Show off!

Audiophiles always seem to bring over their own favorite "test discs". 

Non audiophiles ? It doesn’t matter because on my system, any decent-sounding CD is probably going to sound much better than anything they’ve heard. Whether they'll be able to actually perceive the difference is another topic.

I play vinyl --

For male vocal, Hugh Masekela's "Hope" album, especially the Stimela cut.

For female vocal, Rebecca Pidgeon's "The Raven" album, especially the Spanish Harlem cut.

And for jazz instrumental, "Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival."

Any LP from Harmonia Mundi France. They feature lots of banging on acoustic instruments. Lots of 3d and a fine sense of the recording space.

Michael Jackson's Thriller. 

The Beach Boys "Endless Summer" double LP from Capital.

Schubert's Fifth Symphony on an old domestic Angel LP, conducted by Otto Klemperer. String tone!

Bizet's opera Carmen on a DG box set conducted by Claudio Abbado.  Crowd scenes. Big tunes. Big voices.

If I have guests over that want to listen to my system, which is rare, because I have few friends and my system is well hidden in a room not frequented by guest, then I let them choose what to listen to. This has happened exactly one time and my guest was a young kid, a friend of my 18yo daughter. She wanted to hear Sour by Olivia Rodrigo. Actually, she brought the record with her and I cleaned and played it for her. After that, I bought a copy for myself. Then they played more Billie Elisha and so I purchased her records. Lastly, my 16yo daughter introduced me to a Korean singer BiBi. She might be the best of the bunch. I’ve only streamed two albums, “Life is a Bi…(more English)  and “Lowlife Princess: Noir”. So, best demo music is music that your guest like and if you are lucky like me, you might also like the music. Give BiBi a listen. She has quite a variety of styles, so fast forward if you don’t like something.

Enya always sounds really good.