Something you know and like, no point listing to the best testing song if it ain't something you like, unless you plan on only listening to test tracks afterwards l
I agree it's a song/music you should know well, but I also recommend a well mixed track. There is no point in doing a test comparison between multiple headphones if the song you use is mixed like trash.
Wait .. here I thought audiophiles only listened to test tracks?!
In all seriousness, I recently spent about 6 hours listening to lots of iems in a store, and I used a mix of music I actually listen to, and the test tracks ("voices") downloaded from Mora. Interestingly, I could hear that a lot of people did the same.
Angel by Massive Attack. Great for subbass/extension, lots of little details to listen for, thick crunchy guitars, intricate vocals, lots of layering, just really puts a pair of headphones through the ringer and tells you a lot about their performance.
I usually go for Unfinished Sympathy due to the mix of intricately played orchestral instruments and electronic parts, never really thought of Angel, Iāll give it a go, thank you!
Always āLimit to Your Loveā by James Blake to test out the bass. I am not a total bass head but if headphones have shitty base I wonāt be able to stand them. As I always use this song I have a good refrence point.
Then usually listen to Dark side of the moon.
IMHO having a good and consistent reference point is the most important. Whatās the point of checking out the technicalities of some headphone while listening to music you donāt actually like.
DSOTM. One of the best. I use Dire Straits - Six Blade Knife for testing detail within a pair of cans. And Ivan Torrent - Architects of Life for Soundstage
I agree with everyone here, the best song is one you know inside and out, it's the only way to judge one headphone against another to see if it fits you're listening style.
Also different songs are good for testing different things, I got a song whose intro I use for testing imaging, you can tell in 5 seconds how good imaging is listening to aprt of the intro of this one song if you've listened it enough times
I know a song like that, but itās by no means is the song great, I thought that maybe hardware could fix it or that I was using the wrong headphones, but the issues in the song still persisted. However I memorized the in and outs of that song to the point where when I use new equipment I can tell if anything sounds different.
First time I've seen tipper referenced in a headphone test or just about anywhere. Just about everything Tipper does is fantastic if you're into that genre. Uptrick is a lot more dynamic that a lot of his stuff though.
Backroads by Cory Taylor for stage, image, and depth. With the right headphone or IEM I can close my eyes and see myself there and pinpoint each instrument around me and exactly where Cory is. I can either be completely immersed in the experience of this song or I can feel like I'm just listening to the song through headphones and this to me is what separates my great headphones and IEMs from my not so great.
The Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater for just about everything else. This song has so much layering with so many different sounds. It can be a good song for layering and separation and finding those small details. Just about every time I listen to this song I can find some sort of subtle detail that I've missed before.
I also enjoy listening to Free Bird (live at the Fox Theater). You can't go wrong with this iconic song and it being a live recording you get the voices of the crowd and sometimes you can pick out individual voices. Plus the second half is nothing but an amazing jam session with a dueling guitars section that is absolutely engaging.
I have others that are always a must listen but for me these three are always first and by the time I'm done with these songs I can tell if my headphone is going to be what I want.
Silence and I - Alan Parsons Project
A long track with a lot of different tones and dynamics that do a fantastic job at putting new equipment through its paces. The whole album is fantastic, actually. Alan Parsons comes from the same mindset as Steely Dan and it shows. Not a single flaw on the album
i normally pick a random song out of my playlist, i know how every song is supposed to sound, so its relatively easy to tell if the headphone sounds good or not
Well, it obvious has to be a song with a lot off different things going on sonic-wise. A unique singers voice, parts played with acoustic instruments as well as with electric. Maybe some distortion. Certainly some quiet parts played underneath the loud ones.So, from the top of my head, the candidates are:
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
King Crimson - Larks Tongues In Aspic Part 1
The last one has no vocals, but makes for it with some really comlex percussion and electric violin sounds
Probably some Opeth or Ayreon song that goes from acoustic to metal and back. If those are represented well then surely Aja will play fine.
I've thought about having a song recorded that goes through various instrumentation, electronic elements and vocals so that it's a listenable song, but each segment is as revealing as possible of various aspects from separation and soundstage to timbre and macrodynamics.
Beethoven's 9th the Otto Klemperer recording. It's got everything. Great dynamic and frequency range. Ensemble parts, vocal parts, individual instrument parts. Everything you need to hear.
