--- title: "The Drive Staff’s Ultimate Car Stereo Test Playlist" description: "Rock, hip-hop, country? We got it all on the list. Rock, hip-hop, country? We got it all on the list." date: "2022-06-09" modified: "2022-06-09" authors: - name: "Kevin Williams" job_title: "Contributor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kevin-williams" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/guides-and-gear/the-drive-staffs-ultimate-car-stereo-test-playlist" categories: - "Car Tech" - "Culture" - "Infotainment" - "News" --- # The Drive Staff’s Ultimate Car Stereo Test Playlist ![Car stereo system]() *\Victoria Scott, Andrew P. Collins\* No matter the car, I’d say that a vehicle’s sound system is one of the most important factors in its daily livability. A bad stereo can make or break a car, that’s why the aftermarket has been consistently coming in to save our metaphorical aural asses for the past 30 years or so. Sometimes it takes a minute to figure out what a sound system is capable of, whether it’s stock or upgraded. But to have the most fun appreciating a car system’s capability, you’ve got to have a great audio-test tracklist. A sound system could do great with the pulsating beats of the latest pop hits, but then not render all the instrumentality and the sublattices of a sultry jazz tune. Whatever the case, we here at *The Drive* have come up with a list of tunes generated from the lot us driving hundreds of press and personal vehicles, that’ll put even the most expensive sound system through its paces. A sort of sound system, slalom, if you will. Here's a diverse set of musical ideas from the test-driving staff; you can **[open this playlist in Spotify]()** (sans just a couple of tracks) at this link or scroll down to the bottom of this post where it's embedded. ### Course A: James Gilboy’s multi-layered, complicated music “Stuff like Equilibrium's [Mana]() really tests how well sound systems handle layered instrumentals. Surprise, few of them do,” said my colleague James Gilboy. He’s right. Music is complicated stuff, this playlist has a variety of tunes from different genres, but one thing in common is that they have complicated, multi-layered instrumentation that some systems, might just mangle. - Aether Realm - [The Sun, The Moon, The Star]() - Streetlight Manifesto - [The Hands That Thieve (album)]() - Odesza - [A Moment Apart (album)]() ### Course B: Kevin Williams’s low-fi course with bass that’s way fuller than it appears I listen to a lot of electronic, house-inspired music. These songs are heavy on the 808 or 707 kicks, which are bass-heavy, and use nuanced samples of dubious quality that may get lost in translation on sound systems that can’t render all that obscure sample goodness. This selection of tracks is a good test of how well a sound system can render out the lower range of music, along with the highs of a not-so-good sample. - Choongum - [Demons]() - SOPHIE - [L.O.V.E.]() - Acounta & Tokyoghost - [Blistering Swords]() - Mixed Matches- [Ammonia]() ### Course C: Tony Markovich’s rap and hip-hop challenge Rap and hip-hop are always a good test of what a sound system can do. Tony’s course has sample-heavy music, complete with rappers, singers, and lots of subtle aural tricks in the backing track that can easily be lost or muddled in less good sound systems. - Rae Sremmurd - [Touchscreen Navigation]() - Mac Miller - [Programs]() - Isaiah Rashad - [Headshots (4r Da Locals)]() - Jay Rock - [King's Dead (ft. Future, Kendrick Lamar, and James Blake)]() ### Course E: Jonathon Klein’s mega list of jams When in doubt, throw everything but the kitchen sink at the stereo, right? Jonathan’s mega list of absolute bangers ranges from funky nasty pop R&B, to hip-hop, to sad emotional ballads, with some metalcore thrown in for good measure. - Cardi B - [I Like It]() - Justice - [Canon]() - RTJ - [Legend Has It]() - Tyler Childers - [Nose to the Grindstone]() - Christone "Kingfish" Ingram - [The Thrill is Gone]() - Hugh Laurie - [St. James Infirmary]() - Tom Misch - [It Runs Through Me]() - Big Boi - [Chocolate]() - Hans Zimmer - [Time]() - Love - [Everybody's Gotta Live]() - Childish Gambino - [Bonfire]() - Ginuwine - [Pony]() - Pennywise - [Affliction]() - Pumpkin & Vin's Da Cuero - [Louder]() - Ice Nine Kills - [Funeral Derangements]() ### Course F: Hazel Southwell’s huge surround sound Big sounds and lots of instrumental and sound movement is the name of Hazel’s two-song list. Hazel says that Staring In The Sun has a big surround sound, whereas Girls Aloud’s drum n bass inspired beats should be a real speaker test. - TV on the Radio - [Staring at the Sun]() - Girls Aloud - [Sound Of The Underground]() ### Course G: Robbie Bacon’s Rock, rock, and more rock (and some not rock, too) Rock’s also a complicated genre, full of drums, guitars, and other instruments that can easily be mangled by less-than-stellar sound system. Oh, and there are some non-rock tracks in there, too. - Radiohead - [Everything in its Right Place (Gigamesh Remix)]() - Dijon - [Talk Down]() - Elliot Moss - [Slip]() - Kansas - [Carry on Wayward Son]() - Black Pumas - [Colors (Official Live Session)]() - Pearl Jam - [Even Flow]() - Eagles - [Life in the Fast Lane]() ### Finale Course: The rest Lewin Day: [Get Free ]()- Major Lazer. “Amazing melodies in this which really shine on a system with good clarity in the higher frequency range.” Kristen Lee: [The full Interstellar (2014) soundtrack.]() Patrick George: “[All of Random Access Memories](), by Daft Punk.” Stef Schrader: “One of my friends used Kim Petras' "[Demons]()" for this and I immediately had to download the whooole \[[Turn Off The Light]()\] album for the same reason. Then there's the familiarity test of '90s country... It's not particularly technical for a sound system, but if "[Chattahoochee]()" sounds bad, I'm throwing the entire sound system in the lake." Peter Nelson: “All of Sugar’s Copper Blue, but especially the song [Changes.]()” Kara Snow: “The entire [DVD Audio of One by One by Foo Fighters]() is in 5.1. "[All My Life]()" from that album. Oh, and I'd also choose "[The Pretender]()" by \[Foo Fighters.\]” Kyle Cheromcha: “Most of In Colour by Jamie XX: [Gosh]() is a pretty dynamic track. So are [Loud Places](), [Stranger in a Room](), and [I Know There's Gonna Be Good Times.]()” Andrew P. Collins: This [Matoma remix of Notorious B.I.G.'s Old Thing Back (feat. Ja Rule and Ralph Tresvant)]() is so juicy; absolutely delightful to crank. It's also absolutely filthy so don't put this track on if your young kids or conservative grandma's in the car with you. But I did once get some validation on this suggestion as a stereo tester — I actually got to play it for a sound engineer at Capitol Records who agreed, indeed, it's a fun song to try through a sweet system. ### Bonus: Scientific recommendations In 2021 *Car and Driver* printed a list of audio-appreciation tracks recommended by Mark Armitage, head of the acoustical-engineering team at Bose's Michigan field office. You can check that out [here](). Cambridge Audio has [a page dedicated to songs recommended for testing]() hi-fi systems which you might also find interesting. \*\*\* We’ve got a pretty wide selection of genres, tests, and songs to put a car’s sound system through its paces. Pick a song, and get to testing, y’all. And of course, leave us some more suggestions in the comments! ## Author Kevin Williams is a contributor at The Drive. He writes, researches, and produces off-kilter, less-traveled car content, usually about weird or a bit unloved cars from not so long ago. He lives in Columbus, Ohio. Alone. By himself. No spouse. No animals. (He is allergic to most domestic animals.) ### Author social links [Instagram]() [Twitter]()