Guys:
I know we have no control over the quality of a recording on a CD yet we rely on this highly variable and critical piece in the decision process of all types of hardware in our systems. How do you minimize this variable in your decision/selection process?
Ken
Ken,
There are several ways to deal with it.
First, use recordings that have some audible merit and listen to them enough to have a feel for what they sound like. I think that the Human voice is "the" most important element of any recording used in equipment evaluation. Acoustic musical instruments would take second place in the order of evaluation, as they can generally be used as a reference. IOW, you have a pretty good idea how they actually sound in the real world. This rules out amplified instruments and especially synthesizers.
Remember that the music lives in the midrange, all the rest is merely an adornment. If the human voice sounds real, and the piano, strings and brass sound authentic, you can expect that you're getting most of the music right.
Another really hard test for a system, and I'm not necessarily recommending that you have to do this, is bagpipe music!
Several recording engineers have said that the bagpipe is an extremely difficult instrument to record well, it really needs to be done outdoors, and has such a distinctive sound that, even if you don't enjoy the pipes, you can easily tell when they're not reproduced correctly.
While this isn't a thread about favorite evaluation Cd's, I'll recommend one in particular that not only is an outstanding recording of human vocals, but is also valuable in determining the imaging of a system. The Mapleshade recording,
Walk with Me by the ARC Gospel Choir is absolutely superb. I'm not a fan of Gospel Music, in fact this is the only one that I own, but it's so indispensable as an evaluation tool that if my copy were damaged, I would be ordering another one the same day.
I hope this is useful to you.
Best Regards,
TerryO
