MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I know that there are quite a few on here who love their hifi's and I assume that it is not purely tech fetishism that drives us all, at the end of the day it is all about the music.
So which are your all time favourite albums and tunes. Which are the ones that keep you coming back time and time again because of that magical combination of musicianship and production quality.
Which records do you use to audition new kit, show off to the doubters and generally make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
There are loads on my list but if I had to choose a few favourites I would have to go for:
Spirit - Spirit of '76
Morcheeba - Big Calm
Holger Czukay - Movies
RATM - Rage Against The Machine
So, what are your all time favourites?
Thought the title was Autoperve, put some sort of robotic devience device thoughts in my head. đŸ˜¯
robotic devience device
and that reminds me:
Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage.
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Vaugh Williams - Fantasia of a them by Thomas Tallis (1970's Pittsburgh symphony LP recording)
Entombed cover of a Dead Horse track - Scottish Hell
The **** Buttons - Tarot Sport ----(How can you censor a band name you frigging nazi's?)
Oh and Probably The Downward Spiral - NIN
The Downward Spiral - NIN
Also on the list, but nasty. Love it. will have a listen to the others.
Moar!
sine sweep from 20 - 20000Hz
For assessing hifi I always use:
Never too much - Luther Vandross - for Marcus Millar on bass
Feel the Need - Anita Baker
The Blues come over me - BB King
That's enough to tell if the component is a contender.
Christy Moore - Live at the Point
If your system does not make you feel like you are sitting in the front row then you need new cables đŸ˜‰
Zappa - Roxy and Elsewhere.
Al Di Meola - Soaring Through a Dream
Stanley Clarke - School Days
Simon Philips - Another Lifetime
i stopped doing that when I bought those little pylons you put on the floor ,lifting the cable into the air thus stopping the bad vibrations the cables picked up from the floor having a negative impact on sonic performance đŸ˜‰you need new cables
Seriously though - in the days when I did audition kit, I only ever took along what I was listening too at the time. Those days are gone now - left the speaker cable at the house we just sold (one channel routed under the floor, CBA to drag it back), Quad 12l's and Attacama's just this morning put in the attic - too big for the new place...
Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage
Particularly 'Watermelon in Easterhay'. Just beautiful.
i stopped doing that when I bought those little pylons
I always wondered who bought those!
Ah, I get it. You know a hi-fi is good if it makes shit music sound ok?
You know a hi-fi is good if it makes shit music sound ok?
Quite the opposite Dez. You know your hifi is the bomb if makes most music sound shit. đŸ˜†
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Interestingly I was just sent an HDD full of high resolution music (SACD rips, 24/192 studio masters and so on).
Most of them were off albums labelled 'Audiophile'. Most of them were unlistenably bad.
Lots have musical crimes have been committed in the name of audiophiles đŸ™‚
Some really soulless covers of incredible songs (Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian, etc).
Anyway - when auditioning, I find as well as a few favourites that it has to be able to deal with, it's worth listening to something you've never ever heard before. Something that is a great recording of live music. Something where the musicians are really trying to make a connection to the audience.
(my last one was a Bridgewater Hall performance of Abdullah Ibrahim).
Some of my standard ones are:
Joan Armatrading: Show Some Emotion
Joni Mitchell: Anything really - some systems make her sound like a boy! Many have very complex arrangements
Tom Waits: I've been using his more recent ones.
Herbie Hancock - late 70s era
Ah, I get it. You know a hi-fi is good if it makes shit music sound ok?
I noticed this accidentally when playing Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley "I've had the time of my life", but I am not taking this into a hifi shop with me...
Last time I bought any kit I took in:
Pixies: Debaser - Live at Brixton
Aphex Twin: Polynominal G
Portishead: Roads Roseland NYC
Handel: Messiah
Radiohead - Karma Police
Hybrid - True to Form
William Orbit - Water From A Vine Leaf (Acid Bath Mix)
Passengers - Miss Sarajevo
Sonic Youth - Murray Street
Faith No More - The Real Thing
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street / Sticky Fingers
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Beck - Sea Change
Steel Panther - Feel the Steel!
The The - Infected
Lou Donaldson - Alligator Bogaloo
Public Enemy - Yo bum rush the show.
I noticed this accidentally when playing Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley "I've had the time of my life", but I am not taking this into a hifi shop with me...
Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat was one of the albums (the shop) played the first time I shopped for decent hifi, and it's still the first album I pick up to listen to if I'm shopping for kit.
Elbow - Asleep At The Back
Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones
Donald Fagan - The Nightfly
I have a special vinyl copy of The Nightfly from B&W speakers. The boss was so impressed with the sound of the album he had a special batch made up with a new sleeve for dealers to demo their speakers with. outstanding recording, and a fabulous album.
On Vol 1 of B&W's VA series, there was a track called Colour the Moon by Allan Taylor. Is a stunning track but I think I am allergic to compilation albums.
Do I Move You by Nagual Sound Experiment has a drop that keeps going and going for a few bars. Is a great way to reference the relative bass handling of different speakers.
there's a great pressing of Nancy Sinatra doing 'boots'
Sheffield Labs Stravinsky Firebird Suite
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followed by any decent female vocals such as Tracy Chapman's Last Night (Behind the wall)
Radiohead - Kid A (Everything in its right place is excellent for 'imaging')
Red Snapper - Our Aim is to Satisfy (great for setting Bass response)
The Breeders - Pod (because its one of the best albums ever, and it's badly recorded)
The Doors - Horse Latitudes, New stereo mix (Because if its not terrifying then the stereo is shit)
I could go on.
If you're using a mac as your source and your not using an Apogee One as your sound card you should have all your equipment taken away and crushed.
If you're using a mac as your source and your not using an Apogee One as your sound card you should have all your equipment taken away and crushed.
I do, and I'm not. So there!
Doesn't stop me totally immersing myself in my music when I play it. As it happens, my Mini feeds into my Yamaha amp via an optical TOSLink.
Eddie Reader has an album called Driftwood, which is a stunning recording, in particular a song called [i]Old Soul[/i].
It has an acoustic drum on it, possibly a bodrĂ¡in, which is very deep indeed, really low frequency, while not being especially loud, quite challenging for many systems.
If you're using a mac as your source and your not using an Apogee One as your sound card you should have all your equipment taken away and crushed.
Focusrite Saffire into PMC active nearfield reference monitors. Do I win?
Ulrich Schnauss - In All The Wrong Places
BT - Kimosabe
Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek
Jon Hopkins - Wire
Queen - Anything. I really love Queen.
Journeyman - Amon Tobin then the rest of ISAM, then Supermodified.
**** me, Singletrack has turned into Pink Fish!
joolsburger
The The infected
Class pure class đŸ˜€
joolsburger
The The infected
Class pure class đŸ˜€