The 5 Best Movie Soundtracks For Testing Your New Audiophile Setup – BGR

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Building your own audiophile setup is pretty rewarding. Not only do you get to design a system exactly how you want it, but afterwards you get to experience all your favorite music tuned specifically for your own ears. However, with so much audio content out there in the world, knowing what you want to listen to can be more difficult than the building process. Whether you’re new to the world of high-fidelity equipment or you’re just looking for some new audio recommendations, we’re taking a look at some of the best movie soundtracks for testing an audiophile setup.

The list below contains a variety of movie soundtracks that can be good for checking out your setup and really taking advantage of your investment. From classic rock to spaghetti Westerns, the soundtracks on this list can offer rich depths of tonality alongside a variety of instrumentation that can give you a good idea of what your system is capable of. Afterwards, you can even enjoy a good flick, should you want to.

We did our best to tell you where some of the better versions of these selections are available, but bear in mind that finding brand-new copies of some of these online may be challenging. A website like Discogs may be your friend if you want to truly start digging, but we also provided streaming options as well.

Seeing release in 2010, “Tron: Legacy” has some rather mixed reactions from audiences and critics, but its film score should be highly appealing to audiophiles, as it was composed by none other than French electronic artists Daft Punk. Known for songs like “Harder, Better, Faster, Strong” and “Get Lucky,” the duo’s contribution to “Tron: Legacy” can be just the thing for putting an audiophile’s setup to the test. 

Looking at the r/audiophile sub-forum on Reddit, folks give the “Tron: Legacy” soundtrack points for being a good combination of bass-heavy electronic music combined with a massive orchestra, making it a good choice for testing the fidelity and spatiality of your audio setup. In particular, folks give tracks like “The Game Has Changed” high marks, while user not2rad notes that “Silver Surfer” features bass frequencies at 25 Hz. Overall, Daft Punk delivers a high-fidelity sound on the “Tron: Legacy” soundtrack that can be straight ear candy for the listener.

Amazon has the “Tron: Legacy” soundtrack available on vinyl for $42.44, where it holds a 4.9-star rating with over 160 reviews. However, it’s worth mentioning that Daft Punk did remix this album, though “Tron Legacy: Reconfigured” can be seen as more complementary to the original score. Nonetheless, you can find the Daft Punk “Reconfigured” soundtrack on The Sound of Vinyl, but it’s worth mentioning that both soundtracks are on Spotify and YouTube.

Released in 1998 and directed by Joel Cohen, “The Big Lebowski” is considered a cult classic by many. Featuring often-quoted lines and a stellar performance from Jeff Bridges playing the hopelessly aloof Jeffrey Lebowski, the soundtrack has a varied selection of tunes that are great for testing a setup. This one is also pretty easy to find on vinyl, making it rather accessible for listeners.

Along with some classic rock selections from familiar artists like Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, and Elvis Costello, helping test the highs and mids of your audio setup, Jazz staples like Nina Simone’s bellowing “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good” can be suitable for testing the overall clarity of your speakers. The inclusion of the electronic song “Technopop” by Carter Burwell can also be good for pushing your subwoofer with its bass-heavy tones. While the soundtrack can be an overall fun listen, it’s the varied genres and retro sound that make this one good for checking out a system.

Finding the soundtrack for this one on Spotify or YouTube can be fairly easy, but be warned that some playlists may exclude certain songs for copyright reasons. For the vinyl purists, “The Big Lebowski” soundtrack is available on Amazon for $27.98, where it holds a 4.5-star rating out of over 700 customer reviews while also maintaining Amazon’s Choice seal. However, it is a rather straightforward release that’s based on the original soundtrack, so it may be good for checking out cheap audiophile headphones that are actually worth buying.

If it involves audio, then it’s almost never a bad thing having Prince around — after all, you know you’ve done something right when “Saturday Night Live” dedicates a full hour to you. Released in 1984, the movie “Purple Rain” follows the story of the Kid (Prince) trying to succeed with his band, The Revolution. With a movie premise that focuses on a funky band, you know the soundtrack is going to be ripe for the audiophile’s plucking, and it certainly helps that Prince was a notorious stickler for quality sound.

