Testing, testing 1-2-3...

[slinger]

So, you've got some new kit and you want to test it out! Obviously you go for the tried and tested; something you not only know like the back of your hand but also something that tests the dynamics as well as the musicality of your shiny new purchase. Tell us what! The first three tracks you play to find out if you've bought well or suddenly buggered the synergy of the system you've so carefully cobbled together.

I'll start.

1 - Extreme - More than Words. Great close mic'd acoustic guitar and a decent sound stage but still retaining a nice intimacy.
[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_d_Yxr_yWA[/BBvideo]

2- Chris Isaak - Wicked Game. Just a great and well recorded track that covers all the bases of "pop" music.
[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkxGDYwiDa8[/BBvideo]

3 - Mahler - 8th symphony, final movement. Sir Georg Solti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The greatest piece of symphonic music ever written. OK, a personal opinion there. Tests the whole spectrum from extreme organ bass pedal to upper range choral work and everything in between, plus it sounds incredible. The closest to "orgasmic" I've ever heard in a piece of music.
[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntxMbQuxYs[/BBvideo]

Now it's your turn.

[Gromit]

I've found listening to stuff that I'm very familar with an unreliable way of 'testing' new equipment. Why? Whether we admit it or not, when listening to familiar music/recordings there's always going to be a certain amount of expectation, and we're listening to it from a point of reference (ie the last bit of equipment we heard it on) which may be unreliable in itself.

I tend to put a record/CD on which I haven't listened to in years, or I borrow something off a mate. Even better I'll go and pinch one of our own un-compressed CD masters from work which is stuff I've actually played in from the outset. The only criteria I use is 'Am I enjoying this?'. After a couple of days, I'll go back to listening to things which are more familiar, once my ears have got used to any subtle colourations which may have affected first impressions on familiar music. This, from experience, tends to get rid of the 'is it better...or just different?' which tends to rear its ugly head when trying new kit with music/recordings I know inside out.

[Anesthetise]

Well, I don't really like and happen to test out equipment. It's one of the reasons I will never be a proper audiophile, because after a few reccomendations I've found a great musical hifi set. Now it's just music.
But talking about music that you can test your new eq with, this is pretty good to check your lows and mids thoroughly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL3O_qfvaHc

If it goes mad, your system is good.

[slinger]

Interesting replies. I suppose I'm still at the stage where replacing/upgrading a single component can reveal things that I've never heard, or at least never heard properly before in tracks I thought I knew.

[jammy395]

Tiz true Slinger.....
Get yer fave track playing, one that you know the best......Or thought ya did.
And you can tell every component change........
I hate to harp on - but i am chuffed to bits with the system i have now .......38 years too get there but its very very good.
jammy.

[Gromit]

Tiz true Slinger.....
Get yer fave track playing, one that you know the best......Or thought ya did.
And you can tell every component change........

One of my new year's resolutions is to start playing Devil's Advocate...

What we have to decide though is that 'different' actually 'better?' In other words, does that sound, which has appeared because of a component change, disappear when going back to what we had before? Has there been a change elsewhere - ok, has the ear just been drawn to another aspect of the performance? Has the change brought about a better understanding of the musical message ie have the building blocks of music (ie pitch, rhythm, tempo, dymamics, harmonic - not tonal - structure) been built onto a firmer foundation?

People are often pm'ing me on other forums regarding how I listen to music - I don't get tired of explaining because music has been part of my life since before I was born and as a result it really runs through my veins - but I'm equally interested in others' interpretation of their listening experience. I often ponder as to whether I'm at an advantage or disadvantage.

[jammy395]

Tis true Gromit..............Said change can be either for better or for worse.............


Now ive got the NVA LS6 for example....I have been deluged with subtle changes in my favorite tracks............Detail retrival is bloody spooky.......Fuk yer LS7.......That could be a wee bit to scarey............ha


Warts n all.....................Can take a bit of getting used too.

[slinger]

...I often ponder as to whether I'm at an advantage or disadvantage.

I think it's a bit of a double edged sword Gromit. Knowing how an instrument, or an ensemble, is supposed to sound from personal (and professional) experience helps a great deal...unless the performer, composer, or producer is trying to achieve something completely different. Take a bow John Cage. Of course it can also depend on the type of instrument itself. A piano should sound like a piano, and a pianist knows what that piano is supposed to sound like, even to the extent of differentiating between a Yamaha and a Fazioli and a Kawai for instance.
However, when we get into the realms of synths and electronic instruments in general there is sometimes no frame of reference whatsoever. OK, if it's an eighties track you can say with some degree of certainty that "that's an Oberheim" or "that's a DX10" because many musicians stuck with the pre-programmed sounds contained within those synths. If the artist or his mate programmed the synths themselves though your ears are starting from scratch. It's the same with electric guitars. I know what a Tele or a Ricky or a Les Paul sounds like...through my amp, with my effects pedals. Play them through an amp I've never used with a set of pedals I've never owned and I might not have a clue which was which.

And what's my point? It's that you're right. Most of the time we have to decide whether different is better, or just different.

[Anesthetise]

That's why neutrality is priority imho for my hi-fi set. Royds and NVA have amazing synergy and sound.

[jammy395]

Folks it is indeed a great pity that Joe is no longer with us .............For i am sure he would have been well impressed with HFS members view of his great Speaker;s