I think the same with Oasis, especially the iconic first three albums. The recording quality and mixing are SO bad.
It’s funny: I listen to the pretty “Don’t Go Away” from “Be Here Now” and think, 'OK, I know this is a ballad, but why doesn’t the rest of the album have this kind of recording and mixing quality?" And then I’m reminded of the classic Rick James line – “Cocaine is a hell of a drug.” 
“Be Here Now” was Oasis’ coke album. There are more than 20 guitar tracks on “My Big Mouth” alone!
I’ve found that some poorly mixed albums can be improved by applying “anti-EQ” when listening.
Many errant masters either excessively boosted the bass in an “L” pattern or boosted both the bass and treble in a “V” pattern. I apply the opposite: cut the bass and/or treble. What worked back in the day with low powered amps, rolled off speakers (e.g., paper cone), and to half deaf musicians doesn’t make sense on modern full-range equipment.
I’d I may say. The original CD (non remastered issues) are a lot better. Martin Birch is terrific at mixing and production. Also, Iron Maiden’s “The X Factor” is extremely well recorded. Beautiful dynamics and punch in the bass. It is their highest fidelity recording in my opinion.
This is proof.
Rotoscope - Spiritbox
Circle with Me - Spiritbox
One Right Now - Post Malone + The Weeknd
Wow - Post Malone
Sunflower - Post Malone + Swae Lee
Doomsday - Architects
When We Were Young - Architects
Save Dat Money - Lil Dicky
Let Go (Frou Frou cover) - A Static Lullaby
Contraband - Make Them Suffer + Courtney LaPlante
Shivering - ILLENIUM feat. Spiritbox
Concrete - Poppy
100% agreement with both you and @TheFrator regarding Tool. The first time I heard Reflection on the Lateralus album it absolutely blew my mind, it was astonishing. Both the complexity and creativity, and the audio quality. The album overall is amazing, and Reflection is a favorite test track. 
On 10,000 Days my favorite test racks at the moment are Wings for Marie pt 1, Wings pt 2, and Right in Two, but the whole album is outstanding.
Fear Innoculum is also a fantastic album, but the drum solo in Chocolate Chip Trip is a great test track.
Their stuff is so well recorded it puts most others to shame…
Well said. You’re damn right.
This one is lovely for vocal midrange and nuance detail.
Oh I’ll have to find some of the non-remasters. I only got into Iron Maiden a few months ago and have only listened to the remaster. I know my dad has all of their CDs but I don’t have a CD player 
The wild thing is I remember listening to Tool and A Perfect Circle in passing because that’s what my older brother listened to. And I didn’t think anything of it at the time. It wasn’t until last month I loaded it up after finally getting into Prog that Tool clicked. I think a hallmark indicator of great audio equipment for someone is how much it gets them to explore genres they wouldn’t otherwise. The exact equipment will vary because we all have different ears.
Still need to listen to more than Lateralus and 10,000 Days but both are easily in my Top 20 albums with Lateralus being in Top 10.
You see that is a big thing. A lot of people including audiophiles who are heavily into computer based audio don’t know the sources streaming services use nor are aware of original recordings found on either vinyl or CD. Source quality matters so much.
If you can rip your dad’s CDs onto an SD Card you’ll know what I’m talking about. I think you already know.
Enjoy the DNR of original maiden recordings. It’ll be better than you think.
Carnival by Natalie Merchant. Album: Tigerlily.
1234 by Feist. Album: The Reminder.
Go Your Way. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Album: Raise the Roof
My dad tries to give me the CDs so looks like I’ll take him up on it and start copying CDs again to a computer like I did when I was 8 years old with my iPod.
I’m also into vinyl and have a couple dozen records. He even gave me all of his Led Zeppelin records he gathered when he was younger. Even a master recording of Led Zeppelin II 
You are making me feel old old old. I think I started buying CDs around 1985, three years after they came out. A decent player was expensive, and the word “DAC” never came up. By that time, I had probably 20 linear feet of vinyl and had been married almost 9 years. I’m guessing that by that time @Torq probably already needed a spare warehouse for his vinyl…
I was using the AR turntable that I later gave to @TylersEclectic (is it refurbished yet?) and the speakers I still use were 12 years old. It was about that time that I bought my first good headphones, STAX SR5n, I still have those too, and they occasionally get some ear time.
Now the iPod version one came out in 2001. So if you had one as a kid, it was probably later than the version 1. I’m beginning to add this up, and think that the oldest fish in my aquarium are probably 1/2 to 1/3 your age…
It was an iPod nano first gen which came out in 2005! I initially guessed my age in the comment you’re replying to but I was right on the money. Sorry to make you feel old!
Your fish is regal I must say. I love the gradient. And that shade of purple on its tail is impeccable.
I wish that were mine, my oldest Boseman Rainbow is a female - same colors, but just a touch washed out. She’s almost 5 inches long. The old male, which looked very much like the picture was only 3 inches or so. Haven’t bought her a replacement yet. 
There are benefits to feeling old 
- if you can do it in style. Would trade off the style to be able to get more easily into shape, however.
To keep this headphone related, they tell me that sooner or later I will no longer appreciate the “air” frequencies and that cheap GRADOs and Beyers will sound “normal” with no EQ"
That is great and a terrific way to go. You can also get a good sense by how “loudness” is increased and used throughout the years. Started to really pick up in the mid 90’s, but wasn’t excruciatingly bad.
You’ll also start to appreciate certain engineers in production, mixing and mastering. I’d look at the names of these people you like, so you can fill your library with a ton of well recorded music.
The Iron Maiden CDs are such a terrific example.
At 1’15"… When the female singer kicks in… Am I tone deaf or is she REALLY out of pitch? Or maybe is the guy at the beginning of the song? 
Sorry, can’t evaluate busy passages when those vocals are annoying me. Will have to remove that track from my playlist. Instruments are well played though. 
Ohh, the good old days…
Even then I was more of a mobile “fetishist” but these things actually sounded above average.
Especially with this music:
……
—————
Qobuz - Samsung S10 - USBAPP
Schiit fulla e
Sennheiser HD 560s
I only have the above listed gear, so the following songs are more like ones I have discovered in this new to me hobby.
I am very, very familiar with the Jellyfish & Jeffrey Gaines selections (and full albums), so those were more of the cliche, “discovering details I haven’t noticed before”, or maybe more like, never realizing the extent of imaging and separation of the individual elements.
Dodie:
Hate Myself
Human
Jeffrey Gaines:
Why
Paul Simon:
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Jellyfish:
The Glutton of Sympathy
Joy Oladokun:
Heaven from Here
GoGo Penguin:
The Antidote is in the Poison
As a newcomer to the audiophile world, this topic has been fantastic for me to not only find some new music that I love, but also learn about critical listening. It’s also caused me to create quite a large “Test Track” playlist, and now I’m taking on the daunting task of trying to create a much smaller list of tracks that could serve as the “Olympic trials” for headphone evaluation that I could use to test in the future.
I know lots of folks go to Canjam or other events and routinely make purchasing decisions based on very limited listening sessions. It made me wonder what 3-5 songs (triathlon or pentathlon?) you would choose from your library to listen to so you could get a solid enough impression of sound and technical performance to make a purchasing decision given a short listening session? If you’re inclined, would really be interested in knowing what you’re using each track to judge as well.
