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Torture test tracks

Columbo

Columbo

pfm Member
Someone on here mentioned the track Homesick by Catfish and the Bottlemen and it is indeed a stiff test of whether you gear is listenable with rougher more chaotic guitar driven stuff (decent album btw). I'm currently testing out some new speakers vs my current ones and it made for an interesting comparison.

Do you have any go to tracks that push the limits of your gear in someway and what?
 
That Catfish track sounds a lot like it's brick walled in the loud parts. I want to hear errors like brick walling, when they're there.

OTOH it was new to me and I was able to enjoy it, to the extent that I listened to the whole album afterward! I want to be able to enjoy music, too.

Lateralus album by Tool is another one to try in that vein. Discussed in this thread https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/rock-and-metal-listening-fatigue.291971/post-5283245
 
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Columbo said:
Someone on here mentioned the track Homesick by Catfish and the Bottlemen and it is indeed a stiff test of whether you gear is listenable with rougher more chaotic guitar driven stuff (decent album btw). I'm currently testing out some new speakers vs my current ones and it made for an interesting comparison.

Do you have any go to tracks that push the limits of your gear in someway and what?
Click to expand...
Curious to hear what speakers you compared with this track, and how they differed?
 
Many, if not most of us, have several different discs to use to test unfamiliar components and systems. The problem with this approach is that this doesn’t always give you a thorough understanding of device’s limitations.
In the 2008 “Stereophile Buyer’s Guide” (Remember those?), Fred Kaplan writes about an unusual music cd that provides a very thorough listen to your system (or device’s) ability to reproduce almost all aspects of high-fidelity reproduction using just a single disc.
The disc is Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony 3, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” performed by David Zinman and the London Sinfonietta, recorded in 1991 by Tony Faulkner (Elektra Nonesuch 79282-2).
Kaplan discusses the music on this disc minute-by-minute and describes exactly what you’ll hear on a good system and what you’ll miss on the systems most people have.
A very detailed guide to auditioning with a very unusual piece of music. Using both the disc and the magazine’s minute-by-minute analysis while listening is extremely interesting!
 
Fatmarley said:
Curious to hear what speakers you compared with this track, and how they differed?
Click to expand...

Neat Petite Classics - their Jack Russell up-and-at-em nature slightly too much of a good thing with this track

Monitor Audio Platinum - have a clever trick of revealing all the detail but in a smooth way, yet still with plenty of bite. More enjoyable here, quite happy to keep cranking the volume.
 
I don't have any torture tracks but definitely some that are testing for certain aspects of sound:

1. Body - Meshell Ndegeocello (Bass and snare)
2. Modul 42 - Nick Bartsch (space between piano, bass and rimshot, timing)
3. Arrival of the Birds - Cinematic Orchestra (violin sharpness)
 
Salamander said:
@Mike Hanson Good suggestion, similar as to why Friday Night in San Francisco is also good.

@Columbo I don't know why you need torture test tracks, if we dem any piece of equipment it is always done with music we know very well and like. Will you ever listen to these tracks again, probably not, stick to what you know.
Click to expand...

It's a short cut to help inform me if certain speakers will be good long term, rather than discovering a year down the line that they have issues which cause me listen to certain types of music less (a problem I had last year, that I didn't realise I had initially)

If I have a playlist of demanding tracks and I know a speaker can handle those tracks well then when I discover new music in the future I won't have to worry if it's there are huge dynamics, anaemic mixes, brick walled mixes, or whatever.

The Vivaldi one is a good one ... I'd like to get into classical this year. This track is a good clue if my new speakers are up it or not (TBC!)

I don't imagine folk heard too many of these tracks at Munich 😂
 
Brucedgoose said:
Many, if not most of us, have several different discs to use to test unfamiliar components and systems. The problem with this approach is that this doesn’t always give you a thorough understanding of device’s limitations.
In the 2008 “Stereophile Buyer’s Guide” (Remember those?), Fred Kaplan writes about an unusual music cd that provides a very thorough listen to your system (or device’s) ability to reproduce almost all aspects of high-fidelity reproduction using just a single disc.
The disc is Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony 3, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” performed by David Zinman and the London Sinfonietta, recorded in 1991 by Tony Faulkner (Elektra Nonesuch 79282-2).
Kaplan discusses the music on this disc minute-by-minute and describes exactly what you’ll hear on a good system and what you’ll miss on the systems most people have.
A very detailed guide to auditioning with a very unusual piece of music. Using both the disc and the magazine’s minute-by-minute analysis while listening is extremely interesting!
Click to expand...


I tried the Chesky Ultimate Demonstration Guide to Critical Listening which went through a bunch of tracks featuring different things like depth, midrange purity and such. I didn't really get much value from it, sounds great on everything (I've not really come across any truly bad modern speakers).

That Stereophile CD sounds interesting. Will try and track it down. Thanks
 
oldius said:
I don't have any torture tracks but definitely some that are testing for certain aspects of sound:

1. Body - Meshell Ndegeocello (Bass and snare)
2. Modul 42 - Nick Bartsch (space between piano, bass and rimshot, timing)
3. Arrival of the Birds - Cinematic Orchestra (violin sharpness)
Click to expand...

Ah yes, violin sharpness, that's always good test of a system. Stabby violins can make a listening session tough on the wrong speakers. Thanks
 
We always used to used Celine Dion’s ‘I’m Alive’ as a test for midrange issues in speakers.

If they have any, boy will you hear it…
 
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