Every reviewer at What Hi-Fi? has their own carefully curated list of songs they use to test speakers, spanning all genres and musical tastes. This is crucial for testing speakers, especially if they’re new: it’s best to use songs that you know really well to hear what speakers can do.
By that token, you’ll probably also have your own playlists for testing the various facets of audio performance; but what’s the harm in adding a few more tracks?
We’ve put together a list of ten songs (with some extra suggestions) that we use to test every aspect of a pair of speakers’ performance, from treble and bass quality to the way they handle rhythm and dynamics. This is by no means a complete list - we’d be here for days if we tried to list every single song we use for testing - but it’s a start. To get you listening to these tunes right away, we’ve put together a playlist of these songs on various music streaming services.