Overall I've found recordings that sound atrocious on many systems to be the best indicators, markers of progress. I have a selection on hand, ready to bring me to earth fast if I haven't been fussy enough:

Status Quo has been a standby for many, many years: in the early years I used a greatest hits collection as a regular to humiliate other gear . The ability to go loud and resolve the tonality of the cymbals is a quick and easy test ...

A collection of early 30's big band, swing orchestra hits. Big brass crescendos very easily turn nasty if all not well.

A very poor Oscar Petersen mastering. Something was not right in the studio when doing the job, and the piano tone is right on the edge of being unacceptable ...

Foo Fighters, probably any album: the production style gives this music a tremendously aggressive tone; making it sound like music is not easy.

Led Zeppelin I, original mastering: massive sound stage, tremendously overwhelming impact. Most systems make a complete mess of this ....

Adele 21: this is hard work, absolutely peak replay capability is required. Otherwise, sound becomes like a battering ram.

Just a few off the top of my head ... 

Frank

Thanks for that, Maxi ... I will say that my "dark years" lasted for nearly a decade - like yourself, the frustration became too much and I retreated into just having a nominally OK system for playing music in the normal way, that most people do. Then, went to a specialist high end audio show in Sydney, and was inspired by the enthusiasm and strong interest of the large crowd in what was happening, and the strong performance of MBL, and some vinyl gear there.

Of interest then, at a guess, how many frequenting this forum would have experienced the "good stuff" at some stage, and how strongly in control are they of being able to replicate the experience at will?

Cheers,
Frank

Finally found the right post to respond to ... yes, this was my "magic moment", all of 26 or so years ago. The number of people who have experienced this level, this quality of sound seems to be very, very small; and so the vast majority of audiophiles have absolutely no clue of what one is talking about ...

Of course, once experienced no normal hifi reproduction can ever again be good enough, and you spend your time from then on chasing down the factors that allow the "good stuff" to happen ... 26 bloody years, and counting 

Again, pleased to meet a fellow traveller ...

Frank

That's impressive! A mighty swift response like that does this ol' heart good .. what the world needs is more enthusiasm, plenty of it!

I said that because lately I've been frequenting diyAudio, and the level of negativity that's flowing there at the moment is somewhat depressing ...

Just to fill in some detail: started tweaking seriously about 27 years old, when decent CD players were coming out more often. Got a top of the line Yamaha, and realised that there was a lot that could be "fixed up" in the system overall. This progressed until the day of the epiphany: suddenly I was getting sound so good, that I had never heard anywhere before, on any system, it was a true revelation! Unfortunately, as these things always go, this was a transient moment ... the sound steadily deteriorated back to normal "hifi". So, my journey, and "battle" began: to understand what was going on, and to adjust, rejig my system to consistently produce this quality of sound. An extremely frustrating path - I gave away the whole game for about 10 years because I was just not getting the answers, couldn't get a handle on things - but in recent times have made steady progress.

A key aspect is that I understand that audio replay can be staggeringly good, would totally blow most people away if they really understood how overwhelming, how convincing it can be made to be. But it is not a trivial exercise achieving that - at the moment it's exceedingly difficult getting there. One thing you mentioned in a post was the room no longer mattering; this is one of the markers of progress made, that the acoustic of the recording will completely override the space you happen to be listening in.

Thanks for tuning in,
Frank

Probably not the right thread to say "hello", but anywhere where one can use the phrase "there is no such thing as a bad recording" sounds like a good place to hang around! I just "discovered" xxHighEnd and Peter's efforts via another forum, and I applaud his enterprise in moving the game forward in achieving truly outstanding sound.

I will confess straightaway, and say that my efforts to date have involved good ol' CD players, simply because that's what I started with and I tune into the fiddling required in this arena.

So what am I after? Pretty simple ... to be able to put on any recording, starting with Caruso and anything beyond to the present time, and wind up the volume to any level that the system is capable of producing, fully realistic and natural sound levels, and be completely at ease listening to such.

This is a very tricky and complex journey, the slightest abberation is painfully obvious; but the pleasure when it all comes together makes it all worthwhile ...

So how does this relate to testing "the resolution of your chain"? In that I have a collection of the "worst" recordings which I use to fine tune, tweak my system -- this I find to be a marvellous tool ...

Cheers,
Frank