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In Reply to: What are your "reference" recordings, when you compare equipment? posted by Dick Schneiders on December 15, 2005 at 12:30:02:
I like reading the responses because people invariably cite recordings they think are superior in some way. Gives me something to look for in the shops.I approach it differently because I have trouble isolating the characteristics of the hardware if I don't know the music really well. So I don't consciously use stuff I think sounds great. Instead I use things I'm super familiar with, stuff I've had in my collection for years, maybe heard different pressings, maybe own on CD or even Cassette. Stuff I've listened to death and heard on lots of different equipment. This way I have a pretty good idea of what I think it sounds like and I can really quickly pick up on something that's being done differently by the hardware. When I go to compare equipment I'm packing some old Judas Priest records, maybe that Elton John I bought in '74, maybe some old storybook records from when I was really young, or Peter and the Wolf.
Follow Ups:
There is something to be said for taking your most familiar recordings and spinning those. Take Eva Cassidy's Songbird LP, This album has been played so much on my system as this recording lets me really hear the difference in all the tubes I roll. I might play this 4 or 5 times in an evening trying to distinguish what each tube does so I have a reference point. I seem never to tire of her lovely voice. I hope the fighting factions over royalties will let Love abide and put into production on vinyl all her wonderful music.
I have 4 or 5 cd's by her and agree - she had a wonderful voice. Such a tragic loss.I will look for some vinyl.
If I'm not mistaken only "Songbird" is out on vinyl( if you can find a pressing) and although there is talk of another album soon to be released it is being held up over who has the rights.
Eva would be in tears.
when i sold audio i told people to bring something they were tired of - that way they would listen to the speakers, not the music
whoooohoooo!
Use crappy, well-worn recordings of stuff you know really well.If a system can make some headway with that kind of program, odds are something good's going on......
Maybe this is one of those donut/hole things, but I'd rather know the worst-case scenario early, decide if I can live with it, and then make the choice of whether to move on to better sounding material.....
To me the deal-maker-or-breaker is how a system sorts out the total unmanageable chaos of a crap recording.
Nothing wrong in throwing on something incredible now and again, but if the test run is to be meaningful, it should show the bottom of the bottom. To stick with super produced Lps is to be in denial about the vast majority of underachiever recordings out there....
Unless you're one of those ' Near-Jazz At The Pawnshop ' devotees.......
JD
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