What reference disk???

[Clare Newsome]

Our reference faves are also used on top of the five new music titles (CD, vinyl, SACD...) we buy every month, which include all sorts of musical genres, and may or may not be well-recorded. Each represent fresh challenges to everything we test.

It's also another advantage of team-testing, that we have the month's new test discs plus an amazing variety of reviewers' personal test faves to try out.

For example, not many in the team would share my test faves:

One for my Baby - Frank Sinatra. (If it doesn't sound like his heart's breaking and voice-cracking, it should).
Feeling
Good - Nina Simone (Orchestra coming out of vocal is a great
soundstage/separation tester - eg is the piano buried in the mix?)

Lust for Life - Iggy Pop (great timing/integration tester - can easily descend into a mess)

Angel - Massive Attack (seismic bassline).

Summertime
- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (system too bright? When
Satchmo's trumpet kicks in, it cheese-graters your eardrums).

 

[Drummerdave]

[quote user="BigGuads"]Why do people always choose well produced stuff that 'sounds' good on anything? When I evaluate new kit I always try and use something that i've struggled to get on with or didn't 'get' to see if I enjoy it more or 'get' it...[/quote]

Exactly - kind of what I was getting at in this post -

http://whathifi.com/forums/t/11586.aspx

 

[Clare Newsome]

Several years ago, before I worked on the mag, I went to a hi-fi show and couldn't believe every manufacturer seemed to be playing odd, esoteric jazz - obviously incredibly well-recorded, but I didn't realise that way back then.

When i asked, politely, if "we could possibly listen to something anyone in the room might have heard of", I was almost chucked out

That's why we urge people to take their own favourites to use as testers when they have a demo/go to a show....

 

[fr0g]

Aphex Twin - "Ageispolis" - Killer bass
Aphex Twin - "We are the music makers" - Stupid Bass - I haven't heard a system that can really handle this, but it may be the quality of recording?
Sigur Ros - "Salka"
Damien Rice - "Delicate"
Faith No More - "The Real Thing"
EF - "Tomorrow My Friend..."
My Exit Music - "Free Falling"
My Dying Bride - "She is the Dark"

for the moment...

 

[Alec]

[quote user="Clare Newsome"]
Our reference faves are also used on top of the five new music titles (CD, vinyl, SACD...) we buy every month, which include all sorts of musical genres, and may or may not be well-recorded. Each represent fresh challenges to everything we test.

It's also another advantage of team-testing, that we have the month's new test discs plus an amazing variety of reviewers' personal test faves to try out.

For example, not many in the team would share my test faves:

One for my Baby - Frank Sinatra. (If it doesn't sound like his heart's breaking and voice-cracking, it should).
Feeling
Good - Nina Simone (Orchestra coming out of vocal is a great
soundstage/separation tester - eg is the piano buried in the mix?)

Lust for Life - Iggy Pop (great timing/integration tester - can easily descend into a mess)

Angel - Massive Attack (seismic bassline).

Summertime
- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (system too bright? When
Satchmo's trumpet kicks in, it cheese-graters your eardrums).

[/quote]

And now im gonna be a big sheep and get hold of them on cd! itll be a while til i upgade tho.

 

[drummerman]

Keb' Mo' - Just like you

 

[JoelSim]

The The - That Uncertain Smile

The Beautiful South - Let Love Speak Up Itself

Leftfield - Song of Life

The Cranberries - Sunday

LHB - Sorry's not Going To Get Me High

Everything But The Girl - Disenchanted

Massive Attack - Teardrop

Groove Armada - Lazy Moon

Underworld - 8 Ball

Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Dubtribe Sound System - Do It Now

Jack Johnson - Cocoon

Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back Again

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Simon Lucas"][quote user="BigGuads"] If you enjoy it more on system B compared to System A then, by my definition, System B is better... [/quote]

Right enough, but we have to be able to articulate why we prefer system B to system A - just announcing 'I like it better' doesn't cut it. Some recording are more helpful in establishing why system B is preferable to system A than others, and that's why we return to them.[/quote]

Then you become tied down in the vitriol that hifi magazines have become legendary for... You start listening to the music for the 'sound' not how it makes you feel, or how the musicians come across. 'Soundstage,' 'imaging' and 'bass depth' etc are the last things I think of at a concert or when listening to a friend playing etc. It's the music. Granted you have to use these terms to make filler for copy. But then you become bogged down in hifi, not music. I've got a fabulous system because it makes a real emotional impact on me. I'm sure stuff out there is wonderful in 'hifi' terms, better than I have but I just don't evaluate kit in that way. I listen to the music, not the sound it makes...

 

[jimdonnelly]

INXS - Beautiful girl, Chemical Brothers - Piku, The The - Infected, Air - All I need, Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye and Witches Rave, St Germain - So flute, Talk Talk - Its my life, Nightmare before Christmas OST - What's this?, Crowded House - Weather with you, Cowboy Junkies - Misguided angel, David Holmes - No mans land

 

[Simon Lucas]

[quote user="BigGuads"] But then you become bogged down in hifi, not music. [/quote]

I understand where you're coming from. But this is a hi-fi publication, not a music magazine...

 

[Anonymous]

My current list is:

Rogers Waters - Amused to Death (Q sound effects, stereo imaging);

Leftfield - Rhythm and Stealth (bass - obviously);

Rush - Permanent Waves MoFi Gold Remaster; (one of my first records and soooo well known to me, but new version); and

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (difficult to get some tracks just right).