What Are Your Reference Discs? or Specific Reference Tracks


Looking for new gems!  My reference discs are: Graceland, Paul Simon  Avalon, Roxy Music  Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits  So, Peter Gabriel  Ten Summoner's Tales, Sting 

What are yours?

wweiss
I'm right there with millercarbon.
I used to keep demo discs and records.However, I learned that when you have a set of them, and develop them system to play those at their best, then you skew your system towards making those sound good, and the rest fall off the radar.
So, I just listen to music.... whatever I like. Never just for a single track. Put on the whole album. Play a couple different records, and gauge the "performance" after haring 10-15 pieces. That is how we "judge" real performances as well... listen to the concert and then tell how it was.
same thing. If we want to have our systems be close to the real event, we have to evaluate recordings that resemble real events. (That is, a whole concert - such as, a Beethoven symphony, a Schubert octet, a Mozart opera, or an early evening raga.)

I like to listen to classical European or classical Indian music. For two reasons:
1. I listen to these anyway, as they are my favorite music2. they challenge the audio system to a much tougher level than safe music does.

Larry from Real HIFI help (YT channel) coined that therm, "safe music", which is the type that we amost exclusively hear audiofile gear being tested with. Such as: Dire Straits, Diana Krall, etc. The "safe music" category has low harmonic complexity, just a few voices harmonizing. There is no harsh distortion, no content that would press the gear to reveal its hidden nasties.Most of the recmmendations will be safe music, and that will establish that the system can play safe music. Which is always the case.... but trying to play your favorites, what about it?
Try playing whaever your favorite is. It should not be an issue that it's not an audiofile pressing, it still should sound better than you ever heard it sound before.... and if not, your search is still on! ;)
You could try something unsafe, like Cranberries: No need to argue. Just listen to the whole album. If it feels you are at a live Cranberries concert, that's a pretty sure indication that your system rocks. If it hurts your ears, then the system is distorting to generate fake realism. That works only while we stick to "safe music", but breaks apart with challenging material. 

Have fun & enjoy;
I’m right there with millercarbon.


Then consider "Year of the Cat"...

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tekton-design-moab-2/post?highlight=Year%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bcat&postid=1996673#1996673

millercarbon 08-06-2020 4:50pm:


Last night my standard Year of the Cat the sax sounded more like sax than ever, the piano had more of the complex resonance of a real piano. Each note on a piano is three strings, and they are tuned individually. Its one of those things tells you its a real piano not a recording, and its way more real now than ever. The electric guitar solo at the end really shines. Probably most impressive is the degree to which all these things are rendered so clear and distinct from each other. There’s recordings like Ronstadt with Riddle, Sinatra with Ellington, Satchmo King Oliver, where the vocals seemed fine but a lot of the accompaniment was sort of buried down in there somewhere. Not any more!

My new reference is Count Basie - Basie Jam Analogue Productions. I also like the Cisco Music pressing of Aja. 

On the mono turntable, Miles Davis Kind of Blue or Paul Desmond Take Ten.
Those 4 albums Vuch19 just mentioned are all audiophile classics and a must have in one form or another.
I suggest having at least one "One Mic recording" in your collection for perfect speaker placement.
The Visual Sound, the Sound Liaison DXD sampler is a good place to start; it's available at https://www.soundliaison.com/ as well as on https://soundliaison.bandcamp.com/

Another option is the excellent CD "Don't You Cry". also a one mic recording; https://carmengomes.bandcamp.com/
I want my system to play the music I love the best it can.  Why demo things you never listen to?
For me, I want to hear Eva Cassidy sing Woodstock, Dave Brubeck et.al. play Take Five and listen to the drummer, and of course The Allman Brother “Live at the Fillmore”.  One last test would be Pink Floyd DSOM.

If my system delivers on those (and it does to me), then all is good.