- Percussion (at least drums) sounds pretty much spot on to me.
- Guitars - they are hit or miss, depending on the style. Some guitar stuff I hear perfectly, some sounds terrible, and some sounds just as I remember it.
- Music with lots of intricate layers and harmonies - difficult. Simpler stuff - much better.
- Pepe Kalle's La Rumba - this is one of my favorite styles of music. Unfortunately, this one sounds terrible. Way too much in terms of intricate harmonies and layers of music going on. Just sounds like a big mass of distortion to me
- Enya's Orinoco Flow - Similar results - too much going on and sounds pretty distorted.
- Ram Jam's cover of Black Betty - Sounds great! I guess the heavy overdriven and distorted guitars work just fine because the CI is delivering pretty much that kind of sound. I should point out that Ledbelly's original doesn't sound as good - I'm not hearing all of the different notes, sounds very flat. Tom Jones' cover is worse - a bit too much going on.
- James Brown's Sex Machine - sounds super. I can even pick out the guitar in the back and the bridge sounds good, too
- Psy's Gagnam Style (not going to link this one) - sounds pretty good. I can't hear all of the parts, but the singing is good.
- Black Eyed Peas' Pump It - sounds good - the percussion comes through clearly.
- Peter Paul and Mary's version of In the Early Morning Rain - the singing is crystal clear and melodious. I cannot really hear the guitar playing though. That's disappointing, because this is one of my all-time favorite songs.
- The Mamas and the Papas version of Dancing in the Streets - I can get the bass line, not really getting any any guitar though. Mama Cass sounds AWESOME. When the rest of the gang comes in with harmony, things get a lot more distorted and difficult. Martha and the Vandellas' version is similar. David Bowie and Mick Jagger's version - Mick sounds really flat.
I could have listed a lot more interesting songs, but I'll stop there (sorry John Denver, Paul Simon, Bruce Hornsby, Swingle Singers, Nancy Sinatra, and especially Ennio Morricone). The one thing to note is that the singers often sound like they have food stuffed in their cheeks - a bit muffled, and the high pitched sounds (sh, ch, etc) come through almost in an exaggerated fashion
On to another day of hearing!