Ultimate test of bass - Lana del Rey's A&W


I've been listening a lot to the excellent new Album from Lana del Rey.  One track really stands out, and that's A&W

Besides its brilliance, the bass in the last two minutes of it is quite staggering.  I mean, even at low volumes whenever I play it I'm half expecting my neighbours to be hammering on my front door.

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With apologies to the OP, electronically created low frequencies are not, IMO, a good test of bass. Unless one's idea of a test of bass is constant very low frequencies.

But since it is an artificially created sound, there is no way to 'test' if one's system is reproducing it accurately. There is no 'natural' referent to compare it to, so other than one's system just reproducing a very low frequency, how is this a test of how accurately it is being reproduced?

A great test of bass on one's system, IMO, is the double basses in orchestras. They regularly play down to 32 hz, yet, on a good system one can hear the bows on the strings, hear that the sound is coming from instruments made of wood, hear that they are to the far right of the soundstage, hear that the sound is coming from multiple instruments. If these things can't be heard on a system, then the system is not good at reproducing bass, no matter how low the system can play.

An acoustic bass in jazz, is also great, even though they are not usually played at their lowest frequencies, but they are good to hear how well one's system is able to reproduce the attack/decay of plucked strings. 

A concert bass drum is another good test. One should be able to hear it is being struck with a mallet, not just the low rumble it producing. Also, it should be able to be heard that it is coming from the back of the orchestra in the soundstage.

 

@rickderuyter - this just came out in the last week or so. I think A&W is my favorite on there...