What selections do you play when showing off your system to others?

I am digital only, and right now my first choice would probably be Cowboy Junkies?Trinity Sessions on my  (I think, Analogue Productions) SACD.

I would also use my MFSL SACDs of Dire Straits self titled or DireStraits/Love Over Gold (particularly the first track). 

I have four different digital pressings of Patricia Barber/Cafe Blue, and I'd probably use one of the two SACDs of that.

The problem with that, however, is that I have found if the listener's taste in music varies from what I've picked out, it is not all that effective of a demonstration.  Steve Earle/Train A Coming used to be what I considered to be some of my best digital, but I remember playing my favorite track for a friend of mine, and he was pretty much disinterested.

Anymore, I'd probably just suggest that someone brought their own stuff over . . . and see how it compared.  The last time I did that, my friend was blown away.  He said something to the effect of:  that he was depressed because we both had the same speakers (B&W 805s) and mine sounded so much better.

I’ve found the best way to show my system off to others is to let them control the queue. While the listener may appreciate analyzing the music you play, they will likely not resonate emotionally with it because they don’t know it very well.

@blisshifi  absolutely.  +1.

DSOTM!

Sometimes it's even worse when someone has a reputedly worse system (acc to reviewers etc) that sounds better than yours!

@cd318  that would have bummed me out.  This guys ears are way better than mine, but speakers aside, I have wayyyy more $ in my electronics.  He is the one that got me started  down this destructive trail, but where his main thing is HT, I diverged and became obsessed (with obsessed being a relative term) with two channel audio.