Anyone with a love of hi-fi has a selection of test tracks ready to pull out at any given opportunity – be that for new kit they’re auditioning or to simply to show off the best abilities of a system they’ve already lovingly put together.
For the hi-fi engineers tuning the speakers and hi-fi separates that make their way into your home, these test tracks are all the more important. And while the overarching advice for the best test tracks remains to pick songs that you know inside out, it’s always interesting to hear about new music that might help to push your system in new ways – or even show up areas where it could be improved.
As part of British Hi-Fi Week, we’ve spoken to British engineers from some of the industry’s most respected hi-fi brands to find out a few of their favourite tracks to listen to when tuning kit, and why.
"Put it into a playlist!" we hear you cry. Well you're in luck. You can check it out on Tidal here – though do bear in mind that some picks may be of specific vinyl pressings or album versions and we've included details of those when mentioned. Have a listen and keep reading for all the reasons behind the engineers' picks below.
David Bosch – senior research & development engineer, KEF
Laura – Bat For Lashes
This track has tremendous vocals and a piano melody that is excellent for gauging the tonal balance of a speaker, as well as any resonances in the upper bass and lower midrange – we’ll want to get rid of that for a truly realistic reproduction of voices. Finally, the recording is great to gauge a speaker’s ability to recreate a holographic image of the singer in the listening room.
The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea – Brendan Perry
This track has a very satisfying low rumble for a bassline and a panning percussion that is also excellent for tonal balance perception. In particular, this song doesn’t forgive a tweeter that’s being used harder than it should, due to a poorly designed crossover. Perry’s vocals are also potent, well centred and a great way to tell what’s going on that’s good (hopefully) or wrong in the low-to-mid crossover region.
Alan O’Rourke – managing director, Ruark Audio
Bluesville – Count Basie
From the opening piano and basslines, to the orchestra each taking their part, this is a gem of a track with wide-ranging dynamics that – on a good system – should absolutely swing and have your feet tapping.
Mary Magdalene – Meshell Ndegeocello
A wonderfully produced and recorded album with each track a gem, but I particularly like Mary Magdalene, which has a wonderful rolling bassline that underpins the entire track. If there are shortcomings in a system's dynamics and bass performance, this track will show it.
Mother Nature’s Son – The Beatles
I’m not sure of how this recording came about, but it’s only on Anthology 3 and it features Paul McCartney singing and playing on his own. It’s obviously quite an old recording, but with no added overdubs or effects it’s a beautifully natural recording and should sound so if your system is up to scratch.
Touraj Moghaddam – CEO, Vertere Acoustics
This Ain't No Game – Elles Springs
This record was half-speed cut and mastered by Miles Showell, and transferred from the original 1/4" tape by him too. I know the artist, know the recording and the master and can always directly compare to the source that Miles cut the record from to understand just how close we are to the original – you can't beat that.
Rough Ride – Paul McCartney
Flowers In The Dirt is probably one of the best albums by Paul McCartney and this track is one of my favourites. It has excellent dynamics with quite intricate playing of all the instruments, not the least bass and drums.
Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14, H. 48: IV Marche Au Supplice (“March To The Scaffold”) – Berlioz (The Utah Symphony Orchestra, Varujan Kojian)
This is an amazing recording and production with huge orchestral dynamic range, where – on good kit – every instrument should be easy to follow and hear its contribution to the whole.
Roy Gandy – co-founder and owner, Rega
Willow – Joan Armatrading
At Rega, we don’t listen to the “sound” of our equipment, but rather listen for the intricacies of an artist’s performance, or the discernibility of complex musical arrangements. If we can correct any issues here, any issue with the sound is automatically corrected.
One of the earliest test tracks I can recall using for this, which we still use today, is Willow by Joan Armatrading from the 1977 album, Show Some Emotion. It’s a beautiful performance, arrangement and recording, which makes it easy to spot any issues in the sound reproduction.
I Want To Break Free – Queen
If you’re looking for something more upbeat to test your system, this is a great one, and needs little introduction. However, if you're looking for this on vinyl, be careful to only choose the 1991 pressing of the Greatest Hits 2 – many other versions of this song are less well pressed.
