What Are Your Reference Discs? or Specific Reference Tracks

Wow first hilde45 wants to pretend he doesn't understand the difference between liking a song and thinking it is a demo track, then Rick wants to pretend he doesn't know ;) is a wink and means, "kidding"! 

It’s merely good scientific method to reject the pretense that a test can pretend to be more than what it is. But that doesn’t mean such tests don’t have any value -- only that their value needs to be specified in a proportionate way relative to the overall experimental question.

It may have been heavily encoded 

I'll say! Can you run that one through your decoder ring, please? ;) 

While it's true you can tell a lot about a system from how it reproduces Howling Wolf's voice on a mono mid-60s Chess album, it ain't really demo material in my book...Here are some of my favorite music selections that also display the recording art and expose faulty reproduction:

Van Morrison; Virgo Clowns...from His Band and Street Choir - 1970 Warner LP...better than the 180gr. reissue.
NGDB; Tennessee Stud and Nine Pound Hammer...WTCBU...LP
Bruce Cockburn; Kit Carson...from Nothing But A Burning Light...CD
Ry Cooder; Face to Face That I Shall Meet Him...from Jazz...LP
Yuri Honig Trio; Walking on the Moon...from Star Tracks...Tidal
Norah Jones; I've Got To See You Again...from her 1st album...CD
Frank Zappa; Cleetus Awreetus Awrightus...from Grand Wazoo...LP
Mahavishnu Orch; Vision is a Naked Sword...from Apocalypse...LP
Grateful Dead; Uncle John's Band...Workingman's (45RPM MoFi)
NGDB; Tennessee Stud and Nine Pound Hammer...WTCBU...LP
Stravinsky; The Rite...Gergiev
Mahler's 6th...Zander, BYSO (I was at the concert).
Chopin; Piano Sonata #3...Gilels on DG LP

@millercarbon No, I do understand the difference. But if it helps you to think I don't, please -- help yourself. After all, it's the year of the cat, right? ;-)

Patricia Barber – Let It Rain (Companion)
Karrrin Allyson – My Bluebird, Bye Bue Country Boy (In Blue)
Rokia Traore – Mouso Niyalen, N'Gotolen, Yaafa N'Ma (Wanita)
Mary Stallings – The Thrill Is Gone (Live at the Village Vanguard)

Correction in my above post.
The Elton John album is called Honkey Chateau.

Let me suggest a fun track track to demo for people, its a 4 part acapella harmony by "The Fairfield Four" doing These Bones on the album "I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray" (it’s on Qobuz ect.)

Turn it up before it starts and watch the look on people’s face when the bass singer starts it off.

When the others join in you would swear they are in the room.

If you want a track to "test " your system let me suggest

Jazz Variants by O-zone Percussion Group off the album La Bamba
(also on Qobuz)

I highly recommend this track, especially for Tekton owners... hint hint.

Check them out, let us know what you think