The first album to feature Prince’s backing band The Revolution, the “Purple Rain” soundtrack features songs like “Darling Niki,” “When Doves Cry,” and the eponymous title track. For audiophiles, things to look for in the “Purple Rain” soundtrack are massive space, huge walls of three-dimensional sound, and, naturally, high energy. Along with a strong audio sound that can be good for testing an audiophile setup, there can be several different variations of this album in the wild, but we have two suggestions.

As for the album itself, online record shop Because Sound Matters has the “Purple Rain” One-Step addition, which features the songs in 192kHz/24bit after being transferred from the original master tapes. The company also promises high sound fidelity on the Neotech VR900-D2 180-gram vinyl. However, Amazon also has a Warner Bros. remastering of “Purple Rain” for $49.74, where it holds a 4.9-star rating after 24 reviews. You can also find this album on YouTube and Spotify.

Director Tony Scott’s 1986 box-office hit “Top Gun” tells the tale of an arrogant fighter pilot named Maverick (Tom Cruise) going to school to become one of the best in his field. Along with being one of the highest-grossing movies of that year, it’s got a soundtrack that’s not only good for pumping you full of adrenaline, but its heavy 80’s synth-pop selections can make for a great experience for audiophiles. With an 80’s vibe, this one can be good for some old headphones audiophiles still swear by.

Along with the memorable Kenny Loggins hit “Danger Zone,” — which was actually written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock — the “Top Gun” soundtrack also features tracks like Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” and Cheap Trick’s “Mighty Wings.” This soundtrack contains plenty of high-energy tunes that feature rich instrumentation and heavy low end, though the original score by German electronic composer Harold Faltermeyer is also worth investigating if you’re looking for more audio goodness.

There are a couple of online options for this soundtrack. If you’re looking for vinyl, AtTheMovies does have a 140-gram vinyl edition of the Harold Faltermeyer score, which the site claims is the first time it has been put to the format. The “Top Gun” original motion picture soundtrack is available on Amazon for $21.98, which is based on a remastered 2015 reissue. It can go on sale, and it holds a 4.8-star rating with over 1,450 reviews — though finding the original 1986 vinyl can also be one of the better options. You can also find the OST on YouTube and Spotify.

Virtually any film score composed by Ennio Morricone would suit this list just fine. However, we’re going with his work for Sergio Leone’s 1966 “The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly,” as it sits in the #1 spot on IMDB’s Top 100 Original Scores in Movies of All-Time list. The soundtrack’s Main Title is a quintessential track in Western cinema, and this one can be good for one of the 12 best record players for audiophiles.

Along with novel vocal arrangements, Morricone also used sound effects — such as whip cracks and animal noises — to create a soundtrack brimming with lush musical arrangements combined with tension-filled soundscapes and rattling electric guitars, which can really put a system through its paces. Along with the titular track, this soundtrack also features tracks like “The Trio” and “The Ecstasy of Gold,” which have an epic, full sound filled with howling vocals and pulsing string arrangements.

Like “Purple Rain” and “Top Gun,” there are multiple options for this film score, though finding a brand-new copy of this soundtrack online can be somewhat challenging. If you can find the 180-gram double-album version from Italian soundtrack specialists Dagored, it can definitely be worth picking up. What’s cool about this one is that it contains all 21 tracks that were included in the EMI CD version, and used copies typically show up on Discogs. However, you can listen to this soundtrack on Spotify or YouTube.

When it came to composing this list, we chose some of our own favorite soundtracks while also taking some inspiration from Rolling Stone’s Top 101 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time, alongside IMDB’s Top 100 Original Scores in Movies of All-Time list. As for the vinyl recommendations, not only did we take some suggestions from Reddit and around the web, but we also wanted to select items that were actually available to purchase brand-new online. 

Whenever we make Amazon recommendations, we try to go with items that have at least four out of five stars based on scores of customer reviews, and having an Amazon’s Choice emblem earns a product bonus points for being a highly-rated item with a price to match.