Philip Budd – head of acoustics and mechanical engineering, Linn
Idomeneo: Quanti Mi Siete Ontorno – Padre, Germani, Addio! – Mozart (Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Christian Baldini)
This album – Mozart: Opera Arias And Overtures – is beautifully recorded, and the whole orchestra is perfectly laid out, which is a great check for imaging. The soprano in this track is powerful enough to highlight any and all issues in the midband, while the swing from piano to fortissimo allows a deep insight into any power compression.
Brothers In Arms – Dire Straits
Mark Knopfler’s vocal and guitar are wonderfully present in the mix and the drums are as clean as a whistle. If you want to check for tweeter resonance or over-hang, listen out for the rim-shots.
The Man With The Red Face – Meute
Plenty of impact in both the horns and drums, it’s great for checking the low frequency timing. There’s a lot of harmonic information in the horns as well, to check the midrange to low-frequency balance.
Chameleon – Trentemøller
Quite simply, can the system take the bass?
Nick Clarke – managing director, Cyrus
This Woman’s Work – Kate Bush
A great female vocal track, and a fabulous demonstration piece that you can’t help but be impressed by on a well set-up system. Pay attention to the gentle start and then how a system handles it as the track builds to a more complex ending, without going into harshness.
Déjà Vu – Roger Waters
Well recorded and exceptional production values with great attention to detail – there are lots of micro-details and subtle sound effects in the background that could almost be missed on lesser systems. Also listen for how well your system conveys the age and roughness in Waters’ voice.
Nine In The Afternoon – Panic! At The Disco
While not many people seem to use live recordings for demos, I think they have huge value in terms of showing the real performance – imperfections and all. Beauty is in the imperfections and most live tracks have a lot of beauty! It’s the job of the system to “get out of the way” and reproduce the music as it was performed, and in my opinion a live recording can really show that.
Leigh Evans – product QA engineer, Cambridge Audio
Spoons – Rudimental
The punchy beat and impeccable timing of this track make it perfect for testing. The energetic and rhythmic elements, characterised by a dynamic interplay of drums and bass, allow me to evaluate any system's ability to deliver a tight and impactful low-end response. The precision in timing and the intricate layering of electronic elements make it an ideal choice for assessing the hi-fi system's capability to reproduce intricate details and maintain a cohesive and well-timed musical experience.
Me And Your Mama – Childish Gambino
This track has plenty of diverse sonic elements that challenge a system's performance. The song's low frequencies are robust and deep, providing a thorough examination of the hi-fi system's bass response, while the track's vocal range, from smooth crooning to intense moments, allows me to assess the control over vocal harshness. The complex arrangement, featuring a fusion of genres and intricate instrumentation, serves as an excellent benchmark for evaluating the system's ability to reproduce detailed and dynamic musical compositions with clarity and fidelity.
Masquerade/Why So Silent – The Phantom Of The Opera
I use the song from the original cast recording of The Phantom Of The Opera because it offers a rich and dynamic audio experience. The track features a multitude of instruments, from sweeping orchestral arrangements to intricate solos, allowing me to assess the system's ability to reproduce a wide range of musical tones. Additionally, the intricate vocal performances and the juxtaposition of quiet and loud passages in the song help me evaluate the system's capacity for nuanced and detailed playback, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of its hi-fi capabilities.
Peter Comeau – director of acoustic design, IAG
Who Will Comfort Me – Melody Gardot
This track swings relentlessly. If it doesn’t have you jogging about in your listening seat and tapping your toes there’s a lot wrong with your system. There’s a lot going on in the mix, but it should all gel together. Melody should sound as though she’s in the room, having fun, kicking up her heels. Watch out for the sibilance which should be part of her voice and not spitting out of the speakers!
Corcovado – Jim Tomlinson featuring Stacey Kent
This opens with Stacey phrasing the intro just with piano accompaniment and she should be in the room with you if you just close your eyes. A double bass soon picks up the rhythm – make sure you can follow every note – while the percussion is so understated you might miss all its delicate detail if your system is not able to pull everything together. Jim’s sax underlines and expands on the melody and should have plenty of breathy presence.
