If you were going to buy a CD to demo a sound system, what would you get?

[beer]

MP3 quality just isn't cutting it anymore for some of my songs. Either people can't rip well or they encode them at 128 when they should be at 192 kbps+. I just got my Image 2Bs to replace my Alpha A/Vs as fronts, so what CD should I demo them with?

 

[mcbiff]

Check out the Chesky Audio Ultimate Demonstration Disc. It is great for demoing/auditioning audio equipment. I think you can buy it at chesky.com.

 

[gygheyzeus]

If you're not into lots of bass, I find a lot of stuff by guys like Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Collective Soul to be a good test.

If you like lots of bass, find either some really well recorded techno, rap, etc.

 

[MrBond]

In the stores, I usually fill up a wallet with my most favorite CDs and test them with several. I haven't shopped for stereo stuff in some time, but if I was going tomorrow, I'd take:

Tool: Lateralus (Wide range of sound types)
Tool: Ænema (if this doesnt sound good, I don't want the system)
DMB: Listener Supported (live music)
Braveheart Soundtrack (classical type music, also movie soundtracks if I'd hook it up to DVD)

I'd burn a CD with some mp3's just to test CDR capiblity and to cover some song types I dont have on CD (VAC, Funker Vogt, etc)

 

[teckmaster]

heres an idea, Only download mp3z that are 192kb or higher

 

[beer]

uhhh here's a novel concept as well: An MP3 encoded at 192 kbps won't do any good if the person that ripped it had a CDROM that used poor DACs or he had his CPU in use and it resulted in static or pops. Which is very, very common.

And now that there is no single audio source like there was napster, being picky on the quality is hard since for a lot of lesser-known tunes or recordings, you're at best gonna find a half dozen matches, half of which won't work.

 

[snakesnfrogs]

Sheffileld Lab Drum & Track record---best one I've ever used



edit: the drum tracks are incredible

 

[riddelrp]

OK, got you hooked up . . . .

Go to College, live with 1,100 people [in your building alone] when you want a song find someone that owns the CD, trust me, someone will.

Then you can rip/encode yourself, no need for the net

I have over 900 mp3s and most are from CDs other had

-Ryan The 25,000 for UD is probably cheaper then all the Cds I would have had to buy

 

[NuclearNed]

Try "Time Warp" from Eric Kunzel and the Cincinatti Pops. It will be in the soundtrack section.

It's full of movie themes from sci-fi shows.

When I was a stereo salesman, this was cd that I would pop in if I really wanted a good sale. It doesn't matter what type of music my customer liked, this cd got a great response, especially track 1 ("Ascent" from the "Alien" soundtrack). Be careful though... it has an incredible dynamic range that is just itching to pop your best speakers.

 

[AaronP]

get like a DTS demo cd or something, they sell em different places.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

What? I thought you were the house audiophile? Oh, and I hooked up 4 of my dad's 901's yesterday...they sound pretty good