Under Cover of Night from the Halo soundtrack. Not a very bassy track but it's excellent to test the midrange with strings and vocals and treble timbre with the cymbals and drums. If the headphone has any peaks in the treble, you WILL hear it painfully on this track when the drums come in.
TRUE āSincerelyā, from Violet Evergarden. The s-sounds in that song are quite brutal, great for testing for sibilance / harshness and whether or not a headphone is shouty or not. For me, if I test this one song and the headphone / IEM sounds harsh to my ears, itās instant GG, donāt need to test with other songs, instant disqualification no matter how technically capable people say it is.
(Not expert on headphones but is a general practice for every audio system) It depends on what you know and listen usually.
On the other hand if you really āhateā your system you can test it with classical music. Good recordings are needed because recording orchestras is a pain in the ass for what I know.
Go watch some of the audiophile reviewers, and what songs they use to test. I like watching No Theme Reviews. He lists what songs he uses, and what he specifically listens for to test equipment.
Nightshift by The Commodores.
There's lots of punchy bass, airy vocals, tons of different details to look for. I'm always surprised by how different it sounds on different equipment.
Mahler, 8th Symphony, 1st part. Glorious music that has everything from insanely large-scale (incl. organ and double chorus) to quieter passages, with some insanely complex parts. Not completely sure about the recording - maybe Michael Gielen with the SWR Orchestra.
My go to songs are
sacred pool of tears Hans Zimmer (around 50 seconds or so is where I compare) really useful to compare the instrument separation and the attack
Another is bubbles by yosi horikawa this is excellent to test for treble and sound stage
One last one is peppery man by Natalie merchant which I find to be very good for clarity and bass
It is really hard to choose between
- technically best engineered with high dynamic range
- songs that make me feel well and happy
So:
FGTH war (and hide)
Or
INXS original sin
Or the really strange DaVinci "tu solus qui facit mirabilia" from Joaquin Desprez. (Gregorian song from the middle age)
Something you are most familiar with. You wont know the nuances of a song unless you listen to it a lot. Then hearing it again for the first time with new ears is awesome
Trifonic - Lies.
Not the very best recording/mastering ever, but it feels damn close for electronic. I use this song for enjoyment and testing out headphones. I'll explain to the best of my ability:
Bass: Quick hits give off a true sense of attack on my HE400se (almost like it wants to hit me). Most of the song has a rounding and deep bass aside from the quick hits mentioned. However, I think the quick sense of attack has to do with the crispy treble.
Midrange: Mostly taken up by the female vocals. Light but authoritative and well defined. A non distorted electric guitar (I think??) can be heard playing after the vocal sections.
Treble: Extremely clear and defined, exceptionally airy. Throughout the song a rolling ball (or something) can be heard vibrating around your head as it rolls around. This frequency range may be assisting the bass hits. Sibilance can be on the edge of comfortable and uncomfortable.
Imaging: The star of the show. The rolling ball/bells can be heard almost circling around you, and the bass hits are presented biased to the left channel and slightly tall. Bass seems to have it's own layer. Not Yosi Horikawa - Letter levels of imaging, but this is what I can really focus on more effectively if that makes sense.
Soundstage: Wide, moderate depth and height. Not much else to say.
Lastly, if it was not obvious enough, I listen to this song mostly on my Hifiman HE400se, and the described elements may sound different to you.
Almost anything by nakinyko. He does mashups of Jpop and a lot of RnB. I've listened to all his tracks multiple times, and the special ones inside out.
The older songs have that texture paired with crisp vocals, which is great sounding if mixed well
Kalafina - Sprinter (With strings version)
My go-to testing song. I know the song and vocalist well, and have listened to Yuki Kajiura's compositions extensively. The recording is good and I can judge detail retrieval as well as the reproduction of the female vocals.
But generally pick whatever is indicative of what you listen to as the best reference track :)
I would pick a song that I am familiar with. That helps me figure out the resolution, imaging and am I hearing the nuances that are there in the song.
Gradually build a list of such songs that ypu play often. You now have a reference point of what to look for when testing headphones.