Just A Little Lovin’ – Shelby Lynne
This has everything, from its opening percussion to the entry of the bass and, of course, Shelby Lynne’s emotional vocal immersed in a wave of reverb. The dynamics are surprising and should catch you out, the percussion should have excellent attack and the bass must be firm, solid and extended. But, most of all, the emotional pull and swing of this track should have you sliding off the sofa gracefully!
Jan Ertner – electronics design lead, Audiolab
At Seventeen – Janis Ian
In this wistfully emotional song, Ian recalls her own teenage years and tells a story of struggling to fit in socially and romantically. Timing is crucial here – if your system’s bass is not taut enough, the leading edges not crisp enough and the timing not ‘on point’, the song falls apart and its emotional potency is lost. Ian’s vocal is critical too, of course, with a suitably expressive midrange essential to ensure every word of her beautiful lyrics hits home.
Wheel Of Fortune – Hans Zimmer
Written for the second Pirates Of The Caribbean movie, Dead Man’s Chest, this composition by film score maestro Zimmer is an extraordinary test of large-scale dynamics and contrast. Clarity, soundstage, bandwidth and dynamic range are all tested to the extreme by this piece.
Lee Taylor – co-founder, brand ambassador and lead engineer, Leema Acoustics
Blind – Korn
This track from Korn’s eponymous debut album in 1994 is particularly useful for testing amplifier headroom, and was used in the development of our new Quantum-range amplifier, the 150-watt Graviton stereo power amp. It has to be played loud!
You Look Good To Me – Oscar Peterson
Peterson’s track is a very natural and detailed recording, with particularly nice low-level detail. Listen carefully and you can hear the bass player putting down his bow before changing to finger-style playing.
It Don't Mean A Thing – Chuck Brown And The Soul Searchers
This is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington and is considered a jazz standard, which eventually made it into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It’s a great live track with brilliant timing. If your toes don't start tapping, something’s wrong.
Matt Bartlett – managing director, Chord Electronics
Save Me – k.d. lang
This track has so much to offer anyone involved in testing audio equipment. It’s a brilliantly polished production, with layers of rich vocals and multiple instrumental tracks all woven into an enormously inviting soundstage. It enables the listener to assess image solidity, soundstage width, height and depth, as well as discerning a variety of instruments in a complex mix. The 24-bit/192kHz high-res version is a treat, too.
Tiny Foldable Cities – Orbital
Chord Electronics’ amplifiers are renowned for their transparency, timing ability and transient delivery, and electronica can be a particularly useful tool to provide a workout. Fellow men of Kent, Phil and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital, are a go-to for energetic electronic music and Tiny Foldable Cities is a handy track for assessing dynamics, low-frequency handling and detail clarity.
The Man Machine (Live) – Kraftwerk
Our love of music-making and live music brings us to this version of The Man Machine, which is a real test of capturing the ‘live’ sound: the venue, the atmosphere, the crowd and, of course, the music. There is some astonishing low-frequency detail to uncover, plus all the precision and detail that comes with any Kraftwerk production.
Bob Surgeoner – founder, Neat Acoustics
Hold On – Tom Waits
The gravelly voice of Tom Waits is not to everyone's taste, but I like it because he seems to really inhabit the characters in his songs. Hold On places his voice in stark isolation to the complex musical arrangement around him. There is a mix of guitars, banjos, percussion and old plumbing pipes, which he apparently reclaims from his local scrapyard. The choruses are enhanced by a subsonic bass note which can be difficult to resolve, but when its right, it's right.
All The Pretty Little Horses – Barbara Dickson
While she's better known for her top twenty hits and musicals, Barbara Dickson started her career as a folk singer, and this is a track from that time. With a very simple arrangement – vocal, double bass, and one ride cymbal – it's a great track for judging the weight and timbre of Danny Thompson's double bass, and voicing the speaker to highlight Dickson's crystalline voice and the ambience around it.
