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dongas420 t1_ittq3sz wrote

My #1 most-used test track is Night Club Junkie by YUC'e without a doubt.

  • The percussion at 1:14 provides a load of information about a headphone's treble detailing, microdynamics, high-end extension, etc. in just a few seconds. TOTL goes TSK!, tribrid IEMs with wispy treble go Tskh., the midrange stuff often has blunt attack and goes Tk!, and low-quality gear with one-note treble goes T! or K!

  • The basslines at 0:31 and 0:58 are "pure" (no overtones to deal with) and play at different frequencies, making evaluating low-end detail, texturing, timbre, slam, etc. straightforward.

  • The female vocals thrown in can help identify issues with intelligibility, clarity, midrange timbre, sibilance/hollowness, etc., although there are better tracks for this.

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tomatillo_ t1_ittu8jv wrote

YUC'e... I see you are a man of culture!!

I use the Toy Frappe EP myself hahahaha

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Flufflepotkins t1_ituig8n wrote

I've had this song on repeat for 2 hours now.. please send help

I can 100% agree that this is a really interesting song to try headphones out with though. I was using some HD660s and a FiiO K3, as a quick and dirty setup at work, but I'm going to spend some time tonight to see how it is with some other pieces

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civilsasquatch t1_itv6e2u wrote

Great timing, I happen to be at my desk with three IEMs of vastly different price points in front of me and been trying to compare the top two. The 1:14 percussion was especially different across them.

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[deleted] t1_itwf7a2 wrote

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djentlemetal t1_itx8y2s wrote

Totally agreed with this. There's way too much going on.

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AnOldMoth t1_itxcmvn wrote

It's actually pretty well-mixed and everything fits into the frequencies well, but yes, it's very busy.

But BECAUSE it's well-mixed and busy, it's a good measure for it. My Ananda have no issues keeping everything well-defined and separate, and it sounds great. Meanwhile, if I throw my HD6XX in to listen to it, it's suddenly a muddy mess with no definition (Though that's kind of that headphone in general).

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[deleted] t1_itxsnlr wrote

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AnOldMoth t1_itxv5lr wrote

It depends on what you're trying to test your transducers for.

Though well-mixed or not wouldn't really affect your source gear, I can't think of any modern amp or DAC that would be affected by genre. Digital signals are well-within the limits of accurate reproduction of any device that wasn't made like garbage.

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dongas420 t1_itwtzvf wrote

The standard definition would be "the ability to render small-scale volume gradations." What I actually listen for is how clearly a headphone/IEM can reproduce the S and the K in this track. With something with poor microdynamics, at least one of those will get drowned out due to unevenness in said gradations. The midrange and upper bass also influence microdynamics, though, so I use a separate piano track for those and focus on the initial attack.

Also, it's precisely because the track is so busy that it's an effective stress test for gear. Generic Jazz Track in Audiophile CD Compilation #26 is comparatively poor for testing sound quality because it's undemanding and sounds good on everything, being slow-paced, relatively simplistic, and midrange-centric.

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