What is your "evaluation cd"?

When I am interested solely in evaluating an audio component, or doing an A-B comparison, I frequently use the Burmester CD#2. Otherwise, I have a group of jazz and symphonic LP recordings that I have listened to for years and know all of their nuances.

Here's a couple:
Rickie Lee Jones, "Pop Pop"
Rosanne Cash "Ten Song Demo"

The Sea and Cake "Fawn"
Marc Ribot "Los Cubanos Postivos"
Recently, Wilco "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"

All have electric and acoustic instruments, good soundstaging and great engineering.

-Karl

For enjoyment of a great recording, I also like to listen to my Burmester discs. However, this is not what I put on first when I upgrade. The first thing I do when I make a change in my system is get my wife, put her in the primary listening position and put on our wedding song. It's my way of saying thank you for tolerating my obsession. This is not an inexpensive hobby. While my wife certainly appreciates good sound much more than she had previously, I recognize that this is my hobby not hers. So maybe it's a bit corny, but I do appreciate the fact that she does not give me grief when I indulge myself.

I've been meaning to do what Ejlif has done, that is to burn a "compilation test disc" of my own. This disc may not even contain entire songs as there are small portions of songs that can tell you a WHOLE bunch of info very quickly. Using this approach, one could literally pick and choose "snippets" and compose one helluva disc that could assess an entire system in less than just a few minutes.

Obviously, this is another one of those "projects" on my things to do list... Sean
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