Chitlins Con Carne – Kenny Burrell
An instrumental blues-based jazz piece from the 1960s heyday of the Blue Note label, it's a sparse arrangement of drums, percussion, double bass and tenor sax played by the very best musicians of the era, with Burrell's Gibson L5 guitar front and centre. The guitar is played with a flat pick and, when reproduced correctly, you can almost feel the pressure of the pick on the strings. More important, though, is capturing the 'groove'. When a system gets it right, the momentum and pace of this track is something very special indeed.
Alan Gibb – managing director, Chord Company
Can’t You See – The Marshall Tucker Band
Recorded in 1973, this great American southern rock track incorporates elements of blues, country and jazz. The band played live constantly and this track shows it. The song starts quickly with lots of layers and instruments for your system to make sense of. Usefully, it shows differences quite easily.
Grace Has A Gun – Katie Pruitt
This country tune is very well put together, technically. Katie’s vocals are very expressive: again, it’s a good song for sorting out differences and spotting problems. Plus, it’s a good song in its own right.
Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 61: 1. Allegro, Ma Non Troppo – Beethoven, played by Itzhak Perlman
My favourite violinist and favourite composer; I have listened to this for years. Any improvement I make to my system makes this piece of music even more enjoyable – the violins and strings in particular are very demanding of even the best system.
Conrad Mas – founder and owner, AVID Hi-Fi
Looking Into The Eyes Of Love – Alison Krauss & Union Station
With many audio products, there’s a sense that they ‘run out of steam’, typically on sustained and elevated vocals and, in this track, Alison’s emotional and powerful voice makes the hairs truly stand up. Initially used to develop AVID’s phono stages, it has become my go-to track to make sure there is no suppression or distortion, especially on tough female vocal crescendos within our amplification.
Mediterranean Sundance – Al Dimeola, John McLaughlin, Paco DeLucia
Dynamic speed and instrument separation is critical in any musical rendition – drawing you into the music, it creates the width and depth of the acoustic soundscape. This is our test track for a cartridge’s ability to trace the groove, our amplifiers’ dynamic abilities and our loudspeakers’ capability to resolve fast transients, so that you’re left breathless with a lifelike rendition.
Hotel California – Eagles
Anyone familiar with a live concert knows that when the bass kicks in, you feel it in the chest as well as hearing it! Great bass performance from a loudspeaker is achieved by the amplifier having a large power supply and current reserves, and with this track, we make sure our amps deliver that punch when the kick-drum thunders in, so it’s not just music, but a musical experience.
Jack Menadue – acoustics engineer, Q Acoustics
Is It A Bird – Elbow
A brilliantly produced and high-quality recording featuring raspy male vocals, deep bass notes and a lovely saxophone near the end of the track. This track is a great mix of features and instrumentation to demonstrate speakers across the bandwidth and highlight the lower midrange and bass regions.
Through The Eyes Of A Child – Aurora
An excellent recording of a brilliant female vocal performance. The performance crescendos into a wide soundscape of harmonies with underlying piano and bass notes. A very soft detailed track to showcase the female vocals in the upper midrange as they glissando through a wide vocal register.
Jon Jeary – electronics engineer, Goldring and QED
Babylon Sisters – Steely Dan (from the original 1980 MCA pressing of Gaucho)
This track is extremely well recorded and retains much of the dynamics of the original master tape, so it allows us to get a really good overview of what a cartridge is capable of – particularly on coping with transients and providing a good stereo image.
In the chorus section comes a really good test of trackability and sibilance rejection when the backing singers sing the word “sisters” very high in the mix. We are looking for a clean delivery of the “esses” with no hint of distortion. As it is the first track on the LP, the groove is travelling fastest so it offers the best frequency response and lowest distortion.
Something To Believe In – The Steve Miller Band (from the original 1973 Capitol Records pressing of The Joker)
I have been listening to this track since it was first released, so when I test a new cartridge, I have memories of every type of record player with which to compare its delivery. As it is the last track on side two, the groove is moving slowest and so the inner groove distortion is at a maximum and frequency response is at a minimum. However, since the track is recorded with its full dynamics intact and is a very clean and smooth country song, any mis-tracking of the stylus is unmistakably brought into sharp relief.
