What is they best album out there for showing off the sound quality of your system.

@celtic66 Thank you so much for mentioning the Gail Pettis album, "May I come in?" It is terrific! It is a very intimate recording in that it is as if they are performing for you in your listening room. Gail has a great voice and knows how to tell a story with a song. This album is becoming hard to get, so don’t wait! Get it now. It just arrived today and I’m listening to it for the third time! I owe you one @celtic66

Lyn Stanley. any of her albums but especially her new one, "London Calling". masterfully engineered for showing off your system.

Beck- Sea Change-MOFI vinyl lp. 

@viridian, good point.

’Busy’ is the keyword here. It’s where sub 192 kbps MP3s really reveal their limitations. Surprisingly it’s also, as you say, where many audiophile systems make a hash of things - usually in the timing.

How many times do we hear some reviewer admit they were surprised how some particular hitherto deemed low quality recording finally sounded good on such a modest X/Y system.

Far too much audiophile music played at shows tends to be "simple music with vocals and a few instruments".

As I’m going to a show next month I will take along a few difficult CDs. ’The Joshua Tree’ or ’Led Zep IV’ or maybe some Motorhead should provide a reasonable test. At least for those exhibitors who will allow them to be played. Quite a few won’t.

I suspect they know the limitations of their gear and don’t want them broadcasting.