- Joined: June 1999
- Location: San Jose, Ca.
- Post Count: 11,130
Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue Done by Mobile Fidelity (SACD preferably). Simply an excellently recorded disc. If you can audition with SACD, the 2ch SACD layer is stunning, but even the CD layer is amazing. I like to use tracks 11 and 12. There is a lot of presence in the recording, and you should get a good sense of where you are relative to the musicians, particularly on those two tracks.
"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain
HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 mono, Audiosource Amp300, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Oppo BDP-83, RC2000MkII, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, PS3 60G (250G)...
- Joined: August 2002
- Post Count: 163
I like to use the Dolby Digital tracks on my James Taylor: Live at Beacon Theater DVD. Not only is it a very well recorded disk, You can listen to it in Dolby Stereo, or 5.1. The Video transfer is also very clean, sharp and saturated. I use it for a demo disk.
Steve
\"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.\" - P.J. O\'Rourke
- Joined: June 1999
- Location: San Jose, Ca.
- Post Count: 11,130
If you are going to use a DVD, then Diana Krall: Live in Paris (DTS) and Eagles: Hell Freezes Over (full bitrate DTS), are great.
"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain
HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 mono, Audiosource Amp300, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Oppo BDP-83, RC2000MkII, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, PS3 60G (250G)...
- Joined: August 2003
- Location: SF Bay Area
- Post Count: 2,344
Re: Good tracks for checking soundstage and imaging
I've always liked the way the 2.0 version of Silver Springs from Fleetwood Mac's "The Dance" sounded. The backup guitar seems to float around the room. Lindsey plays a pretty good lead too, BTW
. Also, a well played and recorded piano seems to sound really good to me, though I can't pull up an individual example at the moment. Must be getting old
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"Everyday room": Mitsubishi 52631 RPTV, H/K 520, H/K dvd-5, H/K 8380, H/K CDR 20, OPPO BDP-83 BluRay player, Dish-HD, Infinity Beta 20's-C250-OWS1's, Dayton HSU10.
"Movie/Music room": Toshiba 65HM167 RPTV, Pioneer Elite 59txi, Elite DV59avi, Elite CD-59, Pioneer PD-51FD BR, Dish-DVR, Swan Diva...
- Joined: March 1999
- Location: Jersey, USA
- Post Count: 4,941
Re: Good tracks for checking soundstage and imaging
Roger Waters' "Amused to Death" has the most enveloping 2-ch sound I've heard. A well-set up system/room will image fully 90 degrees to your left and right, well beyond the speakers, as long as you're precisely in the sweet spot. Huge fan of his solo work, so I can easily just melt into this one.
- Joined: March 1999
- Location: Jersey, USA
- Post Count: 4,941
Re: Good tracks for checking soundstage and imaging
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Originally Posted by Holadem
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I definitely agree with his evaluation. In a way, the surround field is more convincing than 5.1 in that there's perfect timbre-match since everything's coming from just the two speakers. If you can get the extreme right and left imaging this disc is capable of with its Q-Sound processing, you should be optimized for normal stereo imaging. The music is definitely not for everyone (think Pink Floyd without Gilmour's rock/blues influence), but I get into it. Not a disc to sing along with in the car...you need time alone with it in the dark.
OT...I saw RW last summer here in NJ...amazing. Did lots of solo stuff, and seeing DSOTM in its entirely was indescribable.
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JohnRice
- John Rice
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- Joined: June 2000
- Location: Colorado
- Post Count: 7,526
Re: Good tracks for checking soundstage and imaging
Probably the most delicate and nuanced imaging I have ever heard in a movie is the closing sequence in Talk to Her. This is the closing stage performance and is basically the background to the credits. If you have good imaging, it starts kind of flat and even a little noisy right in the center, then it slowly blends out into the room and finally just floats over your head to the back. If you don't hear all that, your system is not optimum. My "Main" system reproduces it perfectly, but my living room one doesn't even come close.
They flutter behind you, your possible pasts.
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.
- Joined: November 2001
- Post Count: 288
Re: Good tracks for checking soundstage and imaging
CD's I use to audition speakers:
Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live [LIVE]
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - Greatest Hits Of The 20th Century
Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
I also use some classical cd's but they have strange titles and I can't think of them off the top of my head.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
- Joined: July 2008
- Post Count: 3
Re: Good tracks for checking soundstage and imaging
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Originally Posted by Jack Gilvey
Roger Waters' "Amused to Death" has the most enveloping 2-ch sound I've heard. A well-set up system/room will image fully 90 degrees to your left and right, well beyond the speakers, as long as you're precisely in the sweet spot. Huge fan of his solo work, so I can easily just melt into this one.
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U r absolutely right, I admire Roger Waters a lot.
Sig removed by Mod. Link to bootleg site.
- Joined: April 2004
- Post Count: 789
Re: Good tracks for checking soundstage and imaging
OK, these suggestions aren't quite in the league of others, but:
The movie PI (the symbol, not the word) has a scene where the camera makes a full turn while someone is speaking to a crowd. The sound pans very nicely through all 5 channels.
Also, I just realized how amazing the surround is on some games...I'm not a gamer, but my BD player can also do games (oh, guess which one!) While standing near noisy things like fires, waterfalls, or people talking, just turn your view around and around. Wild!
--ignore the man behind the curtain
- Joined: March 1999
- Location: Jersey, USA
- Post Count: 4,941
Re: Good tracks for checking soundstage and imaging
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Originally Posted by CleanSeeker
This is a really fun thread!
I'm surprised more people have not contributed their favorite "high octane" audio tracks.
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It's probably because that wasn't what was asked for.