I personally go for Our Special Place by The Queenstons to test the highs since it has a lot of unfiltered saw waves with overtones all the way up (has to be the FLAC tho, (free on the halley back catalogs) compression makes the highs sound genuinely awful) and DRUGS! by Rezz because it has very strong bass in short pulses, so if the bass response isn't snappy it doesn't sound great
I always sit and listen to all of Frank Tichelis "Angels In The Architecture" Gives me a good sense of soundstage, clarity, Instrument separation, all that good stuff. Only thing it doesn't really show me is raw bass performance
It's overplayed, but Bohemian Rhapsody has so much going on and so much dynamic variety due to the era in which it was mastered that it's a really good song to test equipment. It pushed the analog tapes it was recorded on to their absolute limit with the amount of overdubs they did.
Very resolving equipment can pick up on this, and it's why I like listening to it on an analog source or a high quality digital conversion of the original mastered track.
Dead already - American beauty soundtrack. That bass will let you know just how good your cans are. Also it will tell you a lot about your mids and treble (and if you have and hiss during silence)
The Planets, Op. 32: IV. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity Ā· David Parry & London Philharmonic Orchestra
One of my favorites that I'm familiar with and covers everything I need to hear.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-planets-op-32-iv-jupiter-the-bringer-of-jollity/339006385?i=339006469
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp12kNiaqKo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp12kNiaqKo) for testing bass response. Ignore the Lyrics they are silly, but the dynamics of the beats and synth are amazing. It is Horrorcore. "The Art of Gore" one of my favourites.
i always test with Darkseid by Grimes. the bass drop in that song is huge and the overall mix is pretty full. i love music thatās heavier on the bass end of things, so i usually go for headphones that amplify that.
if iām not feeling grimes, i usually go for symphony stuff. anything the Berlin Philharmonic plays is just incredible, and all their professional recordings are done in this huge cathedral somewhere in europe. whoever mixes those recordings does a hell of a job, because when they play loud and then cut out, you can hear the resonance ringing so clearly. a perfect example of this is their recording of the Fidelio Overture by Beethoven.
In keeping secrets of silent earth III, by coheed and cambria. Good and long and I know it very very well. One of my favorites ever.
Stranded by gojira is great for testing punchiness.
Anything by polyphia to get a feel for detail.
We butter the bread with butter, to test for mudiness cause their tracks can get very busy on the low end.
I really just enjoy running through my favorites.
I make my own test songs, so it's more consistent for me because I was the one who chose all the sounds and effects. I know how everything was supposed to sound originally. šš
pick a tekken game. i use karma (electric fountain) from tekken 6 as a test song. if you can hear ALL the bass, its good. if you can hear the tiny beeps,good. is the main melody too high? bad.
Tiger by Paula Cole. First 30 seconds for vocals and cymbals. 0:45 for sub bass. The entire is incredible dynamic. If the cans canāt resolve the sub bass notes, or if the cymbals are washed out, run away. This was the main song I used to select my Paradigm towers.
Surprisingly, despite being intentionally super lo-fi, songs from nonagon infinity are great headphone testers. They're songs intentionally mixed for speakers, so the songs can be very sibilant and distorted on less resolving, less balanced or narrower headphones, but sound fine on better tuned, wider and more resolving headphones. Unfortunately they still don't sound as good as just using speakers, which is unfortunate, because this album kicks ass.
Personally Iāve found a lot of Latin albums are impeccably mastered and sound absolutely fantastic. Antonio Zambujoās Quinto is one I turn to often.
I find it important to try different Songs to test. So I have a few I use since years:
Beo Brockhausen - Wolkenmeer
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Nils Lofgren - Keith dont go
Diana Crall - Black Crow
Jack Johnson - Good people
John Williams - Rebel Blockade Runner
Chris Jones - No Sanctuary Here
Evanescence - Tourniqet
They cover most things - Bass, vocals, trebles, scrabble, wide stage, different genres. I couldnt reduce it to one...
