Only two tracks to test your system, forever!

"Baby Shark doo doo doo doo "

"It's a Small World After All"

If I had to pick just two to give me a rendition of how my system was performing or to audition other components, it would be:

For impact and rendition of percussions and clarity of chimes: track 3 "Posters" on Jack Johnson.s Brushfire Fairytales, CD

For richness, clarity and staging of strings: the last track "These Are The Days" on Van Morrison's Avalon Sunset, CD.

Jim

Jain - "Makeba"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Voodoo Lake"

All good suggestions. I’m trying to think of only TWO songs that can provide all of the following:

1. Dynamics.
2. Soundstage and imaging.
3. Frequency response.
4. Bass textures.
5. The critical midrange - female and male vocalists and most instruments sounding natural.
6. Top end clarity and air without harshness.

This is fairly hard to do. I can think of numerous songs that test one or the other, but not all of these qualities. But it is a good exercise for those lucky enough to actually have a bricks and mortar store nearby so we can hear amps, speakers, streamers and such before making a purchasing decision. While many stores will entertain you playing a couple tracks they’d likely not let you listen for an hour - unless you kick them some $$ in upfront "good faith" money, which isn’t a bad idea anyway for their time and trouble.

Funny that no one mentioned Cheapaudioman Randy's test track of choice, Tool's "Chocolate Chip Trip" for soundstage and imaging. 
 

"Letter" - Yosi Horikawa

"Run" - Abe Rounds

"Rust Belt Fields" - Slaid Cleaves