Comments on Profile Post by Lyander

Katie Melua - Shy Boy.
Massive Attack - Teardrop/Protection

The first three that spring to mind are:

James - Getting Away With it (All Messed Up)
Tori Amos - Waitress
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Hanuman

..there's a slightly shakily-recorded Metric track that I use to check for tendency towards sibilance, but I can't remember which. Will check if I remember.

Only the most tonally smooth headphones can pass the 'Mors Principium Est - God Has Fallen' test :-)

Paganini's capriccios - add treble fuckery and it's like getting your skull trepanned, but by a *virtuoso of the art*.

Accardo's rendition especially so.

Thanks, all! Been meaning to add stuff to my "evaluation" playlist, which to now is really just a bunch of songs I've been listening to for years. I'm thinking of adding more purposive tracks for specific "issues"

There's a lot to be said for having a few tracks that you know REALLY well, though, gives you an early sense if something is out of whack.

(For me, "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd is a flying start.)

@Kattefjaes Oh HELL yes. The studio version and the Gdansk version of the song are among my all-time faves, the latter in particular for the amazing end solo.

I tend to notice harshness with speech. People hiss alot into the mic

Another vote for Katie Melua. Most of her albums are mastered to have really, really extended treble. If your can has any treble issues it will be very apparent - and on the flip side if not it'll sound stunning. My favorites are Pictures and Secret Symphony.

@Cspirou As in audiobooks, movies, and the like? Come to think of it, yeah, I have heard similar before, huh. Gonna go through my Netflix to check if there's anything in particular that stands out :P

And thanks @Vorlon! Bumping her up to first on my to-get. Then again, these are supposed to be stress tests for treble so I may not fare well XD

Usually podcasts and interviews

Money For Nothing by Dire Straits. It is a beautifully recorded song but any speaker or headphone with noticeable treble peak/spike will fail hard on the intro and the song will hurt your ears. There is a shift from intro to main song where the instruments (especially the drums and synths) sound louder.