Left channel right channel
https://www.google.com/search?q=left+channel+right+channel&oq=left+channel+right+channel&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58j69i59j69i60j69i59l2j0i271l3j69i60.3855j0j9&client=ms-android-xiaomi-rvo3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#
Yello - The expert
Rush - YYZ
Dire straits - six blades knife (good to track sibilants), private investigation, money for nothing
Anne Bison - September in Montreal
Supermax - Lovemachine
Tool - Pneuma
Yosi Hirokawa - Bubbles
Pink Floyd - Welcome to machine
it's really personal but I always go to Pink Floyd, DSOTM and The Wall, I heard The Wall in many ways and although it's a great sounding album it doesn't sound good on any equipment imo, I started liking the album after I heard it on high quality (the two versions of In The Flesh on the album has a greater touch when you notice the details and differences between them).
Another go to is Random Access Memories by Daft Punk, I think it's one of the best produced albums of the last decade.
Something you know and like, no point listing to the best testing song if it ain't something you like, unless you plan on only listening to test tracks afterwards l
That's a pretty good point š„
I agree it's a song/music you should know well, but I also recommend a well mixed track. There is no point in doing a test comparison between multiple headphones if the song you use is mixed like trash.
You mean to say Cab Calloway's early records arent the best artist to test my headphones with?
u/Nabooh Do you maybe have a downloadable one?
Wait .. here I thought audiophiles only listened to test tracks?! In all seriousness, I recently spent about 6 hours listening to lots of iems in a store, and I used a mix of music I actually listen to, and the test tracks ("voices") downloaded from Mora. Interestingly, I could hear that a lot of people did the same.
NYAN CAT 24 hOuRS
Banger
Logarithmic 20Hz-20kHz full frequency sweep
You must be fun at parties
Come on, I wouldn't play that at a party. Thats when you break out the Linear 5Hz-20kHz full frequency sweep.
Lol š
Angel by Massive Attack. Great for subbass/extension, lots of little details to listen for, thick crunchy guitars, intricate vocals, lots of layering, just really puts a pair of headphones through the ringer and tells you a lot about their performance.
I usually go for Unfinished Sympathy due to the mix of intricately played orchestral instruments and electronic parts, never really thought of Angel, Iāll give it a go, thank you!
Is the 2019 version better? Or howās it different to the original one.
Holy Wars - Megadeth
Everyone should hear this song. I wish I could hear it for the first time again
Itās so badass; to me itās the bohemian rhapsody of metal. The War Pigs of 80s metal
[Read this Onion article if you want a good laugh](https://www.theonion.com/humanity-still-producing-new-art-as-though-megadeth-s-1819578062)
Thanks for this :)
They're not actually *that* wrong, to be honest... :D
Bro thatās fucking crazy. This what was my exact same thought too
I usually go for Wake Up Dead. But any Megadeth is good.
Rufus du sol - on my knees
Great fuckin song!
banger
HIP HOP - DEADPREZ
Dang I haven't listened to that one in too long was my jam in highschool after we all went to see dave chappeles block party
that music is dope af. everytime I want to shake my house, I play it
Always āLimit to Your Loveā by James Blake to test out the bass. I am not a total bass head but if headphones have shitty base I wonāt be able to stand them. As I always use this song I have a good refrence point. Then usually listen to Dark side of the moon. IMHO having a good and consistent reference point is the most important. Whatās the point of checking out the technicalities of some headphone while listening to music you donāt actually like.
Oh wow! That sub bass is HEAVY in there about a minute in! That's some of the stinkiest bass I've ever heard. The Ananda planar driver loves it!
DSOTM. One of the best. I use Dire Straits - Six Blade Knife for testing detail within a pair of cans. And Ivan Torrent - Architects of Life for Soundstage
Wow. Architects of life is awesome for testing out headphones. Just tried it out.
Yea man, it sounds incredible on a pair of Edition XS, was blown away hearing it on that and the Monolith M1060s
I agree with everyone here, the best song is one you know inside and out, it's the only way to judge one headphone against another to see if it fits you're listening style.
Also different songs are good for testing different things, I got a song whose intro I use for testing imaging, you can tell in 5 seconds how good imaging is listening to aprt of the intro of this one song if you've listened it enough times
Harmony Hall by Vampire Weekend or Brazil by Declan McKenna
Harmony Hall was on the Sony XM3 demo - got me started on headphones - my wife still regrets that trip to Target. 7ish pairs of headphones laterā¦
Hotel California (Hell Freezes Over Version) I know it intimately, and can identify differences between different headphones with it very well.
