Before you bop to your curated playlist during drives, it’s best to test the speakers to ensure your trips are more enjoyable. Testing also lets you match the high standards of your favorite tracks. After all, listening to music while driving reduces stress and enhances your mood.
Top Songs to Test Your Car Speakers
Some of the best songs to test your speakers include Royals, Take It Easy, The Thunder Rolls, Billie Jean, Trouble, Blue Jean Blues, and the mood i’m in / jsyk.
Luckily, this list covers an assortment of genres. So whether you enjoy timeless classics from the 70s or want Lorde to take you on a hauntingly melodic journey, there’s surely a song for you.
Royals – Lorde
Considered her magnum opus, Lorde’s Royals was known primarily for its unique sound that highlights her smoky vocals by combining them with minimal production.
It’s a good song to test your speakers because of the dynamic range it offers in terms of volumes. This should help assess how well your speakers produce different sound levels.
Royals’ bass quality is prominent and well-defined, making it a good song to evaluate the capabilities of your speakers to handle low-frequency.
Lastly, the song’s production may be minimal, but it includes different layers of sound. A good speaker should be able to bring out all the different layers of complex arrangements, such as this one.
A stark contrast to Lorde’s Royals, Take It Easy by the Eagles is a catchy melody that resonates with listeners thanks to its upbeat and easygoing feel. It conveys a message about relaxation with an undertone of resilience by not letting life’s challenges take you down.
“Take it easy, take it easy, don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy” was one of the most popular lyrics during its time.
It offers a blend of instrumentation, vocal complexity, and a good range of frequencies that make it a great choice for testing car speakers. It utilizes both acoustic and electric guitars, which lets you evaluate how well your speakers can differentiate instruments.
The Eagles are also known for their complex vocal harmonies, and Take It Easy showcases exactly that. This lets you assess if the speakers can handle complex arrangements, which is an important quality to test to see if the vocals aren’t distorted.
The Thunder Rolls – Garth Brooks
The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks is a well-known narrative song. But it’s not just the story of infidelity and betrayal that made the song popular. It was also the diversity with which Brooks could convey emotions, adding depth to an already powerful arrangement.
Like other popular songs, The Thunder Rolls features a dynamic range of volume that lets you assess a speaker’s capabilities to handle intense shifts. This song has soft moments that quickly escalate to intense and powerful sections.
Brooks showcased a wide range of emotions each time he performed his hit piece. A good speaker should be able to convey, or at least be close to, that same range if you listen to the song live.
Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson has an array of hit songs you could use to test out your speakers, but Billie Jean stands out amongst the rest. This catchy and innovative song featured an iconic bassline, a distinguishable riff, and MJ’s unique vocal style.
The first thing that should hit you when you play Billie Jean is the iconic snare, followed by the bassline. Afterward, MJ’s powerful vocals should blend nicely with the synthesizers and instruments.
A good speaker allows you to hear the bass without distortion, or overpowering the snare at the start. Realistically, you should also be able to pick out where the sounds are coming from, even during parts where MJ is singing.
Trouble – José James
Trouble by José James is a mixture of jazz and hip-hop that incorporates the occasional saxophone into James’ soulful and expressive voice. The different sounds and instruments used in other genres let you check if there’s a particular music style your speaker may struggle with.
As far as range goes, Trouble has a slow build as it starts off quiet and intricate before you’re gradually serenaded with more instruments to integrate the unique and distinct sounds of jazz. This lets you test the volume range and quality that your speaker can handle.
Blue Jean Blues – ZZ Top
Loyal to the song’s title, Blue Jean Blues is best defined by the moody and soulfulness produced by blues guitar. The rhythmic and contemporary 12-bar chord progression is highlighted even more by the 2005 remastered version.
Combined with lead singer Billy Gibbons’ smooth vocals, you’ll get a track that best assesses how well the speakers handle the vocal clarity and the frequency of different songs.
While it’s mainly the guitar that makes up the overall harmony of the piece, a high-quality sound system should highlight the subtleties of the other instruments to make your listening experience more enjoyable.
the mood i’m in / jsyk – The Maine
A more modern piece, the mood i’m in / jsyk highlights The Maine’s strengths as a band. The song features catchy and thought-provoking lyrics combined with the captivating melody and vocal clarity of singer John O’Callaghan.
This song should test the speaker’s capabilities to handle different extremes of range. Particularly in the second chorus, where O’Callaghan is almost speaking instead of singing before we’re blasted with a wave of instrumental harmony during the bridge.
Lastly, the mood i’m in has minimal bass presence, making it a good litmus test to see if speakers can bring out low-frequency sounds close to the forefront.
Lisa Conant grew up in Canada around a solid contingency of gear heads and DIY motor enthusiasts. She is an eclectic writer with a varied repertoire in the automotive industry, including research pieces with a focus on daily drivers and recreational vehicles. Lisa has written for Car Bibles and The Drive.
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As a long time audiophile I will tell you that the best songs to test you cars speakers are the songs you like the best. Why would you listen to music you don't like or test your speakers to music you don't listen to? They're your speakers and they should perform their best playing your music.
You missed 2 songs that I think are quintessential speaker testers. Yes- Owner of a Lonely Heart and Boston - Foreplay/Long Time. The speaker bouncing in Yes is amazing for hearing each speaker and Boston has a wide range of highs to lows that test every aspect of the speakers.
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As a long time audiophile I will tell you that the best songs to test you cars speakers are the songs you like the best. Why would you listen to music you don't like or test your speakers to music you don't listen to? They're your speakers and they should perform their best playing your music.
You missed 2 songs that I think are quintessential speaker testers. Yes- Owner of a Lonely Heart and Boston - Foreplay/Long Time. The speaker bouncing in Yes is amazing for hearing each speaker and Boston has a wide range of highs to lows that test every aspect of the speakers.