Test Tracks

Jstas
Jstas Posts: 14,707
I know there's been a few discussions around this before but nothing seems to have stuck.

With the Legend L200 demo going around, I thought it prudent to start this again.

Intending here to collect a bunch of test track suggestions for folks to not only find new music but to also find some reference stuff that is not only pleasant to listen to but will showcase a speaker's faults as well as it's strengths.

Preferably, give a sample of the music in some sort of media being a video from YouTube, Vimeo or what have you to a streaming service like SoundCloud or something. The sample doesn't have to be lossless or anything like that, just a reference so people can hear the track so if they go try to find it, they will recognize it.

My first track is from an album called "American River" from an artist named Jonathan Elias. He's a composer that's done quite a few arrangements for artists and movies and this album is one of his forays into making his own mark on the industry. I have an original print CD that I got from Japan before a Valspar Paints commercial made his work famous. The CD isn't an SACD or anything but it was printed in Japan and is decidedly higher quality than the re-release after the paint commercial. I like this track because of it's dynamics, complexity and range of instruments. That and it's just real nice to listen to.

The track is called "Towards Home"

https://youtu.be/KDurza1o2dA
Expert Moron Extraordinaire

You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!

Comments

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    just one?

    kfhezj4twpnr.png

    Track 9

    https://youtu.be/rdT58JW1yF8

    (sorry, I don't stream)
  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,707
    No, post as many as you want. I have others I use, just didn't want to hog the spotlight.
    Expert Moron Extraordinaire

    You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,707
    Yeah, well, that's in 2 Channel Audio and called "reference tracks". Not exactly intuitive to find.
    Expert Moron Extraordinaire

    You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    edited October 2019
    The guy mentioned “reference”
    🤷🏻‍♂️
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    None taken Skipper
  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,707
    You're taking reference out of context and assigning a different meaning.

    I used reference in both instances to mean that someone looking for a decent test track could use your post as a reference for finding one. They may not even like the one you chose but maybe they reference that artist and find something different from the same artist that showcases what they are looking for in gear.

    You are taking reference to mean a de facto, agreed upon standard by which all others are judged. That's not the intent here.

    What I find as a good test track may not be what others find to be a good test track. But having a single place to reference a bunch of different ones from a bunch of different people/perspectives seems like a good resource to me.

    So if y'all are gonna be smug about it, then don't participate. But don't sit here mocking my post because you think it's something it isn't.
    Expert Moron Extraordinaire

    You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,707
    ANYHOO, back on topic.

    "Thunder Undeground" from Ozzy Osbourne's "Ozzmosis" album.

    I like this track for a few reasons. "Ozzmosis" is very well produced so quality is top notch. The track itself, though, has a very bass and drum heavy melody with the lead guitar playing "second fiddle" of sorts with a heavy dose of feedback for that metal growl. That playing over a bass line accentuated by a 1 and 3 bass beat gives almost a hellacious locomotive feel to it. But that can really show the short-comings on the low end performance of a speaker, especially bookshelf speakers.

    But Ozzy's unique vocals from his voice in general to his styling laced with reverb makes his natural vibrato seem other worldly. It often spans crossover curves because of his natural vocal harmonics. It can expose short comings in the mid range and high range crossover curves and response.

    All of that makes for a complex and busy track that seems like it would be a train wreck of a song but it's the opposite. There's a dynamic range here that goes from a screaming metal guitar to gritty vocals to thunderous bass and drums all on the same track, at the same time. It's particularly useful for seeing how well a crossover network is laid out. It's a wall of sound that if something is missing because of a poorly cross response curve set, it's obvious because it sounds dull and/or muted. If the speaker gets it right, this track just shines.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2YFirVguEk
    Expert Moron Extraordinaire

    You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    edited October 2019
  • daddyjt
    daddyjt Posts: 2,307
    When You Say Nothing At All, by Allison Krauss -

    The real magic in this track is in the first minute or so. The opening guitar should sound very crisp and smooth, with superb detail. When she starts singing, you should hear every detail, right down to the intake of breath. In the second sentence she sings, "…. You can light up the dark, listen for the "k" in dark. It should be a very subtle "kiss" of a sound, but very well defined. On some systems, it ranges from inaudible, to a muddy, incoherent sound. When the drums kick in, and she really opens up with her voice, the system/component in question should be able to handle the dynamic increase in volume without making you want to turn it down. It should be a powerful, slightly scary moment, as the overall system output jumps significantly. On MANY systems, this moment will come across as shrill, and very unpleasant. The bass should also be solid and deep, but not boomy. This is my number one track for judging equipment.