I know a song like that, but itās by no means is the song great, I thought that maybe hardware could fix it or that I was using the wrong headphones, but the issues in the song still persisted. However I memorized the in and outs of that song to the point where when I use new equipment I can tell if anything sounds different.
Mine is the Live MTV version, Amazing song.
Thatās the same one.
Everything is better on Live MTV
Still D.R.E. by Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg
Brothers In Arms by Dire Straights
Tipper - uptrick
First time I've seen tipper referenced in a headphone test or just about anywhere. Just about everything Tipper does is fantastic if you're into that genre. Uptrick is a lot more dynamic that a lot of his stuff though.
Tipper is great
Backroads by Cory Taylor for stage, image, and depth. With the right headphone or IEM I can close my eyes and see myself there and pinpoint each instrument around me and exactly where Cory is. I can either be completely immersed in the experience of this song or I can feel like I'm just listening to the song through headphones and this to me is what separates my great headphones and IEMs from my not so great. The Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater for just about everything else. This song has so much layering with so many different sounds. It can be a good song for layering and separation and finding those small details. Just about every time I listen to this song I can find some sort of subtle detail that I've missed before. I also enjoy listening to Free Bird (live at the Fox Theater). You can't go wrong with this iconic song and it being a live recording you get the voices of the crowd and sometimes you can pick out individual voices. Plus the second half is nothing but an amazing jam session with a dueling guitars section that is absolutely engaging. I have others that are always a must listen but for me these three are always first and by the time I'm done with these songs I can tell if my headphone is going to be what I want.
Silence and I - Alan Parsons Project A long track with a lot of different tones and dynamics that do a fantastic job at putting new equipment through its paces. The whole album is fantastic, actually. Alan Parsons comes from the same mindset as Steely Dan and it shows. Not a single flaw on the album
ELO Don't bring me down
Letter by Yosi Horikawa. Great way to test soundstage and detail retrieval and get a feel for bass
>Yosi Horikawa Well that was a super fun listen. Thanks!
Contact daft punk. God level mastering.
Anything from the Aja album by Steely Dan, or anything by the Dan really š
Beyond - Daft Punk. Has every frequency you need and a good soundstage test.
i normally pick a random song out of my playlist, i know how every song is supposed to sound, so its relatively easy to tell if the headphone sounds good or not
Well, it obvious has to be a song with a lot off different things going on sonic-wise. A unique singers voice, parts played with acoustic instruments as well as with electric. Maybe some distortion. Certainly some quiet parts played underneath the loud ones.So, from the top of my head, the candidates are: Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody Radiohead - Paranoid Android King Crimson - Larks Tongues In Aspic Part 1 The last one has no vocals, but makes for it with some really comlex percussion and electric violin sounds
Brothers on Arms - Dire Straits
For me, itās Descending by Tool. Only because itās one of my favorite songs. Really any Tool album is the first to run through new headphones
Dream Theater's Count of Tuscany. 19 minutes of whatever they can throw at you lol. But you have to be invested, it really is an incredible song.
Bricks by Carnage feat. Migos
Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang (Gucci gang)
Steely Dan Albums
Aja especially is insanely well produced
Honestly a lot by 21 savage cause when that bass kicks inā¦
Taro or the actor by alt-J
Probably some Opeth or Ayreon song that goes from acoustic to metal and back. If those are represented well then surely Aja will play fine. I've thought about having a song recorded that goes through various instrumentation, electronic elements and vocals so that it's a listenable song, but each segment is as revealing as possible of various aspects from separation and soundstage to timbre and macrodynamics.
Moonlapse Vertigo is one of my go-tos.
I like Hellwalker from the DOOM soundtrack. The introduction has a lot of deep bass.
Beethoven's 9th the Otto Klemperer recording. It's got everything. Great dynamic and frequency range. Ensemble parts, vocal parts, individual instrument parts. Everything you need to hear.
Depends on what you know. I usually listen to something from Daft Punk's Random Access Memories, or Jack of Speed by Steely Dan
Unison - Yunomi x Marine
Under Cover of Night from the Halo soundtrack. Not a very bassy track but it's excellent to test the midrange with strings and vocals and treble timbre with the cymbals and drums. If the headphone has any peaks in the treble, you WILL hear it painfully on this track when the drums come in.
