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

Take the A train on Ray Brown Trio's album Soular Energy   (Analog Productions 45 rpm)

The Look of Love on Dianna Krall's album Live in Paris    (ORG 45 rpm)

Lime House Blues on Jazz at the Pawnshop    (Prophone)

Birdland on Weather Report's album Heavy Weather     (ORG 45 rpm specifically for soundstage size)

Enjoy

Beck from Sea Change the Golden Age and then the beginning to Paper Tiger.  There is so much going on in the opening track Golden Age but how that song comes to an end let's me hear and feel the center image really, really well.  Then the start of Paper Tiger taps into my system bass performance and clarity.   The second I would suggest is the opening song The Healer off of John Lee Hooker's album of the same name.  The drums sweeping across the soundstage always give me a thrill.  

There is no single piece of music and certainly not pop song able by itself to be a genuine test...( We must use many instruments  timbre and human voices as testing ground then after timbre test we must test spatial recorded cues as translated in our system/room ) 

For timbre testing among few others : i use often Bach orchestral suites interpreted by Jordi Savall....Top recording and a great variety of different timbre...

My prefered album test among many i knew by heart  is this one :

Kurt Weil : threepenny opera by Lotte lenya  only this version :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR33bL5aNTk&list=PLnQJF3Qi_4_CvjtOvZypmfmC4ygxSxOgm&index=47

 Why this one :

For sure a top Recording technician was there ...

But also the location in space of instruments  and in front of it the singers walking, around the listener, murmuring to his ears when walking near him or going back on place, you must "see" them turning their heads etc... This album is perfect test for spatial cues...

If you dont see the singers walking and turning their head when singing or speaking or  hear some singers (male and female duo for example ) singing to your ears each one  on each side as if they were under your shoulder, your system /room is not under mechanical,electrical,acoustical controls. Nevermind the price of your system. Sorry . In a word the soundstage must be behind the speakers around you and almost behind you filling the complete room. I know it because i did it in my controlled dedicated room. (Price =peanuts, but real cost was 2 years of acoustics training 24 hours /24 i was retired and acoustics was my hobby)

Acoustics control rules audio not price tag....

By the way if you use studio trafficked sound instead of a live classical recording  you do not test your system/room at all... Why ?

Because a true acoustic test consist in the study of a translation (not a reproduction because there is always a trade-off implied) : the live recorded event timbre and spatial cues parameters   are directly translated  through your system/room specific acoustics parameters to your ears/brain...

Studio recording are not about acoustic translation of a live event but about sounds induced artificial effects...

There are some songs that sound good on an average stereo and awesome on a quality system. I used to play those songs when listening to gear and shy away from songs that were sibilant, etc. I wrote those off as bad recordings (a bad idea in hindsight). As my system has improved, I’ve learned that the sibilance was often my gear.  Upgrading my preamp, dac, cables, etc has resolved that issue.  Now, I enjoy those songs. 

Anyway, some songs sound awesome on my system and meh elsewhere (car stereo, my son’s system, etc). 

One song that sounds really nice on my main rig is Put it Right by The Pineapple Thief. Maybe not the ultimate high fidelity recording, but it’s good. 

If I don’t like the music, I can’t bring myself to listen to some high quality recordings.  I’m not a fan of most jazz, for example. 

Back when I was writing reviews and once I was comfortable a review component was burned in I’d always start out playing “Muddy Water” from Keb’ Mo’s Slow Down album.  It doesn’t catch everything, but it revealed a lot so that if I noticed something was off I knew which direction to go next.  Cymbals are well recorded without hash and plenty of tone from hi hats to crashes and is a great acid test for that, and bass is prominent but should never lag or be overblown so is also a good test there.  It’s got harmonica, woodblocks, and cowbells that are dispersed front to back, left to right and should clearly occupy their own spaces within a 3D stage, and the crash cymbal should come from the far back right of the stage.  Keb’s vocal should be full but not chesty or muddy with a touch of sibilants that should not be squelched.  Likewise the snare should have a clear, crisp crack and not sound muted and you should also be able to hear the stick sound hitting the ride cymbal.  If any of these nuances were missing or if the soundstage was not clearly three dimensional front to back I would know something was compromised and should be pursued with other material.  My system is very neutral/transparent and I’ve played this on several six- and seven-figure systems so very  familiar with how it should sound.  As I said, it doesn’t capture everything but does reveal a lot and is a great album BTW.  Just another suggestion FWIW.