What Are The Best Songs To Test Headphones???

One of our favorite things about getting a new pair of headphones is deciding which track or album we’ll listen to first! If you want to discover some hidden gems that you probably haven’t listened to before – you came to the right place!

Since we tend to have a somewhat eclectic taste in music, we tried to include a little bit of everything ranging from alternative to metal and EDM. If a certain track pops into your head while you’re browsing our list, leave your recommendation by dropping a comment in the section below! Here are 12 of the Best Songs To Test Headphones that you can browse through (and hopefully enjoy)! 

12 Of The Best Songs To Test Headphones

One thing we like to do when we’re breaking in a new pair of cans is to start with a genre that’s familiar. Any track works fine, as long as it consistently sounds good (regardless of how much your ‘phones cost).

For example, a lot of dubstep and hip-hop songs usually sound fairly clean and full – even if your ‘phones didn’t cost $500. When you’re listening to an extra fast and heavy metal album, the quality of your cans starts to become arguably much more important.

This isn’t to say that EDM and hip-hop don’t feature top-notch production. (Some of the most legendary producers of all time produce music in those genres.) The bottom line is that it’s usually much easier to gauge the overall sonic performance of your cans when you start with something a little bit more simplistic at first.

Once again, this is just our preferred method of breaking in a new pair of cans. We all do things in our own way and this seems to work the best for us in most cases. Rather than continuing to ramble on, take a look at the 12 tracks listed below to see some of our favorites!

1. “God” by Jeezy
2. “Rip N Dip” by Getter
3. “Far From Home” by A.CHAL
   
4. “Dead Price” by Zeds Dead (ft. Sean Price)
   
5. “Withered” by Currents
   
6. “Scraping the Barrel” by Make Them Suffer
   
7. “Break Those Bones Whose Sinew Gave It Motion” by Meshuggah
   
8. “Smashed” by Suicide Silence
   
9. “Discoloration” by Dawn Golden
   
10. “Grief” by Earl Sweatshirt
    
11. “Warm Thoughts” by Flume
    
12. “LUST” by Kendrick Lamar
    

We decided to separate them into 3 main sections (grouped loosely by genre). You can use the links below to jump around from section to section. 

• Hip-Hop & EDM Tracks
• Laid-Back, Easy-Going Tracks 
• Metal Tracks To Push Your Listening Boundaries 

Are you ready to get started? First, take a look at the Hip-Hop/EDM section!

---

Hip-Hop & EDM Tracks

Use the 5 hip-hop and EDM tracks listed below to look for bass extension, vocal clarity, and basic sound signature characteristics!

1. “LUST” by Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick’s mastery of vocal tone manipulation and lyrical abilities plus the eclectic choice of instrumental should sound crisp, powerful, and mind-blowing. 

2. “God” by Jeezy

The bass is so overpowering that this will give you a pretty good idea about how much bass your headphones can handle without experiencing any major distortion (if any at all). 

3. “Grief” by Earl Sweatshirt

If you’ve never listened to Earl Sweatshirt – you can expect to hear eccentric hip-hop instrumental, plus the mind-bending flow patterns and rhyme schemes he’s become known for producing. 

4. “Dead Price” by Zeds Dead (ft. Sean Price)

Once again, the razor-sharp wobble on “Dead Price” should sound like a robot hand running through a sonic comb. Sean Price’s gruff delivery and intricate rhymes will have you nodding along like a possessed puppet. 

5. “Rip N Dip” by Getter

Getter makes upbeat EDM that usually features an ultra-crunchy wobble and intermittent ad-lib sound effects that should sound extra crisp and heavy (especially some of his older songs). “Rip N Dip” is a great example.

---

Laid-Back, Easy-Going Tracks 

If you don’t necessarily enjoy super aggressive music styles, here are a few more laid-back tunes you can listen to. After all, who doesn’t love enjoying some easy-going tracks from time to time?

6. “Warm Thoughts” by Flume

If this song doesn’t literally inspire warm thoughts when you’re breaking in those cans – you can only blame yourself, or the headphones. 

7. “Discoloration” by Dawn Golden

“Discoloration” is fused with both electronic and alternative elements. The vocal distortion and instrumental mastery force your cans to display their basic range capabilities. 

8. “Far From Home” by A.CHAL

On a quality pair of cans, you should be able to hear every vocal change and fluctuation in emotion throughout the track. During the instrumental passages, it should sound like angels playing the harp.

---

Metal Tracks To Push Your Listening Boundaries 

The last section has 4 metal tracks that will really push your listening (and ‘phone) boundaries. If you’re not a fan of fast guitar riffs of screamed vocals – you’ll probably want to stick with the tracks listed above. 

9. “Withered” by Currents

The nuanced grit in the vocals on “Withered” might literally give you chills. Each instrument present on this track will let you know how loud you’ll be able to listen to anything remotely heavy without completely destroying your new cans. 

10. “Scraping the Barrel” by Make Them Suffer

The heavily-featured symphonic elements on “Scraping The Barrel”, coupled with the metallic onslaught and blast beats will definitely give your new cans a run for their money.

11. “Smashed” by Suicide Silence

As you can probably judge from the title – “Smashed” is fast, aggressive, and completely in your face. If you don’t feel like you can run through a wall after this one, throw your headphones away immediately. 

12. “Break Those Bones Whose Sinew Gave It Motion” by Meshuggah

If you don’t get sucked into the droning riff during the first minute and a half – maybe Meshuggah’s not exactly your cup of tea. The heavy groove, crystal clear guitar riffs and the intricate drum patterns will force your cans to demonstrate what kind of detail separation they really have. 

---

What Are Your Favorite Testing Tracks?

Keep in mind that these are just a few of our personal testing tracks. We hope you listened to a few you probably didn’t think you’d enjoy! (Who knows, you might find that you have a much wider range of musical taste than you thought.)

As you were scrolling through this Best Songs To Test Headphones collection, did you think of any songs that you would recommend? Leave a comment below and let us know what some of your favorite songs are! Thanks for stopping by and listening to some new music, we hope you enjoyed!

Sonic Elevation: Ride The Waves.