    https://youtu.be/1SCOimBo5tg
    "Conservative Libertarians love the country, progressive leftists love the government." - Andrew Wilkow


    “Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
    ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  • westmassguy
    westmassguy Posts: 6,850
    edited October 2019
    Jack Savoretti "Home" from Written in Scars.
    Excellent bass. Jack's acoustic guitar and gravelly voice remind me of early Bryan Adams.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MTXonJsppo&list=RD2MTXonJsppo&start_radio=1&t=0
    Home Theater/2 Channel:
    Front: SDA-2ATL forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/143984/my-2as-finally-finished-almost/p1
    Center: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/150760/my-center-channel-project/p1
    Surrounds & Rears: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/151647/my-surround-project/p1
    Sonicaps, Mills, RDO-194s-198s, Dynamat, Hurricane Nuts, Blackhole5
    Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV, Carver PM-600, SVS PB2-Plus Subwoofer

    dhsspeakerservice.com/
  • mpitogo
    mpitogo Posts: 475
    With the L800 demo I attended I could only remember two. If anyone knows more let me know.

    https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/polk-l800-sda/pl.u-VoyEh1Jr5p
    • Living Room Music-2.0 Polk Legend L800 | McIntosh C70 | McIntosh MA5200 (Treble) | McIntosh MC452 (Bass) | Sublimeacoustic K231 Active xover | Denon DP-2500A | Denafrips Ares II | Belkin Soundform Connect | iPad Air USB to DAC
    • Media Room Ht-7.2.6/13.1 (Atmos/Auro-3D) Polk LSiM707, LSiM706c, LSiM702 F/X [x4], height LSiM703 [x6], HSU VTF-15H MK2 Dual | Marantz AV8805A | Rotel RB-1590 (L/R) | Appollon NC500 11ch | Sony UBP-X800 | AppleTV 4K | JVC RS2100
    • Game Room-5.1 Polk LSi25, LSiC, LSiF/X | Marantz SR7009 | AppleTV 4K | Xbox One S | Sony PS2, PS3 | Nintendo Wii | Gaming PC | Sony 75" LCD
    • Master Bedroom Music-2.0 Totem Hawk | Marantz PM-10 | Marantz SA-10 | SONY PS-HX500
    • Office-2.0 Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX, DSW microPRO3000 | Rotel RA-1570 | Marantz HD-CD1
    • Daughter's Bedroom 1-2.0 TBD Martin Logan Forte
    • Guest Room 2-2.0 Klipsch RP-600M | Martin Logan Forte
    • Guest Room 3-3.0 Martin Logan Motion 40, 50XT | Onkyo TX-SR705 | Apple TV | Samsung 55" TV
    • Guest Room 4-2.0 QAcoustics 3030i | Sansui AU-6900 | Topping DX7s | Sansui FR-1080 | TV
    • Maintenance: Pro-Ject VC-S Record Cleaning Machine
  • jdjohn
    jdjohn Posts: 2,987
    Civil Wars "My Father's Father":
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGwnFz_5xRE
    "This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
    "Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
    Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon
  • headrott
    headrott Posts: 5,484
    Jonathan Elias is a great writer/producer. He has produced some great sounding songs for YES (on the Union album).

    I would recommend some Ryuchi Sakamoto songs from Left Handed Dream, and all of the YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra) albums.

    Relayer-Big-O-Poster.jpg
    Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
    "I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion." :\
    My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....


    "Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson

    "Have A Little Faith! And Everything You'll Face, Will Jump From Out Right On Into Place! Yeah! Take A Little Time! And Everything You'll Find, Will Move From Gloom Right On Into Shine!"- Arthur Lee
  • I still use my IASCA competition cd...
  • Tony M
    Tony M Posts: 11,009
    Steely Dan's " Reelin in the Years" sure was a test track for my RTA12b's and Pinnacles this afternoon.
    Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them.
  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 7,952
    Bump
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es; Squeezebox Touch with Bolder Power Supply
    Game Room 5.1.4:
    Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra

    Bedroom 2.1
    Cambridge Azur 551r; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer