaylforth
    Free Member

    😀

    Hadge
    Free Member

    Dire Straits “Telegraph Road”
    Fleetwood Mac & Rumours
    Paul Simon & Graceland
    Police “Every Breath You Take”

    CHB
    Full Member

    oh….Take Five is definitely on the list now! Love that track and know it well.

    gofasterstripes
    Free Member

    if you want to know if the speakers buzz or something try XXYYXX // XXYYXX

    CountZero
    Full Member

    Id steer away from mp3 format as a demo as they are compressed. Get a genuine CD disk of something you know has been well produced.

    That’s bollocks. In a car, with wind and tyre noise, it’s totally irrelevant; a recording on a metal cassette tape from CD would sound as good, an MP3/AAC at 320 Kb variable bitrate is virtually indistinguishable from a CD or lossless version to the greater majority oh human ears, in a car you’ll never, ever be able to tell the difference; I’ve done comparisons between 320Kb and lossless versions of the same track, and couldn’t tell them apart.
    Because of all the background noise, unless you’re driving a Roller or a Bentley, classical is a challenge, the wide dynamic range, with lots of subtle quiet bits, can make it tricky to reproduce in a car, when the loud bits suddenly come in it can be a bit of a jolt, unless you’re listening to lots of early 20th Century English pastoral string music. The 1812 might be interesting; there’s a version, I think by the Atlanta Philharmonic, which used real cannon!

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    Trust me on this one. If only all remixes were this fearsome. Problem – you’ll never want to stop driving…

    [video]https://youtu.be/qU7TqOA9fNs[/video]

    And this: (evilbadass bass drops at 2min 30, but now you’re not sure if you want to be driving or be longboarding…)

    [video]https://youtu.be/aetPpazO7J4[/video]

    DezB
    Free Member

    That’s bollocks. In a car, with wind and tyre noise, it’s totally irrelevant

    Virtual hug for CountZero for talking sense :mrgreen:

    Ps. remind me to avoid going on a road trip with Hadge 😀

    mattyfez
    Full Member

    Eerm ok then. Just buy a sub, turn it up and stream low quality audio. Because wind noise will spoil anything better. 😉

    vorlich
    Free Member

    Not sure being in a car is conducive to decent sound reproduction, but Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel is a great reference track, any Flying Lotus, SBTRKT, Holy Ghost! or Stranger than Earth by Purity Ring.

    sirromj
    Full Member

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtC-iN_PFlM[/video]

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    It used to be Hawaii 5-0 and Curtis Mayfield Move on Up

    Ming the Merciless
    Free Member

    Ghostbusters
    Aerosmith Livin on the edge
    Ride of the Valkyries

    stevemuzzy
    Free Member

    I had a go at sq a few years ago. The IASCA test cd was used and was perfect for this. Tests everything from correct polarity and channel set up to ability to reproduce low 20s hz. Must be some out there on ebay or talk audio as i had 2 at one point and sold one and most mates doing it had a couple of copies just in case.

    As for the guy saying you cant tell difference between mp3 and cd in a car due to background noise dear me. Never heard of dynamat? On a decent system its very clear and so is a poorly produced cd.

    BillMC
    Full Member

    I definitely would not take mp3s or any other compressed format. In my experience the better speakers make these tracks show up all their inadequacies. On the other hand if you plan to play mp3s in said vehicle, it might be a good approach.

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    This one really brings out the tiny nuances in the sound quality.

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEFKFiXSx4[/video]

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