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The need for at least one bad recording....

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LFF:
All too often audiophiles brag that their expensive rig or headphone can play "Jazz at the Pawnshop" with superb dynamic, micro detail and much aplomb.

Well....sadly, that recording, as well as many other audiophile favorites tend to sound great out of almost every single system, rig, headphone and speaker out there. What's the use of demo'ing something that sounds relatively the same on every other system?

One way to really test your system is to use a bad recording. It doesn't have to be horrendous but a normal, mediocre recording will do nicely.

For vinyl folks, take for instance, a gray label pressing of Frank Sinatra's "Song's For Swingin' Lovers". A great record if there ever was one but the recording quality is good...not amazing. Play the second track. Can you hear Sinatra breathe a sigh of relief at the end? If not...your system is lacking detail and resolution!

For CD lovers and Digital Downloaders, try out a regular issue of Bill Evan's "Portrait In Jazz". Have you ever noticed all the high pitched noise in some of the tracks? How about them drop outs? If you have no idea what I am talking about....your system is lacking in resolution and detail.

While it never hurts to get your hearing checked by a professional audiologist, a simple, normal recording can do wonderful things for your system and for your benefit. I bet those $2,000 zebra wood headphones don't sound that amazing anymore...do they? ;)

Anaxilus.:
Need more popcorn!

Marvey:
It feel the same way about Patricia Barber Modern Cool Track #7. The audio engineer behind it is awesome, but the techniques used on the track make it sound great on everything including a boom-box. The use of this track is basically a masturbation on "Wow, did you hear that awesome slammin' bass!"

Naive Melody from Talking Heads is good one for evaluation. It has a lot of resolution. And if something is off with your setup, you will definitely hear it as sibilance, muddyness, or worse.

rhythmdevils:
A few albums I've  noticed sound good no matter how a pair of my orthos are damped and so I've decided are bad for testing

Chris Isaak- San Francisco Days.  Although it's good for testing whether a phone has enough treble and "air"
The National - all their albums sound great on just about everything, except Ultra Violet has some reverb which can get pronounced if phones have that kind of sound too
TV on the Radio- As long as the phones are in the ballpark, they sound good. 

rhythmdevils:
I've found Led Zeppelin fairly useful sometimes.  The guitars are right on the edge, they're supposed to have bite but not be harsh, there's lots of treble energy in cymbals that can sound crashy or dull, and there ought to be a richness in the bass and guitar that can easily go missing on some phones that are light in the lower mids or bass. 

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