What is the One Test Track That Tells You Almost Everything About A System?

Oh - another one for me is Telegraph Road – Dire Straits. It starts with a single quiet piano line and slowly builds into a huge dynamic climax. I know few tracks that reveal a system’s ability to go from delicacy to power without strain quite like this one. If your system can scale that arc naturally without congestion, you’re probably doing something right.

@ulcerdoc 

"Nardis" is a great suggestion.

@ulcerdoc ,

Telegraph Road is a great one.

Another great Dire Straits track for that is ’Private Investigations’.

It is ridiculous to think one track can reveal all the features of a system you should be evaluating.  You need a playlist of tracks.  I would say 10 at a minimum although my test track playlist always grows from that as I discover new tracks that exemplify something I think is revealing.  That playlist should show you something important in the first 30 seconds of a track and they should all be recorded at about the same level so that you aren't constantly changing volume.  

Having said that, if you are willing to plow through all 9 minutes of Nardis and are one of the rare individuals that can actually remember what something sounds like for more than 20 seconds, then it is a pretty good choice since it is well recorded and incorporates a wide range of sonics.  But it is less than ideal if you are using it to A/B compare two pieces of gear which is my normal procedure.

But everybody has a different way of doing things so as the kids say you do you.

There are tons of tracks available. The particular one you introduced is very good — it even sounds good on my Mac. The only thing I could immediately criticize is the lack of a strong vocal component that would help reveal whether a system is prone to sibilance, which drives me nuts if it’s prevalent.

Try “Company” from the album Modern Cool by Patricia Barber. It has everything you want plus sibilance control, instrument separation, soundstage depth, etc.

Don’t limit yourself to just one. I usually bring three tracks with me when I go test systems or gear in shops. One of them covers complicated passages, such as a symphonic orchestra. It really depends on the genre of music you primarily listen to.