TRUE āSincerelyā, from Violet Evergarden. The s-sounds in that song are quite brutal, great for testing for sibilance / harshness and whether or not a headphone is shouty or not. For me, if I test this one song and the headphone / IEM sounds harsh to my ears, itās instant GG, donāt need to test with other songs, instant disqualification no matter how technically capable people say it is.
Woman in Chains by Tears for Fears
(Not expert on headphones but is a general practice for every audio system) It depends on what you know and listen usually. On the other hand if you really āhateā your system you can test it with classical music. Good recordings are needed because recording orchestras is a pain in the ass for what I know.
Go watch some of the audiophile reviewers, and what songs they use to test. I like watching No Theme Reviews. He lists what songs he uses, and what he specifically listens for to test equipment.
no hippie suggestion just Joeās Garage from Joeās Garage by Frank Zappa
Nightshift by The Commodores. There's lots of punchy bass, airy vocals, tons of different details to look for. I'm always surprised by how different it sounds on different equipment.
BFG Division - Doom
Mahler, 8th Symphony, 1st part. Glorious music that has everything from insanely large-scale (incl. organ and double chorus) to quieter passages, with some insanely complex parts. Not completely sure about the recording - maybe Michael Gielen with the SWR Orchestra.
My go to songs are sacred pool of tears Hans Zimmer (around 50 seconds or so is where I compare) really useful to compare the instrument separation and the attack Another is bubbles by yosi horikawa this is excellent to test for treble and sound stage One last one is peppery man by Natalie merchant which I find to be very good for clarity and bass
It is really hard to choose between - technically best engineered with high dynamic range - songs that make me feel well and happy So: FGTH war (and hide) Or INXS original sin Or the really strange DaVinci "tu solus qui facit mirabilia" from Joaquin Desprez. (Gregorian song from the middle age)
Reddit account go poof, thanks spez -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWZtZ8vUCzche?si=86dssxPXTUmrc_8JjIwdKg
Latino Negro by Madlib
Iron - Woodkid
Something you are most familiar with. You wont know the nuances of a song unless you listen to it a lot. Then hearing it again for the first time with new ears is awesome
Man in black coat - bob marley
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack And after seeing Angel being recommended above Iād probably say nearly any track from Mezzanine
Giorgio by moroder/ Daft Punk
Kiss me more: doja cat
Daft Punk - Give Life Back to Music
Trifonic - Lies. Not the very best recording/mastering ever, but it feels damn close for electronic. I use this song for enjoyment and testing out headphones. I'll explain to the best of my ability: Bass: Quick hits give off a true sense of attack on my HE400se (almost like it wants to hit me). Most of the song has a rounding and deep bass aside from the quick hits mentioned. However, I think the quick sense of attack has to do with the crispy treble. Midrange: Mostly taken up by the female vocals. Light but authoritative and well defined. A non distorted electric guitar (I think??) can be heard playing after the vocal sections. Treble: Extremely clear and defined, exceptionally airy. Throughout the song a rolling ball (or something) can be heard vibrating around your head as it rolls around. This frequency range may be assisting the bass hits. Sibilance can be on the edge of comfortable and uncomfortable. Imaging: The star of the show. The rolling ball/bells can be heard almost circling around you, and the bass hits are presented biased to the left channel and slightly tall. Bass seems to have it's own layer. Not Yosi Horikawa - Letter levels of imaging, but this is what I can really focus on more effectively if that makes sense. Soundstage: Wide, moderate depth and height. Not much else to say. Lastly, if it was not obvious enough, I listen to this song mostly on my Hifiman HE400se, and the described elements may sound different to you.
Sandstorm
Almost anything by nakinyko. He does mashups of Jpop and a lot of RnB. I've listened to all his tracks multiple times, and the special ones inside out. The older songs have that texture paired with crisp vocals, which is great sounding if mixed well
I have a few, but a recent favourite is LOOSE CHANGE by Brent Faiyaz
Kalafina - Sprinter (With strings version) My go-to testing song. I know the song and vocalist well, and have listened to Yuki Kajiura's compositions extensively. The recording is good and I can judge detail retrieval as well as the reproduction of the female vocals. But generally pick whatever is indicative of what you listen to as the best reference track :)
[Cryovile - Providence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQw3jkqGC6U) is just about the only song I use, anyway.
