On USA Today's website, I ran across an article which included a playlist for for testing car audio quality. The expert selecting the songs was General Motors audio engineer Matt Kirsch. GM also posted the tracks as a mix at the iTunes store ($12 to buy it). His list includes 1) "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones (you should listen for Norah's voice to sound natural, and centered in front of you), 2) "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez (you should listen for strong vocals, and for the instruments to be set across a wide sound stage), 3) "No One" by Alicia Keys (you should listen for clarity in Alicia's vocals and spacious background sound), 4) "Hotel California" by the Eagles (you should isten for the clarity and dynamic range during the opening guitar solo, and of course the powerful drum beat), 5) "Boom Boom Pow"by the Black Eyed Peas (you should listen for powerful, accurate bass beats, even at full volume), 6) "Rock that Body" by the Black Eyed Peas (you should listen clear, intelligible lyrics over the powerful, persistent bass beat), 7) "Hide and Seek"by Imogen Heap (you should listen for the enveloping ambience of the song, building on the openness and dynamic vocals), 8) "He Mele No Lilo" by Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu from Lilo and Stitch (you should listen for the ambience and staging as the children's chorus is offset by powerful bass), 9) "Bird on a Wire" by Johnny Cash (you should listen for the clarity in Johnny's distinctive voice, and his guitar to sound natural and free of any coloration), and 10) "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box" by Radiohead (you should listen for the punch from the percussive bass, and the ring of the steel drums).
Now I'm just a hillbilly and certainly not a sophisticated audiophile. In considering the range and types of musical sound covered by this list, however, even I can appreciate how these songs could be useful in comparing audio systems.
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