A Swingin’ Safari – Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra
This is a superb recording and features a live orchestra in a top studio space mic’d up by an expert – Bert Kaempfert – to reveal an incredible stereo soundstage. With cable testing, we are listening for subtle changes to the soundstage and I particularly focus in on the position of the strummed acoustic guitar and the timing and separation of electric guitar and bass guitar.
Mat Taylor – head of product, dCS
Angel – Massive Attack
The opening track from Massive Attack’s third album is full of brooding menace that positively explodes halfway through the song. Listened to at near speaker-damaging levels, the result is both scary and disturbing, requiring a system that has real control while reproducing the powerful bass and explosive dynamics.
Save Me – Joan Armatrading
Brilliantly recorded analogue production by Glyn Johns, the CD remaster is one of the very few that has preserved the dynamics and tonality of the original recording. A cast of brilliant session musicians fills this track with sensitive playing, providing just the right support for Joan’s dynamic guitar and honest emotional vocal delivery. A good system should highlight the vivid enthusiasm and connection between the performers.
Claude’s Girl – Marika Hackman
From a first album full of imaginative ideas and genres, this deceptively simple song wonderfully captures Marika’s delicate guitar playing and ethereal voice. The better the system, the easier it becomes to appreciate the delicate layers of vocal and reverb that make this both poignant and captivating, while allowing yourself to become immersed in the sheer beauty of the performance.
Acoustic engineering team, B&W
Mother Nature’s Son (Anthology 3) – The Beatles
This is an early rough-cut version of the song – take number two (there were 25 eventually) – and its composition is much simpler than the eventual release on the White Album in 1968. Featuring just Paul McCartney’s voice and his acoustic guitar, you’ll struggle to find a more immediate and real-sounding piece of recorded music – from the sheer presence of the performance to the ambience of Abbey Road Studio Two, and the spoken contributions of the engineers in the control room.
Blue Train – John Coltrane
Many consider Blue Train to be John Coltrane’s defining recording – including Coltrane himself – and he was re-joined for it by the rhythm section from his former collaborators in the Miles Davis band, alongside tyro trumpeter, Lee Morgan. The result is a stupendous album, at once dazzlingly complex and extraordinarily tight. You’ll struggle to pick out one demo track among the classics, but title track Blue Train is clearly the most well-known, so start there. Timing and resolution are all-important assets to make the most of this blistering performance.
You Look Good To Me – Oscar Peterson
First recorded in 1964, this outstanding recording is a masterpiece of high-resolution technique. This version of the recording, remastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound from the original analogue master tapes, allows you to hear every aspect of the performance – listen out in particular for the resolution in Ray Brown’s wonderful bass playing in the first minute of the piece. The image should be perfectly locked to the centre of your soundstage, so you’ll feel like the performers are giving a very special concert just for you.
Human – Sevdaliza
Tehran-born Sevdaliza fuses Portishead-era trip-hop with Björk-style inventiveness. Although the offbeat hooks of Marilyn Monroe are the closest she comes to being commercial, we prefer the dark, brooding menace of Human, its subterranean bass and broad, sweeping spaciousness providing a perfect accompaniment to her otherworldly and at times deliberately atonal voice. You won’t hear another track like it – and if you want to know how good your Bowers & Wilkins speakers are at delivering bass response, this is a great way to find out…
John Dawson – co-founder, Arcam
True Love Ways – Buddy Holly
These songs were usually recorded in one take, with no overdubs, so the band is effectively playing together "live". There is reverb but little by way of processing or compression. The mastering engineer who made the transfer to CD also treated the material sensitively, so the music is very natural sounding. In particular, listen for the smooth decays into silence when the band pauses or stops playing. It's hard to believe this was originally recorded over 65 years ago!