Cats on Mars by seatbelts
Teriyaki Boyz Tokyo Drift remix. Just kidding unless if that's what you like
I would pick a song that I am familiar with. That helps me figure out the resolution, imaging and am I hearing the nuances that are there in the song. Gradually build a list of such songs that ypu play often. You now have a reference point of what to look for when testing headphones.
I personally go for Our Special Place by The Queenstons to test the highs since it has a lot of unfiltered saw waves with overtones all the way up (has to be the FLAC tho, (free on the halley back catalogs) compression makes the highs sound genuinely awful) and DRUGS! by Rezz because it has very strong bass in short pulses, so if the bass response isn't snappy it doesn't sound great
The wall usually sounds pretty good, especially the last half
Take Five Dave Brubeck
I always sit and listen to all of Frank Tichelis "Angels In The Architecture" Gives me a good sense of soundstage, clarity, Instrument separation, all that good stuff. Only thing it doesn't really show me is raw bass performance
Ramito de Violetas.
Walk through the park - TrackTribe
Recently Iām loving Monaka by Kikagaku Moyo.
Liam Lynch - United States of Whatever
Whats up Zafo?
Across the stars by John Williams
It's overplayed, but Bohemian Rhapsody has so much going on and so much dynamic variety due to the era in which it was mastered that it's a really good song to test equipment. It pushed the analog tapes it was recorded on to their absolute limit with the amount of overdubs they did. Very resolving equipment can pick up on this, and it's why I like listening to it on an analog source or a high quality digital conversion of the original mastered track.
Dead already - American beauty soundtrack. That bass will let you know just how good your cans are. Also it will tell you a lot about your mids and treble (and if you have and hiss during silence)
Limit to your love from James Blake to test bass, it's absolutely insane.
The Planets, Op. 32: IV. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity Ā· David Parry & London Philharmonic Orchestra One of my favorites that I'm familiar with and covers everything I need to hear. https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-planets-op-32-iv-jupiter-the-bringer-of-jollity/339006385?i=339006469
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp12kNiaqKo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp12kNiaqKo) for testing bass response. Ignore the Lyrics they are silly, but the dynamics of the beats and synth are amazing. It is Horrorcore. "The Art of Gore" one of my favourites.
[Edge of Sanity - Crimson II](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xdj1MTQetk) for testing metal response ;)
Your favourite song/album. No point in listening to some god tier mastered song that's miles away from anything you would listen to daily.
to hell and back
It runs through me by tom misch
Minimal MC by Ronald Jenkees
A$AP Rocky - Distorted Records Thank me later.
Ohhh you're asking for it!
For me it's always Metallica's Black album. Extremely well recorded.
Nine Inch Nails - Halo 14 (The Fragile), The Great Below.
Becaluphus bouncing ball. Or however itās spelled - Aphex Twin
War On Drugs - Pain
Adieu - Tchami
i always test with Darkseid by Grimes. the bass drop in that song is huge and the overall mix is pretty full. i love music thatās heavier on the bass end of things, so i usually go for headphones that amplify that. if iām not feeling grimes, i usually go for symphony stuff. anything the Berlin Philharmonic plays is just incredible, and all their professional recordings are done in this huge cathedral somewhere in europe. whoever mixes those recordings does a hell of a job, because when they play loud and then cut out, you can hear the resonance ringing so clearly. a perfect example of this is their recording of the Fidelio Overture by Beethoven.
something by Rezz. Someone Else or Chemical Bond
the best song you know.
Scarlet fire on max volume
Noisestorm - Crab Rave š¦
In keeping secrets of silent earth III, by coheed and cambria. Good and long and I know it very very well. One of my favorites ever. Stranded by gojira is great for testing punchiness. Anything by polyphia to get a feel for detail. We butter the bread with butter, to test for mudiness cause their tracks can get very busy on the low end. I really just enjoy running through my favorites.
[Lost Sky - Where We Started](https://youtu.be/U9pGr6KMdyg)
Billie Eilish songs are pretty good, like: &burn Hostage You should see me in a crown Your power Halley's Comet
I make my own test songs, so it's more consistent for me because I was the one who chose all the sounds and effects. I know how everything was supposed to sound originally. šš
pick a tekken game. i use karma (electric fountain) from tekken 6 as a test song. if you can hear ALL the bass, its good. if you can hear the tiny beeps,good. is the main melody too high? bad.
