Music for testing equipment speakers, headphones..


There is a very interesting discussion going on at the CA forum about real music suited for tuning or testing speakers and headphones; here is the Link;
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f8-general-forum/music-testing-audio-equipment-24230/
and a quote from the big introduction article naming a number of recordings best suited for various tasks;
1. Carmen Gomes inc; '' I'm on fire'' from Thousand Shades of Blue
SoundLiaison

Placement is perfect on this young audiophile classic as well as the near perfect natural recording of the voice, but the real test for audio equipment when listening to this recording is it's ability to separate the kickdrum from the upright bass.
The two instruments are playing the same pattern. On less than optimum equipment it might be difficult to separate the two, but with good setup you clearly hear the upright at 10.00 and the kick dead center with a nice decay that one generally do not hear on commercial recordings.
There are lots of speakers and headphones with ''extended lows'' but low with definition is a whole different ballgame.
2 Alban berg Quartet; Bartok String Quartet no.1 in a minor 1th movement. (LP,EMI)
in the beginning of this movement the 4 instruments all play mainly in the same middle and upper register. Despite all that mid and high information the music should not sound harsh.
This recording has the same perfect sound stage as the Carmen Gomes recording.
We believe that this kind of sound stage with such a sense of depth and realistic placement is only attainable when you are recording the musicians in one room at the same time.
[img]http://www.soundliaison.com/images/TSOB200v4-130-10-10-75.png[/img]
kefas

Showing 2 responses by fyn

I just read a very good review of "THE VISUAL SOUND" sampler.
The Verdict
There are some audio enthusiasts who claim that high-resolution digital recordings offer no audible improvement over conventional Red Book CDs. I could not disagree more, but what about 96 kHz vs. DXD at 352.8 kHz? I found the 96 kHz files to be excellent, but by comparison the 352.8 kHz originals have a bit more air and space in the sound, even with my OPPO player down-sampling them to 176.4 kHz. The DSD comparisons are interesting. I found the DSD files to be a bit “warmer” but I could not help wondering if there’s some sort of euphonic coloration going in the conversion process. At times, I felt that the DSD files had a slightly larger and more precise stereo image. That may seem strange, but I can only report what I heard. It’s possible that my reactions to the warmth and the imaging are due to the simpler analog filtering in DSD playback.

Sound Liason’s DXD sampler, The Visual Sound, offers some of the most realistic sounding recordings I’ve heard, in enjoyable selections performed by excellent musicians. Most of the music on this sampler is decidedly laid-back, and audiophiles looking for an in-your-face sonic spectacular will likely miss the point. For engineer Frans de Rond and the excellent musicians heard on these recordings, it’s all about subtlety and refinement. Musically perceptive listeners will appreciate the efforts of all involved in making these fine recordings. aX


This article was originally published in audioXpress, August 2020.

complete review here;https://audioxpress.com/article/recording-review-taking-a-listen-to-sound-liaison-s-dxd-music-sampler
Even better;
https://www.soundliaison.com/index.php/677-up-jumped-the-devil-carmen-gomes-inchttp://
 and here the whole things starts of with a super low down tuned bowed double bass and check the Audiophile style review;
Sonically, I believe this to be the best ever released by Sound Liaison. Well done, very well done. https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/sound-liaison-one-mic-recording-r957/