Famous Blue Raincoat – Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Warnes was one of Leonard Cohen's backing singers, and the two were good friends. She has a fabulous voice, and here she has her own take on some of Leonard's best songs. The whole album is exceptional in terms of production and recording quality and makes great demonstration material – I have chosen the title track because it uses all acoustic instruments, sax, piano, string bass and a string quintet, along with fabulously poignant lyrics. Wonderful poetry, wonderful singing.
Brothers in Arms (1996 remastered edition) – Dire Straits
Mark Knopfler has always cared about recording quality, and this is no exception. The album was a showpiece for CD, and the release used Sony's Super Bit Mapping – an advanced form of dithering – to get the best possible dynamic range and fidelity. The remastering of this 1996 edition is by Bob Ludwig, one of the best engineers in the business. The swirling organ background and thunder rumbles at the beginning really show off a good system. I recall being involved in testing interconnect cables in the late ’80s with Arcam's original Delta 70 CD player and being shocked by the differences between some of them when using this track.
Simon Quarry – audio designer, Musical Fidelity
Low Desert Punk – Brant Bjork
A pounding groove and spoken, almost barked, vocals drive this stoner rock classic from Brant Bjork, who plays all the instruments on this track. Powerful bass and cymbals, which can easily get too splashy are quite prominent here – if there’s something not right about the amplifier, they will sound terrible. This is a great test track that comforts me when I can hear it being played right. Also worth a listen from same artist is Lion One.
Moon Love – Electric Moon
Whispered vocals from the band’s bassist, Lulu (no, not that Lulu…) guide you through David Schmitt’s (aka Sula Bassana) gliding guitars and effects with solid and timely drumming, while the foundations build up, each supporting the next. This band carry many songs well over 20 minutes, this one clocking just over 23 minutes. I like longer tracks, as it allows greater time to settle into the music and therefore a more accurate conclusion. When a song’s soul is laid bare by the equipment you’re listening to, you know you’ve got your design right…
Psychic Chasm – Ozric Tentacles
This starts off in a misleadingly twinkly fashion, but then builds up seamlessly through several different musical styles – the usual musical genius I’ve come to expect from this band. Energy and delicacy within one piece is a wonderful way to listen to how an amplifier is articulating the music in a pleasing and immersive way.
I find it very much more interesting to deliberately avoid the mass produced/maintained types to discover the smaller, more varied, interesting and definitely most talented artists!
Steve Sells – technical director, Naim
Brushstrokes – Natasha Kmeto
I have a playlist of 23 songs called ‘Demo Tracks’. I keep the list short, so if I add a track, I take a track off. It kicks off with this, I generally like something with vocals and I love Natasha Kmeto – she's amazing. Lost Cause by Billie Eilish is excellent, too
A Thousand Years – The Piano Guys
Piano is hard reproduce well and it will easily show if an amplifier is misbehaving. If an amp has parasitic distortion, you’ll hear a buzz. As you can imagine, this track shows up any issues like that pretty quickly.
Limit To Your Love – James Blake
I have a separate bass playlist to test the low end of any system, and James Blake’s Limit To Your Love is a favourite. I saw him at Glastonbury one year and I thought he was incredible; you could feel the bass from the groundshakers from across the field.
Hot In Her – Mr Oizo, Phra & Crookers
This is my endurance track. I don’t just play it once or twice; I’ll play it at full volume overnight or even a few weeks. It stresses every part of the product with heat and power. If a product can survive this, it will work through anything.
Peter Thomas – owner and founder, PMC
Bird On A Wire – Jennifer Warnes
When reproduced well, this track combines every element that makes a great test piece. It highlights spatial accuracy and three-dimensionality, especially for the main vocal and backing singers, plus the bass attack and depth, revealing everything you need to know about a system's performance.
James Luce – creative director, Acoustic Energy
Water Of Love – Dire Straits
We usually settle on a few different go-to tracks for each new project as development rolls on, but I'd say I always go back to this one – well-balanced, lovely percussion and a warm bassline with Mark Knopfler's soft vocal and guitar accents. A good system simply lets you just drift away with the music...
MORE:
The ultimate music tracks to test your hi-fi system
