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Overall_Falcon_8526 t1_ittwxzv wrote

Of course this is impossible, but if a person were only given 5 minutes to evaluate a headphone, they should pick something in their favored genre that they are familiar with and is recorded impeccably. So for me (a classical aficionado) I guess it would be this digital recording of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic:

https://youtu.be/zFVChb_p_OA

It has wonderful detail, rich bass notes, and it's just fun to listen to.

But the real answer is that I have 20+ go-to tracks across many genres, because 1 simply isn't enough. There's so much to check. Percussion, sub-bass tones, male and female vocals, instrument timbres, synthetic sounds...

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audiophile_lurker t1_itwmrj5 wrote

Eh, you are probably better off with a track with a host of specific issues and qualities that you could test against. Hot treble to test for spikes, various instruments in mids to test timbre, something deep bass in the bass but also midbassy to test for elevation and spikes, range of male and female voices since that will also help you catch anything unnatural in the mids, and loads of percussion. Tape it vinyl clicks could also help with testing instrument separation.

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