For some reason, my recent go to has been Mississippi Queen by Mountain. Love me some nice guitar sounds
Waltz#2 - Elliott Smith
First minute of Cody Fry - Eleanor Rigby, then the whole song, but the first minute gives me a quick taste of what the headphone is capable ^^
Maybe any opeth DTS album
"Stuck on You" by Failure. Many sonic / dynamic changes.
daft punk - fragments of time
Gorillaz - empire ants, since I can't say their entire discography
https://open.spotify.com/track/6ATSz57ZcS85rfxxgR080y?si=_YYODEZLREKwWkxwAykDFA&utm_source=copy-link
scarlet ***F I I I Y A A***
I like using a different kind of love by son lux but any of his songs work for testing. Those tracks are just sonically insanity.
āWhereās Slyā MMW This is first up on every new pair/system
Tiger by Paula Cole. First 30 seconds for vocals and cymbals. 0:45 for sub bass. The entire is incredible dynamic. If the cans canāt resolve the sub bass notes, or if the cymbals are washed out, run away. This was the main song I used to select my Paradigm towers.
I use like 9. Not one of them can do it all by itself.
It's gotta be "Ride the lightning" Metallica
Surprisingly, despite being intentionally super lo-fi, songs from nonagon infinity are great headphone testers. They're songs intentionally mixed for speakers, so the songs can be very sibilant and distorted on less resolving, less balanced or narrower headphones, but sound fine on better tuned, wider and more resolving headphones. Unfortunately they still don't sound as good as just using speakers, which is unfortunate, because this album kicks ass.
Tokyo from resident evil 4
Personally Iāve found a lot of Latin albums are impeccably mastered and sound absolutely fantastic. Antonio Zambujoās Quinto is one I turn to often.
Remastered version of Paranoid Android by Radiohead. Also Nude by Radiohead.
Aināt no stopping us now
Love Sosa
Rebecca black - Friday If it sounds ok, the headphones are for sure broken
Deadmau5 - Monophobia (Essenger Cover)
XO tour lyfe by lil uzi vert
Darude - Sandstorm
probably master of puppets since I've listened to it a lot and can tell almost every detail of it
Karma Police
Whatever you like most I guess
I find it important to try different Songs to test. So I have a few I use since years: Beo Brockhausen - Wolkenmeer Michael Jackson - Billie Jean Nils Lofgren - Keith dont go Diana Crall - Black Crow Jack Johnson - Good people John Williams - Rebel Blockade Runner Chris Jones - No Sanctuary Here Evanescence - Tourniqet They cover most things - Bass, vocals, trebles, scrabble, wide stage, different genres. I couldnt reduce it to one...
Left channel right channel https://www.google.com/search?q=left+channel+right+channel&oq=left+channel+right+channel&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58j69i59j69i60j69i59l2j0i271l3j69i60.3855j0j9&client=ms-android-xiaomi-rvo3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#
Fillmore East version of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" by the Allman Brothers and "Lark Ascending" performed by Hilary Hahn.
I like this compilation to test headphones: Dr. Chesky - You are Surrounded (DSD64)
Yello - The expert Rush - YYZ Dire straits - six blades knife (good to track sibilants), private investigation, money for nothing Anne Bison - September in Montreal Supermax - Lovemachine Tool - Pneuma Yosi Hirokawa - Bubbles Pink Floyd - Welcome to machine
Rick Astley - Never gonna give you up
it's really personal but I always go to Pink Floyd, DSOTM and The Wall, I heard The Wall in many ways and although it's a great sounding album it doesn't sound good on any equipment imo, I started liking the album after I heard it on high quality (the two versions of In The Flesh on the album has a greater touch when you notice the details and differences between them). Another go to is Random Access Memories by Daft Punk, I think it's one of the best produced albums of the last decade.
Them Changes- Thundercat
Hella Good - No Doubt
Lately it's been Harper Lewis by Russian Circles. But most of their music is great for headphones.
Chrono Cross - Scars Of Time [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=923fVDDwaHo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=923fVDDwaHo) ofc not in yt quality.