Rock Audiophile Playlists:
NOTE: I have not vetted these, other than observing that many of them have some interesting rock songs with good sound quality. Some of them do appear on my own playlist.
20 Best Metal Tracks to Test Your Audio System’s Power, Precision, and Control
Headphonesty
https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/10/metal-tracks-test-system-power-precision-control/
250 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century So Far
Rolling Stone magazine
October 8, 2025
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-the-21st-century-1235410452/
Audiophile 101 - Music for Testing Speakers & Headphones
Steve Gerrard
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/29GgCUu7pDkZrf3iegezme
Audiophile 6 - Rock & Metal
Markh
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/60FiDKFn2jyUk21beszY4L
Audiophile Reference Vol.2 (Classic Rock edition)
Scott
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0PPX5ZTcrsyX5jJXVHHYwr
Audiophile HiFi Rock & Blues
gdvanderwal
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3qHYG6IyWMNqgR7Bs0TzR8
Audiophile Rock Music
zwAnkie
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7rOtg9TpQNZoW73BnUGN1W
Audiophile Rock Music
Pigmej
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3zv9ekbkSpBKxpW4slpBQS
Bass Test
Tom Fine
https://open.qobuz.com/track/251771440
Best rock and metal songs to test your speakers
What HiFi?
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ARuToQ9ibtKDkl6vOfcOj
blues rock audiophile thursday morning (2)
veggiemad
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2PBEWbPZvEoGV52bVYujTc
Hi-Fi Rock Audiophile Rock Music
Irles Music
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/09NrzLDJZqDYVuistT6thf
Hi-Res Rock Classics Rec. Audiophile
Mariano Ezequiel Andrada
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0eBf21Z5Cd0oKhPvmE2nfR
Imaging Test
Tom Fine
https://open.qobuz.com/track/112883736
PS Audio Reference Playlist
(not so much rock, but I trust PS Audio)
https://play.qobuz.com/playlist/2198171
Rock Audiophile
Azizur
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/3512752
Rock Audiophile
guspacheco68
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7wFxt2ffhhM4EtAsHfDtDs
Rock for Audiophiles
Mickey Brenneman
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0cBm0huGxxa3ovD2kaGEWI
Rock Playlist for Audiophiles
Headphone Zone
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/537kqAaPdo12uX4ToaBShq
Slow Rock Audiophile
GUMZ
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3zv9mV8rSwSGrL99JqjVwL
Speaker Test - The Best (this is mostly rock)
plamensol
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/39pizq5q4nMwZ1kdT9OXMe
Stereophile Records to Live For (R2L4) (this is whole albums)
https://www.stereophile.com/content/records-2-live-4-2025
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/28334472
Stjernholm Reviews (some rock)
https://linktr.ee/stjernholmreviews
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Mqa6o48Djeb0Zz5YpNvIH
Test your music system with these great rock tracks
Ty Pendlebury
June 30, 2019
https://www.cnet.com/pictures/best-rock-tracks-for-audiophiles/
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dAubYT59BtGgs7PE3stEb?si=8aeafd93461f4443
The Honest Audiophile
dbstechtalk@gmail.com
May 6, 2025, updated August 2025
87 songs
https://www.thehonestaudiophile.com/post/my-reference-music-tracks-2025-expanded-list
Urgh! A Studio War = Urgh! A Music War movie
by Rudy
https://play.qobuz.com/playlist/5961819
Rock Audiophile Discussions:
17 of the best rock and metal songs to test your speakers
By Andrew Murphy, Tom Parsons
April 1, 2021
https://www.whathifi.com/features/best-rock-and-metal-songs-to-test-your-speakers
19 best British rock songs to test your hi-fi system
By Harry McKerrell Contributions from Becky Roberts, Kashfia Kabir, Chris Burke, Alastair Stevenson, Lewis Empson
March 24, 2023
https://www.whathifi.com/features/best-british-rock-songs-to-test-your-hi-fi-system
Playlist: 50 Rock Tracks to Test Your Speakers
by Qobuz
https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/playlists/50-rock-tracks-to-test-your-speakers/18047961
https://play.qobuz.com/playlist/18047961
60 of the best hi-fi albums for audiophiles
By Andrew Murphy Contributions from Joe Cox, Lewis Empson
last updated March 27, 2024
Great music, great sound
https://www.whathifi.com/features/50-albums-audiophiles
60 best hi-fi audiophile albums of all time
Sam Kieldsen
8 June 2024
https://www.stuff.tv/features/best-audiophile-albums/
Audiophile Albums / CDs to Discover
February 11, 2023
https://newsboyaudio.com/blog/audiophile-top-10-albums-to-discover/
Audiophile Level Rock Albums?
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/audiophile-level-rock-albums.421128/
Audiophile Metal Music
Oct 2019
https://forum.hifiguides.com/t/audiophile-metal-music/5493
Audiophile Modern Music to Attract Next Generation Listeners
Xavier Burgos
July 28, 2024
https://www.audioholics.com/music-reviews/modern-music-to-the-audiophile-industry
Audiophile Rockstar 70s & 80s
James Cody Davis
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2W93VvGnSW3qqoNykWdikL
Bernie Grundman Top Album Picks
https://audiophilealbums.com/bernie-grundman-top-album-picks/
Best audiophile metal and rock albums
Thread starter HeadLover
Start dateJun 17, 2008
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/best-audiophile-metal-and-rock-albums.335381/
Best Sounding Classic Rock CDs
jimzzz
04-25-2016
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/best-sounding-classic-rock-cd-s
Beyond the Clichés: 10 top Audiophile Quality Albums You Haven’t Overplayed from the past Decade
The HiFi Jedi
01/19/2025
https://thehifijedi.com/top-sounding-audiophile-albums/
Dilemma: Heavy Music and Audiophile Sound Quality
August 24, 2022 by Douglas Moore
https://www.thesoundadvocate.com/2022/08/dilemma-heavy-music-and-audiophile-sound-quality/
Great rock audiophile records...why so very few?
Thread starter DaveyF
Start dateOct 3, 2018
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/great-rock-audiophile-records-why-so-very-few.26427/
Popular/Modern Rock music Surprisingly Suitable for Audiophile Listening
Thread starter TunerLanding
Start date Oct 31, 2021
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/popular-modern-rock-music-surprisingly-suitable-for-audiophile-listening.976746/
Recommendations for well recorded/mastered rock music
Thread starter dorirod
Start date Nov 8, 2019
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/recommendations-for-well-recorded-mastered-rock-music.9782/
Rock music to review speakers
https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/qzroht/rock_music_to_review_speakers/
Rock-Pop Collection
These titles should make up the core of any serious collection of rock and pop albums. The emphasis here is on higher quality recordings, since that is the area of our expertise.
https://ontherecord.co/category/core-collections/well-recorded-rock-pop-albums-the-core-collection/
TEST: